Character Sketches

Posted by Jen on Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 @ 10:07 am

How do you get to know your characters?

For my latest WIP, I’ve been trying something new. I’ve been calling them “Character Sketches” but I think “Character Writing Assignments” would be a more accurate description.

Usually when I come up with a character, I store most of her (or his) backstory in my head. I do have a spreadsheet where I list certain qualities like appearance, personality quirks, relationships, etc. But the deeper stuff, the “how this person became who they are” information is all up in my head. Or even anything longer than a short description in an Excel column to explain personality quirks. I do know why they have them, for the most part. I just haven’t fully explored or explained on paper.

Sometimes I do this in the actual novel, but there’s a whole lotta story for many characters that don’t get explained on the page if not relevant to the particular story. And for this WIP, one where so many characters have an important backstory that got them to this place, I wanted to explore those stories in more depth. One day, I’d like to write some companion books in this world, but I don’t know when I’ll do that.

So, I’ve started writing mini-stories for each of my important characters in this WIP. By mini-story I mean this: About two pages, written in first person POV of that character. It’s sort of like a school writing assignment: Write about an important event in your life. It doesn’t have to be a major event, just something that character remembers about his life that he feels shaped him or affected him in some way.

It’s giving me a chance to learn more about my characters, really get inside their heads. Most of this stuff isn’t going to go into the actual novel, but I do feel it’s helping develop them on page. Making them come alive because I can better understand how and why they would react or act in a certain way.

Plus, I’m having tons of fun doing it.

Comments

By Dan on June 16th, 2009 at 12:30 pm

I’ll usually do short biographical entries for each of my main characters–about a page or so, kind of like something you’d find in an encyclopedia. Depending on the story, I’ve even been known to write up military-style dossiers.

I’ve never thought of doing personal mini-stories, though. I like that idea. It sounds like a lot of fun.