Hey everyone! I’m new to writing and trying to figure out what kind of details I should focus on when developing my characters. I’ve been reading about adding things like birthdays, family background, hobbies, personality traits (like introvert vs extrovert), and even quirks or habits. How much of this stuff should I really focus on? Is it important to include things like favorite foods, fears, or past experiences, or should I stick to more basic traits like goals and motivations? How detailed do you usually get when creating a character profile? (Someone recommended using random generators for things like birthdays, age, name, etc. like this) Also, do you think these details help build a stronger character, or can they be overdone? I’m just trying to understand what really makes a character feel real. I’d love to hear how you all approach this!
Sure, it's important to create a mental image of the character for the reader, but I don't think too much detail is required for that, unless it is related to the story. A famous example is Tolstoy's definition of Anna Karenina. All he wrote was that "she was a beautiful woman." Everyone knows what a beautiful woman looks like. I think maybe making clear the character's motivations is more important. Who they are as a person. And of course this is necessarily tied into plot, and includes their reactions to events. Elsewhere, I posted about the three dimensions of building a character, and I think it is worth repeating: 1st dimension - the outward identity, what is shown to the world, surface traits, quirks and behaviour (might be authentic, might not). 2nd dimension - explains 1st dimension behaviours, takes backstory into account - fears, weaknesses, inner conflicts, unfulfilled dreams, etc. 3rd dimension - who the character really is - their beliefs and moral substance that determine their decisions in moral situations. So, to show a character in their 3rd dimension, high-stakes decisions are involved. Character arcs should show how the character changes/grows at the 3rd dimension.
Thanks so much! I’m a newbie , and I’m really happy to learn this. I’m currently learning about story writing, so I appreciate all the help! ( i am still doing research on Google and YouTube + and this forum about story writing).
These forums are a goldmine for story-writing intel. Please browse to your heart's content and if some new questions come to you, post a new thread!
hey, just a quick question please! Hey! Regarding the 3rd dimension, do you think it's necessary to show a character's deep backstory, or is focusing on their actions and decisions enough? Also, should a character's growth be tied mainly to the plot, or are their internal struggles also important? thanks for reply!
Sorry, I don't mean to be a wise-guy -- but beauty is subjective. Yes, we all know (in general terms) what a beautiful woman looks like. But take something simple, like hair; some guys go crazy over black hair, some over red, and some over blonde, etc. My point is that saying "She was a beautiful woman" isn't enough description. Tell us more about the character in a way that makes us care about them, please. It can be as simple as saying something like this: =============== She swept her raven-black hair from her shoulders and pouted at him over the drinks. She was a knock-out and she knew it. He'd be going weak at the knees right about ... she counted backward from ten ... His mouth dropped open, his eyes glazed. His mouth opened and shut, but no words came out. He was lost in her eyes, and she knew it. ... nnnow. =============== All right, so I'm bad at writing romance and/or femme fatales. But I guess you can see the difference between that and just saying that someone is "a beautiful woman". The 1st, 2nd and 3rd dimensions sound like they would help immensely. If you choose to delve into a character's backstory, be very careful. Whatever you do, DON'T start off by telling us a character's backstory in detail, and certainly not in long paragraphs. Suppose your hero is an accountant called Tom. If you start by telling us Tom's life story, from the second grade onwards ... I'm sorry, but no-one will care. Don't bother with it! Let's see how this would work in practice. Maybe Tom was bullied in primary school, which crippled his emotional growth but taught him the importance of standing up for himself, which is why he's now a tough guy with very few friends. But don't tell us this. Rather, let us find out from Tom's actions; it could set up the whole story for you. For instance: - Tom is emotionally crippled and lonely from a lifetime of bullying - He finds it hard to confide in his friends, because of this - He decides to visit a psychologist, and confides in him/her - Little by little, Tom opens up about how it makes him feel - He feels vulnerable - perhaps even attacked - and lashes out, to protect himself - Tom's friends are alarmed by his new aggressiveness, and back away - Tom is horrified by what he did, confides in his friends, and asks forgiveness - Tom's friends are understanding, and forgive him - Kinda-sorta happy ending. All right, that's not how it works in real life. Not all the time, anyway. But now we have a basic plot. This is difficult to answer, because it raises another question: how do you define the character's "growth"? If we go back to Tom (above), his internal struggle is the most important thing. It sets up the plot. He is struggling to move on from a lifetime's experience of being bullied, and that's an incredibly difficult thing to do. Could anything else be the catalyst for Tom's growth? Sure. Suppose Tom is, instead, a successful business executive, rich, well-dressed, attractive to women, but feels spiritually unfulfilled? Again, his internal struggle - finding spiritual contentment - drives the plot. Where will it come from? How will it arrive? He doesn't know, but he knows he must try. Or suppose that Tom is (again) a leader in his field. Let's reimagine him as an army captain, in charge of a battalion. He is a leader, but he doesn't know what leadership means. He thinks leadership is about shouting "CHARGE!!!" and letting everyone charge ... or, he thinks that leadership is "I give the orders, and you follow them". He is failing, and he doesn't know why. What is the lesson he must learn? Leadership isn't just about giving orders. It's about learning what your subordinates are good at, and welding them into a good working team ... and then pointing them at the enemy. All right, those are all examples. See how you can apply them to your own story. Good luck!
Whatever is relevant to the story. If the backstory reveals insights into his decisions now, then they might be included. Well, the plot is the series of events that happen, and we would expect them to affect the character, and his internal struggle. He reacts to what is going on around him.
In my opinion, there are two primary question when writing anything onto the page: does it advance the plot and does it advance character development? If not, then consider if it's just filler. So this would go for character details all the same, and it would hinge on the context to determine if it's advancing something. Examples: "She has blonde hair." It could be an irrelevant physical trait that isn't needed; we could paint our own picture of her in our mind based on other clues. But it could infer: -general heritage, which may allude to other background details -attraction from another character who may see her as their type -insecurity if it's dyed blonde -a clue later, if there's some sort of mystery. And of course, there's no harm in something small like this just being there to paint a picture, as long as it's brief and doesn't cut into the other elements. The real trouble would be if you spent time detailing a hobby or interest, but it doesn't really have any bearing on the story--it's just there to flesh out the character details for no other reason than to pad word count. But if the hobby becomes relevant later in the story, then it would be a very good bit of foreshadowing that the reader wouldn't expect, so the hint pays off. I'm guilty of doing a fair amount of outward descriptions with my characters, but it's generally so I can lead the reader as to how they should imagine them. Plus eye-color is fun to bring up when characters are talking, since that's where the focus lay. A few more examples from my own work: A woman has red hair: -I get to make a lot of fire metaphors -Another character with red hair is mistaken for her, which leads to the first meeting being tense, since it carried over preconceived notions A woman has had medical issues with her heart: -This resulted in surgery, which left a scar -Her husband, after an overseas deployment, comes back injured and scarred. This is a moment of connection for them -She handles the minor inconveniences in life better because there's always a larger battle at hand A man is an introvert: -His schedule is wide open, so he's able to step into storylines without too much standing in his way -Other characters can persuade him to do things against his initial judgement, at least until he learns to take control -He's been able to concentrate on a career and savings, so later in the story, he has that at his disposal and can do something with it. Just my thoughts anyway. Look forward to seeing some of your work in the future.
I don't think I understand. Is it filler to describe a character, or a street, or a scene? If it's done in a inventive, exciting, humorous, or sardonic way, then I would say no: this isn't filler. Examine, for instance, two paragraphs on page 1 of Chandler's Farewell, My Lovely: (I changed one word that was perfectly acceptable when this was published in 1940, but would today be highly inflammatory). However, it doesn't detract from the fact that Chandler's description of the man is inventive and entertaining. So I like it. The only way I could dislike this is if Chandler's description was boring - for instance, something like this: "It was warm, and I was looking at a dining-and-gambling place on Central Avenue. Another man was looking at it too. He was a big, fat man, standing not far away from me, and holding a cigar. The man was dressed any old how: a large hat on his head, a gray coat with an ill-matching shirt, a bright tie, gray slacks and alligator shoes. He looked comical, just standing there outside that place." (And yes, I tried to make it as boring as possible. See the difference? Chandler's opening draws us in; we can tell what time of year it is, what kind of day it is, where we are, and also introduces one of the antagonists. I wouldn't call it filler. My boring paraphrase takes all that out, so why should anyone care?) Agreed: saying that a woman has blonde hair is filler if it doesn't lead anywhere OR give the reader a better idea of a her looks. On the other hand, saying "She has blonde hair" is boring. How much better to let her do something with her hair? Something like "She twirled a twine of her golden locks around her finger coquettishly at him." Immediately, that tells us three things about this woman: she is blonde, she's aware of her good looks, and she's not afraid to use them to get what she wants. Interesting. I draw up outlines and try to fill in details about my characters, but they usually start out as blank slates. I give them characteristics and they try to live up to them, but sometimes they surprise me with moments of uncharacteristic kindness etc. as they react to what another character does or says. It's possible to plan your characters in advance, but that plan should never be set in stone. If circumstances in the story give me an idea for unexpected pathos or a humorous moment, who cares if it contradicts what I originally planned? Plans are made to be broken um, tweaked.
My characters do not start as blank slates. They exist to fill a role in the story, and I have a pretty good idea of what they're like and how they respond and react. But I will refine those details as the story progresses, and add more in, in a way that's consistent with what has already happened. No, my characters won't suddenly reveal a flaw that was never previously mentioned unless I had planned it in from the start. Why? Because my characters don't exist independently of my stories. I can't take one of them and plonk them down in the middle of another story and another setting - they wouldn't be the same people in that case. They would be built differently, react differently, feel differently. They're the products of the environments they are designed for. As for physical description, I leave those to a minimum. "She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen" is MORE than enough. I don't need to describe the shape of her curves, how far apart her eyes are, or any of that. You, the reader can do it. Whatever you think a beautiful woman is, that's what she is. I might mention, say, her hair or her eyes if they're relevant. I will sometimes add specific, irrelevant details in order to build a particular image of her. If I want her to *feel* exotic, I might give her heterochromia, or silver hair, or some other "otherworldly" trait, just for effect, but you know what? That's lazy shorthand. It's using a stereotype to establish a character. That's why I mostly don't bother to give the characters physical descriptions these days, beyond some very basic information. I describe one of my best characters as "a farm girl with short, brown hair". That's really all you, the reader need to know. Your mind will fill in the rest.
Funny thing. I added a character in my last novel who was nothing more than a doppelganger for another off-screen character, based solely on hair color. And since I'm apparently not in control of the direction my stories take, she ended up becoming a main character and the entire novel shifted (for the better). Not the ideal way to approach a story, but it worked out in the end.
I won't comment too much on this, as it's not the subject of this thread except to say, you, the author, are always in control.
What I meant to say was that I usually have characters fleshed out rather than defined by outward traits, but in this case, it was an unnamed throwaway. So it sort of flipflopped at the start, then I had to do the diligence of forming the important characteristics.
