Part II: Developing the Character
Developing the character can be one of the hardest things to do. Yet it is very necessary in order to let your reader know him. Your reader must relate to him or he will not like the story much.
I. The Three-Dimensional Character.
There are three ‘dimensions’ a character can have. They all add depth, and some are more important than others. They are;
1) External Traits
These are outer features such as the way he walks, his appearance, a habit he has, an accent, and so on. General peculiarities fall into this category.
2) Personality
This is the fun part of a person. It is what you see in a friend. He may be jolly, easy to please, angry, pettish, silly, insane, or whatever. These kinds of traits add spice and depth. There are so many different kinds of personalities, you really just have to watch people and see them. Of course, there are some that are more common, so try to find new and natural combinations.
3) Moral Fibre
This seems a strange term, but it is pretty accurate. This is kind of the spiritual and moral part of a character. He may be Christian or atheist, realist or idealist, Baptist or Anglican. He may have high morals and see black and white, or he may be careless and never think about morals. This is not just his personality; it is what he believes in, what influences him, and what he will die for. This is especially important in books where the main character or other accepts Christ.
Different types of characters are ranked in different dimensions. For example, the Catalyst may have only a one-dimensional character (perhaps his external traits), the Little Brother may have only a two-dimensional character (perhaps exterior traits and personality), and the hero has a three-dimensional character. This is not a set of rules. It only signifies that different types of people can be given different dimensions.
Another thing about these three proportions is that in a short story, you may have much less time to develop so much character. That is perfectly reasonable, and is a part of short story-ism.
II. Two Points of View
1) First Person
If you know something about grammar you know this is when the author uses the word ‘I’ and speaks as if he were present when the things occurred. Robert Louis Stevenson uses this point of view a lot. The author mainly tells you what happens without telling you what people are thinking, except the hero, or whatever character he happens to be. Sometimes he will say something like ‘I thought he looked angry at me for saying so.’ Jerome K. Jerome in Three Men in A Boat likes to add personal anecdotes, a special privilege given to users of the first person point of view.
2) Third Person or All-Knowing
The writer usually uses names and calls the characters by him and her and so forth. There are two types of all-knowing.
i. All-knowing subjective
This is generally someone who sees everything and can tell what people are thinking and so forth. For example; ‘The terrifying thought kept flashing through his head, Where was Ken?’
ii. All-knowing objective
This is when the writer tells you what happens as if he were omnipresent, but only tells you what happens and not what the people are thinking.
There is a time for all points of view. Reading will probably help you most in deciding when each type should be used.
I hear there have been a few stories written in Second-Person point of view, but I personally haven’t read one. A while back I thought I had a wonderful idea of how to write one, but I haven’t gotten around to it. I was also disillusioned that someone thought of it first.
III. Six Ways to Develop Character
1) In Thoughts
See All-knowing subjective. Obviously, this way is not always an option. Some hints are,
i. Make the character think like he talks. Some of you may have noticed that you think differently than you talk (I think with a British accent) but your readers won’t generally understand that.
ii. Remember what you haven’t made your character find out yet (especially if it’s a mystery).
iii. Be realistic and original.
iv. When your character thinks about other people, don’t make him be able to read their minds. Only you’re allowed to do that. Don’t make him always know who the villain is. Even if the villain is quite obvious, the readers won’t mind if the hero doesn’t know who it is right away.
2) In Reactions
If something bad happens to an easily-angered person, obviously he’ll get angry. This is true with all sorts of people. For example, Anne Shirley hits Gilbert Blythe over the head with her slate in Anne of Green Gables. This seems like something she would do, for she has a temper. (By the way, don’t use angry people too much, especially if they have red hair.)
3) In Conversation
You can generally tell the most about people by the way they talk. Therefore, when Scrooge in A Christmas Carol says ‘Because you fell in love!’ as if it is the only thing in the world worse than a Merry Christmas, one sees he is very disagreeable.
Note: Make your character talk as if he was in the time period you have put him in. A lot of the slang and clichés we use now-a-days were not invented in, say, 1921.
4) In Reputation
In Pride and Prejudice, Mr. Bingley has a reputation for being very nice and good-natured, and Mr. Darcy has a reputation for being proud and haughty. Reputations are good for some things, but if your character appears incognito or is a stranger, it wouldn’t work very well, obviously.
5) In Appearance
See external traits. This is what a lot of people use for villains. Example; Rashleigh Osbaldistone in Rob Roy was very ugly, and most of the readers knew he was the villain. As I warned you in part one, you should not make all villains ugly or all heroes handsome, but often deformities, such as a lame foot, can represent a struggle or sorry circumstance in a character. Also, if someone is very fat, we know he likes to eat, and if she is pale, we think she might be sickly.
6) In Behaviour
This is a bit related to reactions. If in The Prisoner of Zenda Rupert Hentzau sulks at something the hero said but soon has ‘his temper restored’ and gives him ‘the sunniest of smiles’, we get the idea he does not stay angry for long but can be rather pettish. Behaviour is probably one of the best ways to develop a character, although I find it most difficult indeed.
IV. Getting to Know Your Character
You can never develop your character really well unless you know him really well. You want your reader to identify with him, and he won’t if you don’t.
Write all you know about him down. You may be surprised at how secretive he is. If he is the hero he should have all of the three dimensions. Write what he likes to do, what he looks like, everything you know, only refrain from making up new things just yet. Rack your brain and try to remember all you’ve made up about him.
Now let it sit for a day or two, and then go and fill in some of the gaps. Not all at once, but gradually. You may even want to make up where he was born, how old he is, and so forth. I will emphasise here that you do not have to use all of this information in your story. But just knowing it makes everything better.
After you’ve done these two things, you may want to try writing a scene of your story out, keeping all you know about your character in mind. You may not see any immediate results, but trust me, it helps.
Also, you may choose to look at #III. and create an example for each of the six points, using your character, of course. You may like it so much you will want to do more.
If you know of a good personality test, you can have your character take it (or take it for him). Once you find out what personality type he is, read about that type. You may find out some things about your character that you didn’t realise before. For instance, you may find out why he does certain things once you start to understand how he thinks. The Myers-Briggs personality test is our favourite and you can find it on-line. By the way, your character may fit into several different personality types, which is perfectly fine since some real people do as well.
Another option is to tell someone about him. If you’re into the imaginary friend kind of thing, you can tell your friend about it. Or tell your colleague, or your mother, or a fellow writer, or anyone. If he asks questions, try to answer them all. You could even tell about something Mr. Character did.
I think you can tell that you really know your character when he becomes one of your imaginary friends. All right, if you don’t have imaginary friends, when you start thinking of him almost as a real person.
V. Questions to Ask While Making a Character Act
*Is this something a real person would or could do?
*Is this something in line with his character?It is important to be aware that many people make the mistake of making the character do something out of line with his personality. To avoid this occurrence, make certain you know your character well. See #IV.
*What would I do if I were in his position?
*How does this action reveal what he is thinking?
*Why does he do what he does?
*How would I have felt in this situation?
*How does the character feel?
*What will the effects of this be?
*How does this reveal part of his character?
VI. Testing Your Character
Hard as I know it is, you should try him out on someone. I know it is difficult for some of us to show other people our work, but it can help. I am glad to have a colleague who will read any and every story I allow, only my colleague rarely says anything’s wrong. If you can bear it, try your character out on three people. Three is a nice, safe number. However, you could try him out on ten, if you wanted, depending on how determined you are. If the first three say they don’t like Mr. Character at all, there is probably something about him that needs improvement. I know what it feels like to have someone criticise your character, but sometimes it’s good for you. However, take most of what you hear with a grain of salt. You can’t please everybody, anyway.
By the way, copying a character off of a real-life person is a very good way to make him realistic, as long as you know your model well. I have done it several times, only be sure you change the names. Also, be careful who you let read it, because some people are very good at guessing...
If possible, let the fellow sit. I like doing that. (I have plenty opportunity to do it, too.) Let him sit in cold storage for a while, and then take him out and look him over. This always helps me because once you have forgotten about him for awhile, problems stand out more when you look at him again. Once more, you may not have the time, patience or heart to do this, and it doesn’t always work anyhow. But otherwise, you pretty much just have to make him to suit you. You never can tell exactly what other people think, but it’s better to make a book you like and have no one else like it, than a book everyone else likes when you don’t like it. It sounds selfish, but I’m sure it’s true.
Study people. You may want to keep a notebook and write down odd habits, accents, ways of talking, walking or whatever. Watch people and observe them closely. Think about how most people are alike and all people are different. If you get really fanatic, you can study anthropology, philology and psychology, but I myself wouldn’t go that far. I have far too much writing to do to waste time on that.
Last of all, practice, practice, practice. You can’t very well get worse, unless you go into the mass production thing. It may take you till you’re fifty-five, but I’m sure someday you’ll write a good book, even if it’s never published. And none of it will be a waste, you’ll see. It changes your whole view, it does. You look at the world through different eyes. I think you begin to like everybody with his faults, at least gradually. I myself have found that there are many people whom I have a sudden interest in because they are so very fascinating to study. It makes the world seem full of potential. Writing may just be your niche to change the world. Gentlemen, we may even have a future Walter Scott, Thomas Hardy, Howard Pyle or Jane Austen in our midst!
-R. P.
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