I have very little experience with writing and I've come across a problem with my current WIP that I haven't faced before and would appreciate some advice. I never usually plan my characters or do much prep work on them before I start writing because I usually relate to them easily. But this character not so much. I'm finding her so hard to write but I don't want to give up and change characters just yet. If you're having trouble writing a character what do you do? I can't seem to write her in any scenario. Thanks
It helps to really flesh out the character, which I'm not sure if you've done, but since you said you don't do too much character planning I'm assuming. Anyway, there are some pretty simple and quick ways to help you do this. One of which is to give yourself questions and answer them for your character or just plain out have your character answer them. Ex: Does your character have any siblings? What was their upbringing like? What are their parents like? Political views? What do they look for in friendships/relationships Etc. You get as random as you want with these questions depending on how deep you want the character to be, which my advice would say you'd probably want them pretty fleshed out. I hope this can help you, if not just tell me what you are looking for and I can try to help there.
Thank you so much for offering your help but I should have mentioned lots of these questions you can find on this stuff don't apply to my character. My novel is a Fantasy with a character who has no yet been born to the physical world.
So come up with your own questions tailored to your story. Ex if I want to write an elf I might start with what type of elf. What were they like as a child. What difficulty have they faced and how did that change them.
"Robin we're going to edged of the Eye of Terror." "Why Batman?" "We serve the God Emperor of Man, that's why." "Ah man..." "Suck it up boy wonder...Orks, damn it! Do me a favor and try not to get eaten this time." It just takes a bit of time, and a bit of imagination. Perhaps a bit of character building into how they could effectively be implemented into the world created may also help. Though you have to ask yourself: Why don't they work in the world now? Are they too powerful? Do the rely on plot demands and McGuffins to get them to work in an inconsistent way in said world? Are they so unique to the world as to be the only one in it that stands out like a sore thumb just so they overshadow every one around them by being so different that it breaks their ability to integrate into the world? There has to be a way to allow them to function in the story, that will work without totally break the immersion, but still make them a compelling character in their universe. Good luck.
It really depends on why you can't relate to them. Try focusing on aspects of their characterization you can relate to. Listen to their music, get into their head, and try going through some dialogue exercises to try and help find their voice. If they're completely alien, that may not be a good thing, especially if they take up a lot of column space. If you, the one person that knows everything about them, can't find something that humanizes them, then chances are readers won't either. Maybe changing up the character slightly, but not too much, might help.
Haha no she isn't totally alien (I haven't created race of giant mars bar dragon, much a pity). I'm writing from the pov of a character that has never existed in the physical world. She hasn't been born yet and exists in the spirit world, kind of a pre-incarnation.
Maybe move on to something you CAN write and wait for this character to gel? I presume she's not the only character in the story. There will be other scenes, other characters? You don't have to write events in chronological order, even if that's where they end up in your finished story. Skip ahead a bit and write some later scenes. Sometimes that can provide the turning point for realising what your character needs to be or why she's there in the first place. Just like hindsight in real life can be enlightening, it can when you're writing as well. If you go ahead in your story a bit, and then look 'back,' you can learn a lot.
Maybe you're not starting the story in the right place if this is giving you so much trouble. Stories belong to the characters we attach them to, but that doesn't mean we have to start are stories at the beginning of time so to speak. I'm not sure how interesting a pre-birth character is going to be and maybe that's part of your problem.
I recently wrote a short story that started with the MC’s daughter. It quickly changes into his problems, but the tension is set in her’s. If you’re looking for a spiritual person morphing into the physical realm, you could tell a little bit about their life in that realm. When I read your post, I immediately thought of Jacob wrestling and angel.
