We’ve made it to the last Monday in June, which means it’s time for the final article and challenges! We took four questions about characterization suggested by the lit community and asked the experts for answers. They gave us amazing advice, and we’re excited to share it with you now!
Our first question was, “What is your process for creating character flaws, and how do you incorporate a character’s flaw into their character arc?”
This is an important question because a flaw, weakness, or vulnerability is vital to showing your audience who your character is and what they have to overcome in the story. It shows their growth—or lack of it—and speaks to the human condition in a powerful way. Here are what our experts had to say:
HugQueen
Personally, I use a character’s flaw as tool to help get them from Point A to Point B in their arc. Does their flaw help or hinder them, do they change because of the flaw or maybe they don't change and reaffirm their flaw which leads them down a different path entirely.
DesdemonaDeBlake
When creating a character, I usually start with four questions: who is the character in relationship to the world I've created, what is their back-story, what is their goal, and what are they willing to do to achieve it? From these four questions, I can usually get all of the flaws and weaknesses I need to start off the story.
The limits in what the character is willing to do tells me what flaws are at play … and exactly how difficult I need to make each challenge to cause the character to grow. … On the opposite hand, what that character is willing to do also says a lot about their personal flaws, particularly when the character becomes so obsessed that they are willing to step on the people that they love.
Memnalar
A long time ago, I learned that the most important thing to figure out about a character is what he or she wants. Once I figure that out, flaws spring from it. What mistakes has she made, or is capable of making in the course of going after this goal? Is she the type who learns from the mistakes or not, and are the lessons good for her or not?
ShadowedAcolyte
I think character flaws can come as much from temporary lapses in judgment than from inherent traits—even a genius occasionally does something foolish, even a generous person occasionally behaves selfishly, even a kind character can get pissed off under the right circumstances.
Wolfrug
A character flaw is what starts, and ends, the story—ideally, at least. It should be noted that a ‘flaw’ is always circumstantial; what may be a flaw in one moment will be a virtue in another—but as we recognize them in literature, they are negative traits that are manifestations of a deeper, longer story.
Our second question was, “What key elements of characterization make you feel a character is fleshed out and ready to be written on the page?”
Character development can be a very deep rabbit hole, especially with so many lengthy character sheets plaguing the internet and the pervasive advice that you must know every detail about your character before you can begin writing. But is all that really necessary or even important? When do you know enough about your characters to start writing the story already? Our experts had some choice words!
HugQueen
I am a firm believer that everything can and will be edited, that includes characters. In general, I try to get the background, personality, their motivations, and what will be the conflict that sets them on the path into their story before writing.
DesdemonaDeBlake
The process of “fleshing out” a character is one that lasts many drafts of a novel. Through that process, you learn more about those characters, about what effect they have on one another, about who they are in relation to the plot and the world. You find that they often fall and crash and don't turn out like you planned. So you re-position them, and eventually even start carving these wooden building blocks so that they fit your castle better and are more defined and elegantly shaped. In my experience, that process continues until the very last draft.
Memnalar
I'm not sure there is such a thing as "ready" to be written. You just start. Sometimes I've known a character's whole bio before starting, sometimes it's just a bare impression of an impression. Writing a character to me is like getting to know a person in real life, and you rarely get the whole story before saying hello.
ShadowedAcolyte
When I have a strong understanding of their voice—how their dialogue will fall out. I ask myself, "how can I say the most about this person in one line of their own dialogue?" And once I have a good answer to that question, the character's ready for writing.
Wolfrug
This is a dangerous question. We all know those multiple-page long ‘character sheets’ that make the rounds on the internet, filled with questions meant to “flesh out” your characters. As far as I’m concerned, although there’s surely some utility to these kinds of characterizations, they are generally a cancer on your productivity. Any information you put in that is irrelevant to the plot or wastes the time of your reader is just that: an irrelevant waste of time, a diversion into a dead end. If you need a detail, make it up on the spot. That’s what writing is!
Our third question was, “When it comes to non point of view characters, how do you write their action and dialogue in a way that’s easy to follow and understand without taking the spotlight away from the point of view characters? Or do you think it’s sometimes a good thing to point the narrative spotlight on non-POV characters?”
We’ve all glimpsed the elusive world of non-POV characters. Presenting the words and actions of someone else through the narrative filter of your POV character can be a little daunting. Especially when you need to convey something important, without drawing too much focus from the main action. Check out what our experts had to say on the subject.
HugQueen
Sometimes it is good to take the spotlight from the main characters, it can give a totally different perspective on events and people taking place in the story. However, keep in mind that ultimately this story isn’t about the non-POV character, otherwise you would have made them your main character to begin with.
DesdemonaDeBlake
I write the scene as I envision everything happening through the literal eyes, ears, and skin of the character whose point-of-view I am representing. I do this by imagining the scene playing out as if I were playing a first-person perspective video-game, both when I am drafting and editing. By doing this, my point-of-view character becomes free to look at other characters, to think about them, and to react to them—giving them the full attention of the spotlight as it becomes necessary.
Memnalar
You don't know what's going on in a non-POV character's head. That's the big difference. With the non-POV characters, … all you're telling the reader is what they would hear the character say or see them do, along with perhaps any additional observations the POV character might make.
ShadowedAcolyte
I like to add a few very specific details to them, which suggests that they are fully fleshed out beings, without exploring further. … If minor characters are hugging too much of the spotlight, then it's probably time to expand your focus—maybe you set out to write a 3rd-person-limited piece about a police officer but the story really wants to come out as a 3rd-person-omniscient piece about life in a police station. And if that's where the writing is going, I say go with it.
Wolfrug
The way I approach it is to consider the world, always, from the point of view of whomever’s head we are inhabiting. If that person is attentive and self-effacing, it’s possible other people and their actions are given a more immediate and powerful description than the character’s own actions. On the other hand, the point-of-view character might also be self-absorbed or an over-thinker, leading to a situation where the reader is not even privy to the exact words of other characters, and the world is constantly filtered through the interpretation of the lead character.
Our fourth question was, “If you could give novice writers one piece of advice about characterization you wish you would have learned a long time ago, what would it be?”
We couldn’t not ask this question! All our experts have been writing a long time and must know a few secrets about characterization they’ve learned over the years that really stuck out to them. This is their top-notch advice:
HugQueen
Characters need to be good and bad because, just like us, they aren't perfect. They make mistakes, they solve problems, they get hurt, and they hurt others.
DesdemonaDeBlake
Embrace character attributes that make them seem less noble, heroic, or good. Such genuine flaws create the starting point for a truly transformative story—so that the pain that the character experiences makes them grow and change in a way that is so profoundly difficult that the audience can both believe it and become inspired by it.
Memnalar
You're writing about people, for people to read. Focus on what makes this character compelling, and on those aspects of the character that help tell her story. Maybe lay off extraneous details that don't. Writing a character is not writing a character sheet, it's telling a story with this person on stage. The story is the most important thing, and anything that serves it is worth doing. Anything that doesn't, maybe think again about it.
ShadowedAcolyte
Nothing is more important than concrete details. The following article covers that in more detail (it is directed to poets but the lessons definitely apply to fiction writers). In poetry, concrete details can give more emotional weight to the piece; in fiction, they can make the writing—and by extension then characters—more real.
Specific Imagery: What Makes a Poem Good?
Wolfrug
When you meet someone for the first time, you get a first impression of them. When you get to know them some more, that impression deepens, and sometimes changes. What makes them into people is us—we fill in the ontological gaps between whatever facts might be gleaned from a look, a word, a touch; another person is 10% things that actually happened and 90% thing we think might happen. That’s why it’s always such a shock when someone acts in a way that is counter to that 90% we’ve created for them in our minds; a good friend says something selfish, or a perceived enemy does something nice. It forces us to reconfigure our inner perceptions of how the world, and the people in it, work.
Latch onto that knowledge: we are limited beings, and the characters we create are limited beings, and most of what they know will be 90% false, conjecture, or simply unknown. Surprise yourself, surprise your readers, and surprise your characters: that’s how you create plot.
Special Thanks to Our Experts
We hope this advise is useful to all of you and inspires you to write more interesting and compelling characters! Thanks so much to HugQueen, DesdemonaDeBlake, Memnalar, ShadowedAcolyte, and Wolfrug for taking the time to answer with such thoughtful and in-depth replies. If you don’t already, you should head over to their profiles right now, +watch, and check out the awesome works in their galleries!
Check out their full, unabridged responses here.
Challenges
It’s the final week, and this time we’ve got a few different challenges lined up for you. Feel free to pick from this list below. If you’re feeling really ambitious, why not try more than one?
List out your character’s main flaw and how they deal with this flaw over the course of your story. Do they overcome the flaw and learn and grow through the process? Or does the flaw prevent them from attaining something they need or what? In either case, what does this say about your character and the theme(s) presented in your story? Write a short scene revolving around your character’s main flaw. Then attempt to write the same scene without the flaw. How much of a difference is there, and how does the flaw impact the theme, tension, and/or conflict of the scene? Try writing a short scene where all the action and emotion is centered around one character, BUT that character is not allowed to be the POV. You must write about them through the eyes of someone else. Identify the key elements of your main character’s personality. List these out and try and determine what are the primary aspects that make up who “they” are. Do the same for a secondary or antagonistic character and compare the two. Where do they overlap, and where do they differentiate?Discussion
Which particular piece of advice stood out to you the most, and how do you think you can use it to improve your storytelling and characterization? Out of everything you’ve learned about characterization (in this workshop or otherwise), what do you rely on the most when creating characters?
Don’t forget, this is your last chance to get into this month’s participation prize draw! All you need to do is participate in the challenges and/or discussion.
Skin by Dan Leveille
