Young Writers Society

Characters are tough.

In fact, they're probably the hardest part of your stories to write- you've got to make them flawed as people, yet come off flawlessly in the story.

BUT IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO WRITE GOOD CHARACTERS:

It's also imperative that you have good characters. Why? Your plot's probably been done before, so the characters are the only ones making it interesting for the reader.

Meet Upton Blair. He's a character from my story, Hourglass. I might not be the greatest writer out there, but he's probably the most developed of my characters, even though I've only written for him in outlines.

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Names are only important if you want them to be. John Smith is a perfectly good name for a character, but if you want a special little detail: go for deeper meanings. This could be in the form of:

- TRANSLATIONS: What does a name mean in another language? Pick a meaning that suits your character.

- NAMESAKES: Name a character after your grandma...if you want.

- A MIXTURE: Upton's name is a mishmash of a namesake, actually. Know the writer Upton Sinclair ('The Jungle' ring a bell)? I liked the name, but didn't want to completely take it. So! I took the last name 'Blair'- (taken from George Orwell's real name, Edward Arthur Blair) and stuck it on. Sort of inspired, yeah? Take a celebrity and mix it with a last name you know personally, or whatever you feel like.

LOOKS ARE EVERYTHING

Taken almost directly from a Snoink tutorial: don't make your characters beautiful. And make sure they've got flaws to them.

Flaws can be either physical or mental. So! Focusing on physical, here's what you can do:

- Avoid clichès while describing your character's appearance. Usually clichès describe 'beautiful' characters- or extremely ugly characters.

- Avoid overdescription- the shape of a character's teeth isn't really that important, unless they're a vampire. Sparsity is good, especially with flaws.

- Remember not to include perfect supporting characters. There's always something that could be changed or tweaked in real people...even those on the fringes of your daily life. (Your Sunday School teacher's dress makes her look pregnant. The gorgeous hockey game concessions stand guy's voice is high-pitched and whining. The clerk at Younker's has a humongous nose. You name it...)

EXAMPLE: (Remember- he lives in pseudo-colonial-America. ) Upton sports a bum leg (birth defect) that requires a cane. He's got a bit of a tic in his arms and legs, and he's part Indian (the subcontinent) which means that his skin is a little darker.

He sounds like a complete loser the way that I've got him outlined here- because I only focused on flaws. Flaws are good, but cut your characters some slack. Maybe they've got pretty eyes? It's up to you.

SOCIETAL ISSUES:

This is extremely hard to pull off correctly. Snoink advises sparsity too.

With a character that's got a societal issue (their in a situation not accepted universally), subtlety is key. Making your wheelchair-confined character constantly harassed because of it isn't good- mainly because, in real life, peoples' societal issues aren't the main focus of their life. And nobody's life is completely unfair. The Unfair Life Character is a definite no-no. Why? Pessimism= bad. Why would we want to read about you if only bad things happen to you and you lament how sorry your situation is?

High drama is also bad (characters being killed, mobbed, etc.). Especially over minor problems.

EXAMPLE: Upton is gay. As a writer, my first impulse is to go: "Aww! It must totally stink to be you in colonial America! (pause for a few sobs and assorted hysterics) Here...let me write in your completely public crusade against being persecuted AND a steamy love scene with the hunky stable hand! Of course...you'll make them ALL feel sorry at the plot-twisting end- when you're taken away by the police and burned at the stake!"

Hmm. Let me think on that a moment. NOOOOOOO!!! NO! NO! NO! NEVER, EVER, EVER do this. I don't care how tough life gets for your character sometimes- but they key word is sometimes. I can't stress enough how important it is not to make their Societal Issue THE FOCAL POINT of their entire life. Because in reality it's not. (And I mean fictional reality, by the way...)

Here's when the whole 'subtlety' concept comes into play. Of course, with fully physical issues, it's okay just to say: "I'm blind."

But with issues of the more menta-physical or or fully mental variety, "I'm an atheist" or "I'm mentally retarded" doesn't really work out. (Think Forrest Gump. He doesn't ever really outright admit that he's got a problem, he just finds a way to get out of it. 'Stupid is as stupid does' and the whole running thing are examples.) Oh, believe me, it's much more fun to describe these by way of dropping hints.

My mom gave an example of the book 'Flowers for Aldernon' (on my reading list at the moment). Apparently, the main character is mentally retarded, but they've found an experimental cure for it. The style of the book changes- the writing is less sloppy and more sophisticated as the story goes on- but once the cure begins to backfire, it degenerates quickly.

If your type of narration doesn't quite fit with that style, dropping hints by way of behavior is the way to go. (Upton doesn't especially like to talk about 'romance' with his friends, for instance.)

CLICHES:

I might have mentioned this in Ten Simple Truths, but...it's important. Let's go over it again.

By cliches, I mean character type: Geeky Computer Technician, Crazy Art Type, Clean Dentist, etcetera.

Why are clichès used? Because they make a character easy to swallow. They're guaranteed not to make a reader uneasy or unsettled- or even think- because they've seen them before. They're 'safe' characters.

Problem is...'safe' characters aren't memorable characters. Unless you're writing for a hypersensitive audience (young kids, uber-religious people, and so on) it's better to make your audience think. And it's pretty much free advertising when a person reads your story and then later goes, "Oh, yeah, it's just like in this one book where there's this character who collects buttons" or something like that.

I talked to my mom a little about this too. Her example was the pure and chaste fairytale princess. Does the princess steal cookies out of the jar when her mom's not looking? All people have their off-moments- and your characters should, too.

EXAMPLE: Ah, the gay thing again. Such a simple character to write for...

Should I make Upton a flamboyant fashionista of the male variety?

Repeat after me: No, because people have seen that before.

Instead, he's an aspiring military strategist who knows every major general and their tactics, from Joshua to Napolèon. He's also my God character- the sort of person who always seems to know what's going on. Funny thing, since he's not the main character...but! People won't expect it.

CHARACTER TOPICS THAT AREN'T ALLOWED AS LONG OF A RANT:

- ROMANTIC RELATIONS: The person your character is having a relationship with should not be described as perfect- at least not the first time the character takes notice of them.

- RICH CHARACTERS: Always keep in mind a sense of finance. 'Impossibly rich' is...an impossibility. No matter how wealthy, there always is a limit to funds. (Even on My Super Sweet Sixteen, they don't normally get airplanes for their birthday. Correct me if I'm wrong. )

- THE CREEPY CHARACTER: there's got to be a single reason that makes the character creepy. And there's got to be a reason that makes them totally normal. The unsureness is what creates suspense and the actual mysteriousness.

ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS KEEP THE SITUATION IN MIND:

Everyone acts a little differently under stress- be it the 'I'm trapped in a cave' type or the 'I've got a big test tomorrow' type of stress. The way people react is what makes them unique.

This is why creating an alter-ego for your characters is always a good idea. The 'alter ego' is just a list of characteristics assumed when there character is under special circumstances- stress, love, urgency, among others.

SO...IS IT REALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO CREATE A GOOD CHARACTER?

No, not really. There are a lot of rules and regulations...but in the end, the strong prosper, resulting in fans, book sales, or just thought- whatever it is that you want to come from your story.

Yay, go Sam!! You just made my day with that. Bravo! Seems like I'm kinda on the right track with my characters.

Characters are the things that I struggle with, they are sort of side ons at the moment to the world and story.

BUt I havea really good character now which hopefully \I can put into my next story.

Thanks for posting this! It was a very interesting read, plus I have some ideas about my characters now...

Ah, Sammo...It seems as though you've given me all of these tips--while reading my stories. But they are so true, and so helpful, and it causes me to wonder: "She's thirteen?"

But... cliches can be good!

Hehe... but that's for another rant.

Character names ARE important. I think that the name "Beth" is one of the simplest names around and I don't like it. "Sarah" means princess, which is all fine and good, but when this princess likes to spurn authority, "Sadie" is better. And "Daniel" sounds like such a gentle name! "Claude" means lame, and it's named after a Roman emperor named "Claudius" who, though he was lame, was one of the most powerful men in his time.

So yeah. Names can make a man or woman.

But see, Snoinkus? That's a namesake!

But names CAN'T make a man a man or...you get my point.

Roaming Shadow- I actually read an article on stereotyping and the human mind today which was really interesting...I think I should find a link and update, yes? I suppose by clichès I meant something that included stereotypes but- good point. And Hunter sounds awesome.

Oh dear...I noticed an uncapitalized 'i' somewhere in there! Ah!

Thanks guys! That's a pretty awesome response, what with me writing it at 2 in the morning...