Character creation and development is one of the most important things to consider in your writing, because really it's the character who is central to most stories. (SIDENOTE: YES, IT IS possible to write stories that don't necessarily have a "main chracter", and aren't necessarily about characters at all, but for the sake of brevity, and the fact that most people here are writing more traditionally structured stories, we'll stick to this description). It is the character changing and learning over the course of the story that are the point of everything happening in many cases, and the point of the story.

 

But first, how do you create a chracter? There isn't any single path to create a character, sometimes the character is symbolic, or a stand-in to represent someone, sometimes the idea of the character comes before the idea of the story, sometimes the story is a morality tale, and the character is just there to serve the greater purpose of the story, so there is a lot of flexibility in the area of where to start in your own character creation process. As long as you're getting your story completed and written, it doesn't really matter how it was done, but here are some things that help me..

 

First, I start to imagine what the character is like, it helps me to make a little checklist of criteria about the character as I am imagining them both physically and personality-wise, I also engage in some light character history, because all of that can have an influence on what the character is like, and can help flesh them out, before we get all of that, let's talk about initial traits.

 

 

Lets make a trait list, mostly all of the stuff about the character that can be seen by looking at them, their name, and a few other internal traits that are important.

 

NAME: The character's name, name can have a big influence on the perception of the character so don't think it's just unimportant. Names can be symbolic, like naming a good character "Luke" (since it means

bright) or giving them a name whose initials are J.C., they can showcase a character trait or skill (Like "Dash" from The Incredibles), or they can predict a future fate or outcome for the character (Like naming someone who is going to turn bad at the end of the story "Cain" or "Damien"). Names can be really important, so make sure you're thinking about the name before you just jump into it. It's easy to find resources about what different names mean, or find lists of them, so don't be afraid to do a little research for something as simple as a name, because it can be really important.

 

AGE: Age is also important, think about how old the character is, it can have a big influence on everything about them. An older character going on an adventure for the first time has some different reasons why they stayed in their "safe zone" for so long, reasons that are probably different from a younger character not doing it. Luke didn't leave on the call to adventure earlier in the story because his Aunt and Uncle knew a secret about him and were holding him back because they were worried, an older character on the otherhand usually has to have a different reason they haven't moved out of their safe place and ventured away from their home, in the Truman Show it's because (spoiler) the Director is manipulating him to keep him in the fake town, in Psycho it has to do with the hold his mother continues to have over him, in the 40-year old Virgin it's because of bad experiences in the past that has made him choose to not try to have relationships. So thinking about your character's age is something really important to consider, because WHEN they start their story can have implications related to their character, so age is not something that is simply a random variable thrown on a character either.

 

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: Come up with a basic idea of what your character looks like, think about what their personality is, what they do in their life, what their age is, and just think about what they look like. This is very helpful especially if you have a specific actor or associate in mind specifically for the role. If you already know who is going to be playing them, then you have a great base to begin with, and you just have to come up with the extra qualities about them, for instance maybe they have facial hair, or glasses, or something different about them. This is also helpful for making wardrobe and make-up choices later on, especially if they character looks different from the actor.

 

ROLES AND JOBS: What do they do is a simple question that can be just as important. An Artist is going to summon different preconceptions in the audience than a Fighter Pilot, the situations they may get in are also going to be unique, and Artist is a more common character in a Drama and a Romance, a Fighter Pilot is a more common character in War and Action movies. What they do is really important, and can help dictate situations that are likely to happen. An Artist character is unlikely to end up in a bar with a bunch of Air Force guys, then get into a huge brawl with some guys from another branch of the military, in fact this is about as unlikely to happen as there being a touching scene where the Fighter Pilot makes an emotional breakthrough and comes to a surprising conclusion about what he must do to accomplish an amazing piece he's been working on. Not that these things COULDN'T happen, especially if you had a Pilot that was also an Artist, that can add some depth and make them less one-dimensional to have something non-stereotypical about their character, that can be really good. It's simply you have to think about what kind of situations the different jobs your character can have in relation to the story, and how, where they are putting themselves, and what they are doing can have major implications about where they are headed and what they are doing in the story.

 

WANTS AND NEEDS: Ask yourself what your character wants in the story and what they need. They can be different or the same things. The character may want something very selfish, and part of the story is them growing out of this selfishness and finding what they need. Hammering out what your Character's desires is one of the first things you should think about, so make sure to ask yourself, what does the character want, and how does this cause conflict? Conflict is the stuff that moves the story forward, maybe the antagonist wants or needs the same thing (This happens a lot in the Indiana Jones movies, if the Nazis didn't want the same thing Indy did, it would benefit everybody for them avoid each other's paths. Everyone gets what they want. But that is boring and a bad story.), maybe they are an anti-hero and what they want doesn't vibe with what society deems acceptable, or maybe they are a rebel and they are fighting an oppressive system, or maybe they want true love but have something wrong with them that they'll have to find a way around. Your character has things they want, figure out what those things are and write them down, and if what they need is truly different from what they want.

 

QUIRKS AND FLAWS: Perfect characters are usually pretty boring, since it's hard to give them a chalenge that is actually challenging. So if your character has some weird quirks that can help flesh out their personality (This is helpful when you have a brilliant character, someone like Monk or House, without their problems and quirks holding them back they'd probably be more effective at their jobs, but then it'd be hard to make complete episodes since the problem would be resolved too quickly.) it can help make them more relatable, and more compelling to the audience. Outright character flaws can also be important, characters that are too nice and perfect all the time can be harder to make dynamic, since if they are already perfect, and they don't have anything they must change, then they are uninteresting, and they are basically already at the end of their development. So think about flaws and quirks your character has, and things that can be changed about them as they move throughout the story.

 

INTERNAL CHARACTER: This can be tricky, because you've got to think about what is the heart of the character. What is their ethical code? Are they honest? Are they a sharp character who understands things easily, or do they maybe not have a lot of internal awareness? Just think about the internal traits that make your character your character, once you understand what makes your character tick inside, you have your character, and it can make determining how they'd react in your story easier.

 

BACKSTORY: Write a litle background of your character, you don't have to be really thorough (especially if a lot of the information doesn't come up in the story), but it helps to make a few decisions about maybe where your character grew up, who their parents were, where they went to school, and past experience. That can influence maybe what kind of slang the character uses, what kind of experiences they've had, and things they are familiar with.

 

Once you get that written, I think you'll have a better internal feel for who your character is, and you might find it a lot easier to find the characters voice and make it different from your own now that you're treating them more like they are a real person. Is it always necessary to write ALL of this? No not at all. But for a lot of people it can be really useful, and even if it isn't, you might get to a point where you might need a little information sheet on your character to quickly recall something about them, so if nothing else making a character description sheet is useful for reference and keeping all of your details in order, so go ahead and make them even if you don't use them, you never know when you might really need it.

 

Good luck, and if you have any questions post them in the writeHOW thread in Mogulville!