Creating Characters Before Writing A Story

One of the hardest lessens I had to learn was to keep the descriptions of my characters as thin as possible while writing the first daft so to avoid closing off their possibilities before I really got to know them. Which grew to the point now where I don't even care if the character made it through the whole story without ever having their hair color described. If it didn't make a difference to the story, then it doesn't make a difference. People will automatically fill in those bits for themselves without even being aware that they did it.

 

I actually am currently in a trap with my own character sheets. I am spending so much time working on them that I am not writing. I think it has to do with my fear that what I write will not be good enough. My suggestion, based on my experience, is to grab a general character sheet from the net. Add your character's name, or anything else that may seem pertinent, like age and major goal of the moment. Then focus on the story. As you write, things about your character will come up, be sure to note them on your sheet where the information belongs, and you should be good. You may not know everything there is to know about your character when you start, and sometimes, trying to know everything about them can be a problem in itself, like accidentally presenting a predictable character to readers.

I read somewhere that there was a book published which had a guy whose horse and eyes kept changing color and the heroine's name kept changing. So it is a good idea to have a character sheet to refer to, just in case.

Cat

 

I am the opposite of you, it seems. I am very good at creating characters and imagining every detail about them. I suck at coming up with decent plots and I always tend to be more interested in my characters than my plots.

Mithrandil's advice isn't bad, but we are all different. Some people are okay with only having vague ideas about their characters and some people want to know everything about them. You should find out what you are most comfortable with.
If you want to know your characters better, why not have them interact with each other? Have a paper and pen or laptop in front of you and write down the first simple scene you come up with. You don't have to plan it or anything. Just sit there and write the first things that come up in your head as you imagine your characters interact with each other.
Imagine the characters inside your head and imagine how they will react to different scenarios. Another brilliant idea is to take quizzes and personality tests while imagining that your characters are answering them! Answer as if you would answer for your characters! I used to do that while I was creating my characters, and I think it was so much fun!
Some people might suggest writing character profiles and that might work for some, but it doesn't work well for me, as far as I know.

 

Well, in theory I just leave my characters... blank at first. Just what they are and not who they are as the story will evolve their the definition of whom they are. I have a black guy, who's a best friend of my MC. Only needed to meet him and the scales go up. I prefer to leave them blank and make the info pop up when you met with the characters in your book.

 

It's the story that shapes the characters, not the characters that shape the story. You should have a general idea before you start writing of what your characters stand for and what their personalities and beliefs are but, in my experience, detailing every single aspect of them in a character sheet will result in problems. You'll end up writing a scene and then referring back to the sheet to work out how the character you've described would react and the scene you'll end up with may not necessarily be the scene you would originally have written. It's best if you let those sort of things develop naturally as you write. It's a bit like how an artist would draw a painting. Start off with just a very very simple framework, a broad outline of who the character is and then start the story with that. You'll fill in the rest of the painting as you write the story.

 

Often the plot comes from the characters. I mean, I wouldn't call them instruments. More like... you channel the story through them, but they can't come off as puppets on strings, the reader shouldn't get the feeling the author is the MASTER OF PUPPETS ("Obey your master! Master!" uh, sorry...). Plot twists can't happen just 'cause the author wants some plot twist happen. It has to make sense with the characters' decisions. This is why I want to know my characters quite well beforehand. Sure, I throw them into some mess, but I have to get them out by respecting their characteristics and abilities. So yeah, whatever T and I write is definitely character driven. The plot is there, of course, but the story forms itself around "the cast."

 

I don't know... My stories are never completely character driven or completely plot driven. Both elements are so completely important to all of the projects I work on. I can't just rip one out and say "My story would be just fine without this." I can't just put any character into my storylines and have them work. Likewise, I can't just throw my character into any universe and say "DEAL WITH IT!" and have that work out for them. The two elements are what they are as a result of each other.

 

With characters I tend to listen to my story and listen to what it's trying to tell me. Characters kind of speak for themselves. I think you should base that character on their role. But just think of every aspect of who they are, like try doing a timeline of their life, from when they were born to the point of where your story begins. Think of their family, life and surroundings. I also use this:

Name:
Age:
Appearance:
Marital Status:
Place of birth:
Current home:
Occupation:
Parents:
Siblings:
Childhood:
Qualifications:
Relationships:
Personality:
Special skills:
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Hobbies & Interests:
What they'd like to achieve:

 

I tend to think of characters from the point of view what their role in the story is. I try define that role in one sentence and than add a few bullet points of key facts about the character. Then let the character develop as the story progresses:

The flash card for the villain in my current novel looks like this:

Volton Falstis - The omnipresent threat of the Praxis Republic
- High Ranking Black Coat
- Most of his people wiped out by the father of the last emperor
- Looks a bit like Guy Fawkes
- Carries a bandoleer of different glass vials and a brass pistol
- Devoted to protecting the Republic and its people.
- Ruthless in the execution of his duty but an honorable and respected commander.

 

When we meet new people we do not need to have their life story to form an impression. We can get to know someone well enough to guess how s/he will react in a given situation, whether we could rely on them in certain circumstances, whether they would be sympathetic or understanding, while knowing very little about their past. I think all of replies are saying that it is like that with your characters. As you get to know them better then you might need to explain some of their attitudes and behaviors with some background, but by then you will know them quite well. Getting to know them and letting them develop naturally are parallel ways in which they grow through your writing. First impressions are not always right in real life, they may not be in your writing either and your reader may never need to know as much about them as you. They will get to know them in their own way and you will tell them all they need to know from their actions the things, they say, how they interact with others so that they can form their own impressions just as they would when they meet and get to know real people.

 

At the same time that I can say for a fact that some people work fine just simply getting to know their characters through the writing process, I don't think there's anything wrong with a writer delving deeper into the history in a separate area. No one's saying that there's something wrong with developing a character simply through the writing process. What some people are saying is that, for some writers - and I count myself among those ranks - it's nice to get to know the character even further. Now, granted: I learn the base of all of my character's traits through the writing process. I learn what they act like and I learn little aspects of their pasts. But I like to go elsewhere and develop things further than that. I like to think that, if someone asked me a question about my character, I'd be able to answer that question on the spot. Is that necessary for writing a book? Of course not. But I like having that kind of super in-depth knowledge about that character and their personality. I like being super intimate with them. I like to think that someone could throw out a different scenario - something that could have happened to my character and how I would have them react - and that I would know how to answer that.

No, I do not develop my characters before I write my story. But I do go far more in-depth than to simply sit there and say "This is how my character is reacting at this point and maybe in five chapters I'll know why." I like to sit down and say "My character has an intense fear of the dark. She can't stand to be alone when she can't see things perfectly clear." And then I'll think to myself "How does she react to the darkness? What does she do?" I'll note that it's nothing out of the ordinary - she's jumpy, constantly looking about, hoping she'll be able to see something. Making sure there's not someone standing right behind her. This may (or may not) lead me to believe that she was frightened by someone or something at some point in her past that got her frightened. Maybe it's something small - big brother grabbed her from behind as a prank and it scarred her. Or maybe it's something more serious. I'll consider all possibilities. I'll write a few of them down. And throughout the course of my story, I'll be able to wiggle out "This doesn't feel right. This doesn't make sense." And eventually I'll know why my character is afraid of the dark. No. I'm not going to explain the whole damn thing to my reader. They don't need to know. They don't want to know. I don't care to tell them unless someone specifically asks. But it gives me a sense of intimacy - which I enjoy - with my character and makes me feel more comfortable when writing them.

Yes, I can judge a bit about a person when I first meet them. Yes, I can gather facts about them as we talk and I don't have to give them a questionnaire asking them about their lives. But then, I'm not trying to write a novel about that person. I'm not trying to get intimate details about them so that I can portray them well and proper in my books. Now, granted, I could probably write a novel about at least four of my friends and portray them each properly, because I've known those particular four friends for an extensive period of time and have taken the time to get to know them. But I don't want to have to take six years (how long I've known my best friend) in order to write about them properly. So, yes, I do speed up the process. I do write out alternate scenes, brief narratives about events in their pasts, and little notes that I can develop further as I go along.

What I don't see is why my character outline is any different from someone else's chapter outline. I don't know anyone who, by the time they've edited their novel a few times, can use the same chapter outline that they used to write the book. But it is seen by (most) writers as an acceptable and handy tool to get you going and to give you something to go off of. So if your chapter outline doesn't have to be set in stone, why would you assume that my character outline has to be set in stone? I can tell you right now that mine doesn't. I can tell you that the things I write at the beginning are not going to match what the character is like, necessarily, at the end of the book. I can tell you that, after a few edits, I could probably write a completely new character sheet for my character that you wouldn't think came from the same person.

Character sheets are not about writing down "Character has blond hair and blue eyes." They're not about saying "Character's favorite food is pie," or "Character likes rap music." These are useless (though somewhat entertaining if you know them) facts that aren't going to help your story. Character sheets are about prompting you with possible bits of information that you may or may not know about your character. That you may or may not need to know about your character. That you may or may not find out about your character. They're a place where you can start writing something tiny and let yourself keep writing and exploring without worrying about editing out and (potentially) losing that information later. It's a place where you, as a writer, can go absolutely nutso and not worry about your readers get frustrated with the info dump.