I recently asked one of the writer groups I belong to on LinkedIn.com this question:
"What do you do to know your characters? "
Here are some of the most interesting comments:
"I listen to their voices. Really. When writing dialog for one character I realized he sounded like Humphrey Bogart. This told me a lot about what kind of person he was.
People have speech patterns. They favor certain metaphors, have pitch, volume and attitude, catch phrases, regional characteristics. Defining a full range of such characteristics tells you a lot about a character.
I make notes about those characteristics but, for me, actually hearing the sound of their speech in my head (not always as major Hollywood stars) is a huge help in figuring out their responses to any given situation and even how other people react to them.
"...You likely have something in mind when you begin to develop a character. As it progresses, you have to start "listening" to that character and putting his or her words down as they would say them, not as you would.
A great exercise for dialogue by the way is sitting in a coffee house or similar place and literally writing down everything you hear around you - looking at the paper, not the people, if possible. You'll see very quickly that we don't speak in complete sentences. When writing is grammatically perfect (for dialogue) it can be very stilted.
Another stumbling block is when the author puts themselves inside every character's head and (using the very same voice) "explains" the inner thoughts of each character. Very bad. Go to your room without supper."
"I write plays, so I have to hear my characters. I generally write a list of questions, read them into a recorder and respond as my character(s). The results can be mined for actual dialogue. I ask them about incidents from their pasts, what matters to them, what they fear, even silly things. Many of them lie to me.
What is interesting is that I do some of my playwriting with a collaborator, and we have done this separately, and then compared notes --- and our characters have responded similarly. Yikes!"
"I guess I have broken some from the mold here. I find pictures of what they are supposed to look like ... develop a back story for him/her .... then I puzzle out how they might inter-relate. Were there conflicts in the past? Who won? Are there flaws that lead them to make the choices they make, or are they perfectly logical in their decision making?"
"All good advice so far...I typically "hear" their voices while I type. I also try to see what they look like physically...do hey have any unusual characteristics? maybe a stutterer, dimples?, large or small eyes? hard of hearing? unruly hair? there are all sorts of uniqueness that go into developing a character. It's just a matter of using the ole imaginination!"
"For what it's worth (I've written a couple of books, but the only things I've had published so far have been newspaper articles and letters to the editor), I've taken the listening to characters one step farther. Half of my children's chapter book is written in the first person by one of the characters. I've grown quite fond of her. "
"When I was working on my novel, I used to walk my dog whenever I felt lost amongst all the characters. Not writing about it helped me understand my characters and where they were going. I would take a walk and experience everything that had happened in the book so far from my character's point of view. Everything would come together. Plus stepping away from the computer took the pressure off having to write something and I was able just to wander through the world I'd created."
"I prefer to interview my characters and build a background from that. It's always difficult keeping the characters straight until you really get to know them. If you just keep writing they will develop and you can go back during your rewrites and tweak them so their personalities shine through."
"I like to know about my characters. When developing a new character I will spend a lot of time freewriting about his or her life. Where were they born? What was their upbringing? What are their likes and dislikes. Sometimes I will just put them in a situation and write about their reaction. I may never use it in the book but it helps me to know them better." "What hand gestures do your characters use when they talk? What habits are they self-conscious about, or maybe how does their public behavior differ from their private behavior? Are they happy with the work they do? What colors dominate their living spaces? What music do they enjoy? What foods? The absence of certain preferences or desires will say something about them, too. Random lists like this one could be frustrating at first, but when you give your characters a background and then drop them into action, strange and wonderful things will happen."
