This is my last thread for a week, mods, outside of when i get my screeplay good enough to post. Just wanted to get everything done. How do you add things to just flesh out 10+ character simply? Is there i way? Maybe if i had animations at the beginning of my novel just with a description? I think that does sound good, just so everyone is prepared. I don't know. How do you flesh out characters through the dialogue/scenes without taking too much word space? I am writing a basic novel soon i think. I don't know... I know some books you understand characters off a half page. Okay.. I got this joke character called Joseph R. Jobber who wrestles with a little tray in his hand. A butler. The joke is, it's permanently stuck to his hand. He had surgery. LOL. It's just a crap idea i had. The crowd doesn't know. The worst idea of them all. How would i get his backstory as being discharged from the navy... being a failed politician in hilarious ways.. and everything?
I thought you were paying a ghost writer 10k to write your novel? At that kind of price I'd hope they know how to write.
I'd say that was a pretty good start. It gives a mental image. What's missing though is the first thing: his voice. Joe's name and medical history won't matter a jot unless he can engage the reader and amuse them. I imagine him being up-beat about his condition and taking pride in his work:-
well, i came here thinking that.... but man, some old guy made me see it was stupid. You know... I know this sounds stupid... but if i had some weird animation for my animation... like a cartoon with like that weird old timey, current, weird art stuff... and i used my voice between the characters. My dialogue would sound awesome. I don't know. I got money from poker. I make a lot of money through poker.
I’d stick with that if I were you. Sounds like it’s far more profitable (and easy) than writing books ever would be.
Just character descriptions non-story elements at the beginning of a book is a bad idea. Prologues rarely work. You need to reveal the characters as the story moves along, not dump them on the reader at the beginning.
Read stuff by writers who have done this effortlessly, is the traditional starting point. As you are going for comic effect I suggest start with something like Guards! Guards! Within the first couple of lines of each character being introduced you have a strong image of them, an idea of their background, and you don't even spot Mr Pratchett doing it.
This is an issue I've struggled with, not so much fleshing out the characters but makeing them distinct from eachother. People react to particular situations in different ways and this will reveal their character traits. A politically right-wing person will make markedly different comments as someone who's on the left. An alpha type will be bold and brash while a beta type will be reserved and unsure of themselves. What I'd do first, is think of the story you want to tell and then think of what decisions each character needs to make to make that story happen in a plausible way. Then think of the personal qualities each character would need which would lead them to make those decisions.
