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The Anatomy of a Character
Nov. 12th, 2015 03:28 pmTis the season for NaNoWriMo. I've been doing it for years now, and I always enjoy it. Part of the reason is because it gives me a reason to write. Not that I don't already have ideas, but I tend to work best under pressure. I always was one of those people that waited until 3am to do my homework, or study for a test. I once prepared a presentation on Abraham Lincoln (complete with costume and poster board visual aid) in 24 hours in my final year of grade school. Got an awesome grade for that. The same process didn't work so well for my senior project, but that's another story.
NaNoWriMo is also a chance to expand my skills as a writer. I've never been a good student when it comes to English. All the rules and regulations make my head spin. I've always been a bit believer in if it sounds good, I'm okay with it. However, as a writer you look at things very differently. Especially when it comes to your characters.
I heard recently a tip given to someone if they're suffering from writer's block, that to work through it you can try writing a letter to your character to ask what they want to do. They'll usually surprise you. I've done variations on that before. I've written biographies for my characters, and that usually serves as a wonderful guide for me to experience my character from the inside out. It's always been my experience that if you truly know your character, they'll write the story for you.
It sounds weird if you've never experienced it. It gets even weirder if you're hearing the voice of your characters too. Some will have dreams where their characters nag them about differing plot points. I've been driven to write an entire email to a business client once in the voice of my character just because the character had something in my mind that I'd been ignoring.
I suppose that leads me to my next point. I almost always outline my story in some way. How I do that really depends on the story itself. One story I knew the background of my main character, and knew the end outcome of a secondary character. Once I put the two together it wrote itself. It required a hell of a lot of research to build that initial character. But another time I did the same background research, built an extensive outline of where I wanted the character to go, and then had my character hijack the story and take it in a different direction entirely. Never be afraid to just let go and see where it takes you.
I'm always learning, and always writing. I enjoy seeing different ways of doing things. The story I'm doing now is taking a far more traditional approach to the plot in how its structured. The characters are writing themselves to a point, but it's within the guidelines I've set for them.
As I said, it just depends on the story for me.
So how do you do it? Do your methods differ depending on the character or story line? Do you do it the same every time? Or does it just depend on the inspiration that's driven the story you're writing? I'm curious to know how others see the writing process when it comes to building your characters.
NaNoWriMo is also a chance to expand my skills as a writer. I've never been a good student when it comes to English. All the rules and regulations make my head spin. I've always been a bit believer in if it sounds good, I'm okay with it. However, as a writer you look at things very differently. Especially when it comes to your characters.
I heard recently a tip given to someone if they're suffering from writer's block, that to work through it you can try writing a letter to your character to ask what they want to do. They'll usually surprise you. I've done variations on that before. I've written biographies for my characters, and that usually serves as a wonderful guide for me to experience my character from the inside out. It's always been my experience that if you truly know your character, they'll write the story for you.
It sounds weird if you've never experienced it. It gets even weirder if you're hearing the voice of your characters too. Some will have dreams where their characters nag them about differing plot points. I've been driven to write an entire email to a business client once in the voice of my character just because the character had something in my mind that I'd been ignoring.
I suppose that leads me to my next point. I almost always outline my story in some way. How I do that really depends on the story itself. One story I knew the background of my main character, and knew the end outcome of a secondary character. Once I put the two together it wrote itself. It required a hell of a lot of research to build that initial character. But another time I did the same background research, built an extensive outline of where I wanted the character to go, and then had my character hijack the story and take it in a different direction entirely. Never be afraid to just let go and see where it takes you.
I'm always learning, and always writing. I enjoy seeing different ways of doing things. The story I'm doing now is taking a far more traditional approach to the plot in how its structured. The characters are writing themselves to a point, but it's within the guidelines I've set for them.
As I said, it just depends on the story for me.
So how do you do it? Do your methods differ depending on the character or story line? Do you do it the same every time? Or does it just depend on the inspiration that's driven the story you're writing? I'm curious to know how others see the writing process when it comes to building your characters.
