CHARACTER

Bringing a character to life for your reader is a complicated business. It’s also one of the most important aspects of storytelling – some would say it’s the most important aspect. Of course different types of fiction require different techniques. Over a long novel, you could build a complicated and detailed personality for your main character; in a flash fiction, you have to create an impressionistic snapshot with just a few well-chosen words.

Some characters are rounded – which means the writer has put a lot of effort into developing them as people. Rounded characters are complicated people. Often their complex personalities are what drive the plot.

Some characters are flat –these characters might be interesting and dramatic, but they have mainly exterior characteristics; we know about their behaviour, and maybe their appearance, rather than their interior life. Often, their simple personalities are used to serve the plot.

Both types of character are important in fiction. Often, the protagonist will be the most rounded character, and there will be a supporting cast of flat (or less rounded) people. If writers had to round out every single character, nothing would happen in the story!

Flat characters can be useful for moving the plot forward, for creating comedy, and for developing the relationships between other, more rounded characters. As with everything in creative writing, it’s not just either/or. In most fictions, you will find some characters are very rounded, some characters are very flat

To understand the relationship between flatness and roundedness, we will examine an exchange between Walter White, Skyler White and Saul Goodman from S3, episode (11) of Breaking Bad.

Background to the scene:

The summary above is almost completely plot-based and external. Ittells us little about these three characters from the inside. Based on the information provided, what personal qualities would you expect each character to have?

When we watch the sequence, think about how these three characters work in terms of flatness and roundedness. What are the benefits of having the different character types in this scene?

CREATING CHARACTERS FOR STORIES

  • What we are looking at in the next few exercises is what Robert McKee would describe as characterization. But first, think about what he says. He claims you can separate characterization from something he callscharacter. Do you agree?

When creating a character, you are trying to make up a person your reader can believe in. Characterization is an important element of that.

Usually, you will be looking to invent a character who is:

Believable – readers need to be convinced that such a person could exist.

Involving – some aspect of the character needs to draw in the reader’s interest.

Visual – the reader needs to be able to ‘see’ the character.

Original – even if the character is based on an archetype, s/he should not be a stereotype.

Consistent – this doesn’t mean characters need to be predictable, or that they always behave in the same way, but their behaviour needs to fit who they are. If they act ‘out of character’, there has to be a proper reason for that.

  • Think of example characters from stories and dramas you’ve enjoyed. Are there any who don’t fit these five criteria?
  • Do you think these five criteria apply to flat characters as well as to rounded ones?

SETTING UP A CHARACTER

Flat or rounded, your characteralways starts with some basic details.

Often, the process of creating an interesting character will lead you to an interesting story.

OCCUPATION

How can you make jobs more exciting when inventing your characters? Don’t choose the obvious. Play about with historical period, gender or the nature of their role.

For example, let’s take the job of CHEF:

There might be a story in that, but the situation is clichéd and you could struggle to develop the character into an interesting person. How about this instead?

The second idea may not be totally original, but it has a lot more story potential than the first one.

Try thinking imaginatively about the following list of jobs. Give each one an interesting twist.

Film-maker

Bureaucrat

Soldier

Teacher

Solicitor

Cleaner

Farmer

Carpenter

Beautician

Vicar

Secretary

Housewife

Relief worker

Servant

INTRODUCTIONS

Choose one of your characters from the ‘Occupations’ exercise

Introduce your character using the following format:

This is [insert name]

S/he is a [insert occupation]

S/he likes...... and …......

S/he dislikes...... and......

Describe three suggestive details about her/his appearance

Give us three of her/his words for red, cold etc.

Explain how s/he tends to speak.

What is s/he afraid of?