Random Prompts for Character Development

Last year, I bought Natalie Goldberg’s book, Old Friend from Far Away: The Practice of Writing Memoir. A friend saw Goldberg present at a bookstore about this book and was impressed, so I bit.

Now, I’m not much into writing a memoir. My life has been pretty average. But I’ve kept this book close for the last six weeks or so as I work through the revision on my novel-in-progress. Why? Because it centers on character description and a character’s inner life, and has tons of prompts.

Yesterday I reached a point where I knew that A was thinking about B and needed to decide to invite her over to visit. But how could A justify this, since they were so different?

Old Friend prompt: The Half-n-Half chapter (p. 199-200) reminded me to look around the setting. Goldberg says, “Public school had it all wrong with their topics: justice, morality, liberty, freedom, education.”

Instead, she suggests you look around your setting. Apparently, she was writing that chapter at a coffee shop, because here is part of her list: “half and half, sugar, cherry jelly, peppermint tea, Pepsi. . . .”

Oh, I remember now. Characters live in the particulars, the specifics of who they are, not in the generalities. When you describe your character and put him/her into action, the character description must include details. It took me only a few seconds of brainstorming to come up with band-aids. Yes, band-aids. A reflects on how B decided to get a plain skin-colored band-aids, not a neon color, or a Barbie or GI Joe one, or some other weird pattern, but just a plain one. That made B an okay person in A’s eyes. Short paragraph, in and out of A’s head in a blink.

That worked for me. Much better than the rambling thing I had tried before.

Old Friend has tons of short prompts, anything from one sentence prompt to a couple pages to explain something. It’s not that I couldn’t have come up with band-aids eventually; it’s just that these prompts, chosen randomly, seem to help me speed up the writing time, while deepening character.

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I’ve been working on my plot this week – which means I’ve been working on character.

I’ve been struck again by how interwoven these two are. We artificially separate them out to talk about them, but in practice, you can’t work on plot without considering character.

• Conflict. For example, when I tried to decide on what conflict would enhance this plot, I realized I needed to know my villain better. This surprised me. I thought it would be enough to know the main character of this subplot better; but she’s in direct opposition to her villain and without knowing his motivations, skills, weaknesses, likes, dislikes, I couldn’t develop the conflict.


Photo from http://www.flickr.com/photos/jaxxon/22907128/

• Life events. Also, my main character has just had a traumatic event in her life and many issues remain unresolved. I sorta knew her basic character, but I did some reading about child psychology and how kids typically deal with similar events. Apathy and daydreaming were mentioned. I realized that while my character might be generally cheerful, these events in her life might make her forgetful, she might lapse into daydreaming at the wrong moments. Ah, conflict.
• From the beginning. The worst of it is that I had to go back to the beginning of the story again and start to weave in character traits and make slight modifications to conflict. Sigh. But in the end, the story will be more consistent and much stronger. It’s been a good revision this week.

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by Darcy Pattison

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Shh! Don’t tell anyone else, but my character just told me a secret.

Great Way to Find Unusual Secrets

One common complaint about a first draft is that the characterization needs to be deeper. In Sol Stein’s book, Stein on Writing, Chapter 16 talks about the secret snapshot technique. Stein recommends that you think about what secret snapshot is hidden in your character’s wallet. Secrets in general deepen characterization because they provide motivation and emotional depth. Stein says, “I remind you that the best fiction reveals the hidden things we usually don’t talk about.”

PostSecret

So, I was fascinated to find the Post Secret blog. Readers are encouraged to send a postcard that explains their secret. Updated on Sundays, the blog is an interesting look into the hidden life of a wide variety of people. Be forewarned: some are PG-13 or X-rated, but most are general topics. I’m finding it interesting to read them with the idea of possibly adding them to a character’s background. Find any of interest for your work?

There are now three PostSecret books featuring past postings:

• A Lifetime of Secrets: A PostSecret Book
• PostSecret Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives
• The Secret Lives of Men and Women: A PostSecret Book

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

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Character’s strengths and weaknesses influence plot, character relationships and how well we like a character. Before you decide on these, think about how these characteristics will ripple through the story.

Character Strengths and Weaknesses

1. Inherited or Acquired?Are your character’s strengths and weaknesses inherited or acquired? If inherited, they may be accepted easily by the character, or may be sources of great aggravation: the Prince is often irritated to BE the Prince and wants to see what a normal life would be like.

   If acquired, strengths may come at great sacrifice and struggle. Weaknesses may result from great tragedies. Either way, understanding the source of the strength/weakness can help you motivate your character and put him/her into motion.

2. Distinguish from other characters
   This is one of the options for making your character memorable. Do you remember the brother in From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler? Jamie cheat at card games. That’s why I remember him.
3. Weakness–source of conflict, or way to solve conflict
   When you present your character with events that require him/her to do something at which s/he is weak, then it’s a source of conflict. On the contrary, weaknesses can sometimes be a way to solve conflict–at least temporarily. Many parents react to a child’s temper tantrum by giving in to the child’s demands. In the short run, the conflict is solved, even while it’s made worse in the long run.
4. Strength–relieves conflict, or way to solve conflict
   When you present your character with events that require him/her to do something at which s/he is strong, then–well, where’s the conflict? On the other hand, sometimes, an unexpected or previously untapped strength can arise to solve a conflict. Just be sure you’re set it up.
5. Use a weakness to solve the final plot problem
   Resolving conflict because you’re strong will evoke the weakest emotion. The strongest emotion is evoked when a character faces opposition and must rise above his/her weakness to do something anyway.

Think carefully about a character’s weaknesses and strengths, because it has great impact on plotting.

Read more of 15 Days to a Stronger Character.

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

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Before December 11, 2006, I wouldn’t have thought to describe a character’s voice. Then along came Vocal Impressions on National Public Radio. Wow! It’s evocative to describe a character’s voice, and if you use a metaphor that also evokes a character quality, you’re even farther along!

Raw Voice + Apt Metaphor = Characterization

From the 10th installment of Vocal Impressions come these characterizations:

• Ray Charles

  Listeners say the singer sounds like:

  • The voice of the maitre d’ who tells you to keep the $50 after putting you at the best table in the house — Brad Densmore
  • A ’64 Corvette tuned by an angel — Tim Hathaway
  • Honey on a bruise — Kristin Schade



• Lucille Ball
  Listeners say the comedienne sounds like:
  • The twinkle in a little girl’s eye when she finds her mother’s lipstick for the first time — Noelle Leiblic
  • A windup toy you just let loose — Laura Sysko
  • A velvet hammer soaked in henna rinse — Lynette Dupree
• Harvey Fierstein
  Listeners say the actor sounds like:
  • The fuzzy dice on my pink Cadillac — Tim Klavon
  • A lion with an elegant fashion sense — Tim Hathaway
  • The voice of the killer in the horror movie — Catherine Zaegel
• Cher

  Listeners say the singer sounds like:

  • A long, straight, vertical, blue, neon light — Martha Buyer
  • The entire cast of the Ice Capades winking at you — Jill Stearling
  • A really good sneeze — Leslie Abrahamson

Think about the differences in your character’s voices: the main characters, supporting characters, good characters v. bad characters, villains. Fictional characters will come alive as you start to “hear” them speaking.

Other Vocal Impressions on National Public Radio

Number Nine
Number Eight
Number Seven
Number Six
Number Five
Number Four
Number Three
Number Two
Number One

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

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Character Profiles include Interior Traits

Inside, I’m different than the person you see. Isn’t that true for all of us? We look in a mirror and are amazed at that person staring back.

What is your character like on the inside? Interior character qualities may never make it into a description of a character, but from everything the character does, thinks, says, it will be obvious. Characterization involves giving the reader a glimpse of the emotions and thoughts of a character.

This is one of the main differences between movies and novels: movies can only hint at the character’s interior reactions, while novels give it to the reader directly.

When an event happens, the main character should have an opinion about the action which is shown through the characters thoughts: event, character’s interior reaction to the event (thoughts and emotions), exterior reaction to the event, usually an action. In your book, story or novel, all important events should be passed through this filter of the character’s thoughts and emotions. This type character development lays bare a main character for the reader to enjoy.

5 Interior Character Traits to Explore

As you profile your fictional characters, consider these traits:

• Intelligence. Intelligence is shown through the character’s vocabulary and the brilliance of his/her scheming to get his/her own way.
• Intuition. Does your character understand things without having it explained? Intuition is a grasp of events, people, situations or puzzles without detailed explanation or exploration.
• Curiosity. A main character which constantly questions the world and setting of the story is curious. After an event, this character will be seeking more information.
• Honesty. Got a dishonest character? The contrast between inside thoughts and outside actions will reveal how much the character values honesty.
• Spirituality. When a character reacts by appealing to God, or by invoking destiny, s/he reveals her spirituality. This character trait can dominate a fictional character, or it could be used as gentle asides. Either way, spirituality has potential for characterization.

For more character traits to explore, read Creating Characters: A Writer’s Reference to the Personality Traits That Bring Fictional People to Life by Howard Lauther.

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Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

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This is part of a series of 15 Days to a Stronger Character, tips to help you as you write a novel or revise a novel. Also, see the companion series, Novel Diagnosis and 30 Days to a Stronger Novel.

Create Unique Characters with Unusual Roles in Life

What roles does your fictional character serve in your novel and how can you use the character roles effectively as you create a character sketch?

Family Roles. Most of us have roles within a family: daughter, mother, mother-in-law, step-mother, sister, half-sister, etc. A character’s roles should be defined in your story, novel, book or movie and then individualized by the ways the family relates. Is it more interesting to have the sisters or half-sisters?

Community Roles. Other roles for characters involve community structure: peace-maker, black sheep of the family, prince, servant, defiant teen, etc. Again, individualize these character roles. Not just the princess, but the princess who is so sensitive that she can feel a pea under a stack of mattresses. Also, read this posting on how roles are used in picturebooks. The article has implications on how you create and write roles for fictional characters in novels, too.

Characters Unusual Jobs

I’ve always wanted to be a Fireworks Expert, one of the people who set up the huge civic displays of fireworks on the 4th of July. Huge fireworks, mind you, not the tiny things you do in your back yard. Or maybe be a demolitions expert, imploding a building, learning exactly where to set the charges to make it implode and not explode.

What jobs did you create for your novel’s main characters have? Boring ones? Teacher, cook, generic business man? Give fictional characters an interesting career, one with some great lingo involved and interesting possibilities. I’m always interested in the symbolic implications of everything in my stories, so I like to think about how the jobs resonant within a story or novel. If a character is a demolitions expert, do their relationships blow up regularly; or to contrast with that, is this character celebrating his/her 30th wedding anniversary?

Some jobs I’d love to see in a novel: broncobuster, wheat farmer, tax accountant, wigmaker, pet groomer, elephant trainer, dollmaker, cartoonist, hearse driver, banjo player, a classical mandolin player who has a best selling CD out, a counterfeiter, an ice sculptor, a computer repairman (who gets into any office, anywhere!), a stiltwalker, a CIA agent, a golf pro, a gossip columnist, a sheriff, a deep-sea diver, an audiologist (my first job!), a church organ builder, a fencing instructor, a stunt pilot, a bridal consultant.

My cousin once told a funny story about a driving in a funeral procession. He was in the line for the funeral, driving right behind the hearse because he was driving the family car. While it was a sad day, his mind wandered, just driving, driving, until he was jerked back to reality when he realized he had pulled out of line and was trying to pass the hearse. Quickly, he braked and got back in line. But his mind wandered again and suddenly, he realized–horrors!–he was passing the hearse again.

Put that in a novel with the main character a hearse driver and you’ve got an interesting point of view going.

Read more in 15 Days to a Stronger Character

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win