The function of writing seems easy enough. Take character “A” through scenes 1, 2,and 3. Place her in a dramatic location, yes, Guam will do, and now we have a best-selling novel right? Well, unfortunately the answer is usually no. Why is that? We can make sure the book is action-packed. We can ensure that the scenes are interesting and well described, what else can we do? We’ve forgotten one of the most important steps, we haven’t yet developed our characters.
About two years ago I read a wonderful book by Steven King call, “About Writing”. In it he details some of the ways that he creates his stories. One of the things he said that I found extremely helpful, was that he treated each person like they were real. He considered his stories a reality that was simply hidden, and he had to do everything within his power to discover the truth.
If we were to compare starting our stories to beginning an archeological dig, then our characters start off being nothing more than a protruding femur bone or two. We might have made a rough sketch of the plot. Scene one leads to scene two and so on, but we still haven’t met our character yet. We know about them, but we don’t really know them.
The fastest way to really get to know your character is to just start writing about them. If you have a basic idea of the story you want to write, start with a scene that really stands out to you. Pick the part of the story that you really care about that represents a time where your character learns, changes, or struggles in some way.
There are two writing tools that will help you discover this character better. The first one is obviously dialogue. How does this person react to the people around them? How much confidence do they have? What types of words do they use to describe things? When they converse with other people, do they actually listen to others, or are they simply thinking about what they want to say next? When you write dialogue make sure to describe not just what they say but also how they say it. This lets us see other implied feelings that maybe they don’t want to admit to the person they are talking to, or to themselves. I’m sure most of us don’t always wear our hearts on our shirt sleeves, so to speak. We don’t tell every person we meet that we are stressed out from a horrible day at work, but maybe that would be obvious by the way we talked to them.
Examples:
1a) “John get your clothes off of the floor please.”
1b) “John,” Carin said with exasperation, “get your clothes off of the floor please.”
2a) “I love ice cream!”
2b) Jane rolled her eyes and said in an overly chipper smile, “I love ice cream!”
3a) “What are you doing?”
“I’m reading.”
3b) Paul’s mother thrust open the door trying to surprise him, “What are you doing?”
Paul quickly shoved the papers under the open text book on his desk, “I’m reading.”
The second way to develop your character is to describe thought process, which in my opinion is one of the most crucial tools you can use. Character thought process is sort of like an interior monologue that’s going on inside the character’s head all of the time. We all do this, but the language we use, and the way we look at things is different. Describing the thoughts, feelings, and reactions your character has to a certain situation will bring life to them. This is also the most powerful way for the reader to empathize with him or her. Many times we don’t normally voice all of our fears, and dreams. In some ways, we can get to know the characters we write or read about more intimately then we can know most of the real people in our lives.
Examples:
1a) John looked up to see that the theater was closed. He started his car and headed home.
1b) John looked up to see that the theater was closed.
‘It figures.’
John tried to hold back the disappointment that this was the second weekend in a row completely consumed by studying. He started his car and headed home.
2a) “Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“No, it’s okay.”
2b) “Are you sure you don’t mind?”
Mind? How could he possibly mind? It only meant that the girl of his dreams would never understand how he really felt, that the long looks, the compliments, the shoulder to cry on had not been enough to help her see it. He didn’t think he’d ever be able to get the nerve to ask her, and that meant the situation was hopeless.
“No, it’s okay.”
These examples clearly demonstrate the power of fully developed characters. They are what make the story interesting; they are what keep the readers reading.
To sum up this little article I’d like to give you some motivation to apply these principles to your stories. Why does it matter if my characters are realistic? How much power can that have? Well the short answer is quite frankly, you’ve got to do this to make your work professional, but let me borrow from history.
The full potential of strong character development was demonstrated by the classic novel, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” in the mid-1800s. If you want to read something that will make you cry---this is it. The thing that I find fascinating is that this novel was written about a decade before the civil war, and for the first time it showed slavery from the perspective of the slave. This one little book was the main catalyst bringing thousands of supporters to Northern abolitionist groups which before then had been nearly non-existent. Those groups in turn were a huge base of support for Abraham Lincoln’s presidential campaign, which in turn eventually led to slavery’s abolishment.
In short, it got people thinking through someone else’s eyes. It helped them to think about what it might be like to be a slave in America, and why what they were doing was wrong. Empathy is a powerful thing. Whether you want to make people learn, laugh, or cry, strong well developed characters are the key to your story’s success.
Character development is one of the most important parts of writing a meaningful piece of prose. We can do all kinds of horrible things to them, burn them, starved them, kill them, break their heart, but no one will care unless we’ve allowed the reader to get to know them.
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