10 Things about Creating Characters

Hello and welcome (back) to my blog, my dearies!!

Today I want to share with you 10 things about creating characters... what I do, how I come up with them, what helps me and when they give me hell (I'm still not sure I can be helped in that sort of situation, but I do try...). 

Fact #1: For Shakespeare, it's a rose by any other name... for me, rose is rose is rose...unless it's a thorn, of course.

For me, most characters start to come together when I name them. Names are important - I'm kind of obsessive compulsive about them. I look up meanings and everything. Some of my characters change names as their character develops, as if they're changing their skin when the old one gets too tight (ok so sometimes this only happens in my head and not in the actual story but still). I going out on a limb here and assuming I'm not the only one who's obsessive about that kind of thing? 

Fact #2: A little sass never hurt anybody. 

My characters start out very, very cheeky. They're sarcy bastards/bitches, snarking their way through what I'd like the plot to be. They come out with the most outrageous things, just to get my attention, until I throw my hands up in despair and let them mess with my plot, after all. They usually settle down a bit after that. 

Fact #3: Visual aids can be (very) helpful. 

When I've got the bare bones of my character down - hair and eye colour, body type and the likes - I prefer having a photo to inspire Mr Muse. Usually this is some actor or another - not necessarily the one I'd want for a film version of my character, though I've been told some writers like to think of it that way. Just someone who fits the physical characteristics at least marginally, or fits the type of person I'd like my character to be. I know some authors use Pinterest to sort out their visual inspiration. I haven't quite gotten a hang of that, yet, but I think it could have its uses...

Fact #4: Talkshows are popular for a reason.

One of my favourite characterisation exercises is interviewing my characters. Just a chat between the two of us, with both parties asking questions. I guess it's almost a split personality exercise, but isn't all writing like that? We take bits and pieces of our minds and give them a life of their own. Mine like to talk. Lots. In fact, they just LOVE to interrupt me when I'm doing something other than paying attention to them. 

Fact #5: Plot and Character need to mesh. 

I find it really hard to finish my stories. One of the reasons for this is that my characters like to change the game partway through. They no longer fit into the plot I had all set out for them. And no, I don't always figure out where they took the first step down the wrong path. Almost invariably this leads to me redoing the whole shebang. Lately, I've put more effort into making sure my characters actually mesh with the plot I have in mind. I'm hoping things will go more smoothly now, but I'm not holding my breath...

Fact #6: All people have secrets.

Sometimes, the characters keep secrets even from me. I'll get to a certain plot point and BAM! The character I'm working with right then comes up with this little tidbit of backstory I had no clue about. This leads to frantic rethinking plot lines and character motivation on my part. I think it's important that characters retain some sense of mystery for the reader, unless you want said reader outthinking your character every step of the way (that sort of thing probably has its place, but it isn't the way I want to work). I just wish my characters wouldn't keep secrets from ME! Sometimes it makes me feel like my children have suddenly moved out of the house and developed lives of their own (what makes that really weird is that I have no children).

Fact #7: Sometimes, it's love at first sight.

Some characters just sort of click in my head, all charm and picture perfect profile. There he is, Prince Charming himself, perfect for your plot and never possibly discarded. I love these kind of characters, really I do, but they can also be annoying like that too-beautiful cousin or neighbour who just makes everyone else look bad by default. I'm not usually a fan of that kind of person in real life (even more so if they're not only PICTURE perfect, but also very sweet and loving and charming and eugh it's just too much to cope with...)(some of us are ordinary human beings and ordinary human beings don't like to be outperformed on all fronts, now do we?). So what these sort of characters need is a serious flaw or two. Because, let's face it, it might be love at first sight but we don't WANT people to be perfect. 

Fact #8: Sometimes, they grow on you like mould. 

In some stories, I start out really disliking this one character, I designate him as the bad guy, plot him in the darkest of plot lines, let the whole danged thing hinge on his evil deeds. Then he goes and gets this dark sense of humour, and this heart-breaking back story that explains so very much (yes I KNOW that I'm really the one who comes up with the backstory, but hey, that's just not the way it works, is it?). The big bad is suddenly the charming bad guy who has dimples when he smiles his roguish smile. 

*sigh*

Fact #9:  And sometimes, you need to kill your darlings.

No matter how much you like a character, or how perfect you think he is for the bad-guy-role, he may not be the perfect boy for your plot. Or girl, or alien, or abstract being, or whatever. Maybe the problem is not the plot but the character. I have a couple of these. I love them to pieces, but somehow, any plot I try to write around them falls apart. They will find their place eventually, but for now, they're on ice. 

Fact #10: And really, you don't have to like them. 

All said and done, there really isn't any need for you to like your characters. There needs to be an attachment, sure, but like? We can't like everybody (unless you're the Pope or Jesus or Buddah or Mother Theresa or The Dalai Lama some such)(wait that's quite a lot of people, isn't it?), so by extension, we should not like all our characters, either. They need to have their flaws, they need to be fallible, and some of them should probably be almost unlikable. The important thing is not that we like them, it's that they evoke emotions in the reader, that they ring true as human (or elvish or alien) beings. They need to be believable, that's the ticket. 

What about you? Any important fact you'd like to add to my list? 

Thrilling Thursdays of Talking to Tessa's Characters...

Hello my dearies!

It's Thursday today and I've decided to unearth a type of post I used last autumn but then sort of forgot about. In honour of my October Blogathon, Thrilling Thursdays are back! Well, they thrill me, at least -   I hope you like them, too.

Let me explain the concept - one of my favourite methods of characterisation and plot-development is through character interviews. I pretend I'm sitting down right there with one of my characters, and we strike up a conversation. Sometimes it worked out stranger than others (here's a short one and here's another), but no matter what, I've always had fun doing character interviews.

Tessa Conte sits in a comfy armchair before a happily dancing hearth-fire in a room full of books and leather. She has a yellow legal pad on her lap, and is busily chewing the end of her pencil. 

There's a knock at the door.

TC: Come in, please.

A man enters the room, dressed in a desertman's garb, all loosely flowing robes and leather belts holding it all together. He's armed with at least two blades -  a sword on his back and a knife in his belt - that Tessa can see, but there's bound to be more. He comes to a stop before Tessa's chair. 

TC (waits a bit, tapping her pencil against the legal pad): Well? Are you going to sit down? (He sits and pulls off the black turban and veil) Thank you. So, what are we talking about today? How about we start with you introducing yourself to the audience?

R: I'm Rashid.

TC: That's it? Just Rashid?

R (he's studying the room, the fire, the books, anything but looking straight at Tessa): Yes. I'm the Peacemaker's guard.

TC (frowns): Care to elaborate on that? And why aren't you looking at me?

R (deliberately turns his head to look straight at a spot behind Tessa's right shoulder): I'm just a guard, I shouldn't be looking at you.

TC (watches him for a bit): Are you looking for threats, Rashid? (he just nods) So you'd protect me, too, then?

R (apparently startled, he meets Tessa's gaze and she sees that his eyes are a strangely mezmerizing honey shade): Yes, my lady. Of course I would! That's my purpose, is it not?

TC: To protect?

R (frowns, then nods as if he needs to reassure himself of this): Yes. I protect, that's what I'm here for. There's nothing else for me, is there?

TC: You don't sound very certain of that.

R (looks into the fire; his hand is resting on the hilt of his dagger, clenching and unclenching): I don't know what to think. I have no memory older than the day I was given into the Peacemaker's service, you know that, don't you? How am I to know what or who I was before then? It should not matter. I know I can't be that anymore, that I'm not allowed to, but...

TC (leans forward): But?

R: But there's something there, shadows, echoes of something...

TC (sits back in her chair): We'll figure it out, don't worry.  

Writing exercises galore!!

With perfect timing (seeing as it's my CampNaNo month and I need to get hoppin'), Charmaine Clancy of Wagging Tales is holding a blogfest:

It's all about posting a writing exercise and trying out other people's. My favourite writing exercise is actually more of a characterisation exercise.

The Character Interview! 

• Imagine you're a journalist, writing a column for your favourite newspaper/magazine. 
• Pick a character you've been having problems with
• Invite him or her to your office, offer them coffee/tea/lemonade
• Play 20 questions with them! All questions must be relevant to the character and/or the plot. He/she asks you about things that will or did happen in the story, you ask him/her about what they think, feel, whatever. 
• Rinse and repeat as necessary ; P

I absolutely adore this exercise. Many, many of my plot and character problems have resolved themselves during these interviews. Sometimes, we (the character & I) discover entirely new storylines and plot points. I can definitely recommend this, particularly if you're suffering from writers' block! 

Have fun! 

ps. here's some character interviews I've done before:

• with Redblade and Cavan
• with Silence

Super Snooper Blogfest

It's March 2nd today, and do you know what that means? It's Super Snooper Blogfest time!!

Without further ado....

High up in the Southern Tower there's a large, circular room accesible by a single narrow door on an almost deserted corridor of the Castle. The inner walls are bare stone, huge blocks of dark grey granite, the seams marked almost white by the characteristic clay mortar used in the North. The room smells faintly of cedarwood, beeswax and the kind of oil used to care for weapons and armor. 

There's a large bed on the eastern side, big enough for two. Blankets and furs and pillows are piled high at the back of the bed. The sheet is clean but the bed clearly hasn't been made up properly in some time. There's bits and pieces of clothing, some of them from a uniform, peeking out from under the white-oak bedframe. 

A desk, specially made to fit the rounded walls, covers much of the southern quarter of the room. There's a large window above it, flooding the room with cool white sunlight. The desk itself is accompanied by two chairs and surrounded by a veritable herd of books. They're teetering on messy piles like drunken soldiers, leaning against each other and the desk where they can. Left and right of the window, bits of paper are tacked all over the walls, sketches of battles past and notes analysing strategies. 

The surface of the desk is covered in parchments, books, pots of ink, pencils and quills. One of the ink pots has been knocked over and now stands as a lone island in a sea of black. To the left of the bed a large cedar clothes-chest stands open, messy contents clearly visible. The only properly folded clothes inside are sets of uniform, and even those could do with some pressing. 

To the right of the bed there's a large weapons' rack filled with various types of swords, daggers and even two lances propped up against the wall. Above the rack a parade shield hangs on the wall, shiny and beautiful and mostly for show. The real deal is only just visible from where it's hiding behind the door. Behind the shields, purposefully hidden from view, lie two sets of boots, one half-cleaned the other still covered in mud. 

There! Who do you think lives there? I've written about this room before. I'll let you know whose it is tomorrow, shall I? Or maybe you can guess? 


Thank you Alison for hosting this cool blogfest! Everyone else, let me know what you think then go see what everyone else's rooms look like. 

An interview with Merle...

Takes place sometime during the beginning of the first chapter of my story....

Tessa: (motions for her guest to sit in one of the soft chairs before the fireplace; the young man before her looks at the chair as if not quite sure what to do, but finally sits down right on the edge of the seat) Nice to meet you, Merle. I've been looking forward to this for some time now.

Merle: (he bows to me, a courtier's move with a cute little flourish) Uhm...thank you. Nice to meet you, too, ma'am.

T: (smiling at him) Took you long enough to come by.

M: (bobs his head down, won't meet T's eyes) Sorry, ma'am.

T: (waves a hand through the air) Don't worry about it. You're here now. So tell me, Merle, what are you up to at the moment?

M: Nothing, ma'am.

T: That can't be right. I know for a fact that you won the last arena match, and quite handily, too.

M: Yes, ma'am.

T: So....?