I thought I would share a tool with you that I'm using to develop background on characters. I'd be happy to see anything that others use, and I'm open for suggestions on how to improve this.
A bit of background: If you look through my submissions, you'll find that I have some ambitious plans about writing two or more separate series of books that sometimes use interrelated characters. (Like Michael Connelly does with The Lincoln Lawyer series and his Harry Bosch series.
I started off my fiction writing very differently, and tried to emulate Janet Evanovich, only to discover that it was not what I wanted to read. (The best advice I've heard on writing is write what you want to read.) After a considerable amount of rewriting--much of it not very good--I've come to the conclusion that for me I want to write based on characters that I enjoy meeting.
It turns out that the short sketches that I have for my characters are insufficient when I start to do things like major rewrites, changing character names, having characters appear in several stories, etc. The attached character sheet is a work in progress, but it's helping me to define the characters I want and to reference them without re-reading various drafts.
The questions that I ask myself come from a variety of sources. These include (but are not limited to) Sol Stein, James Scott Bell, and David Farland as well as myself.
Enjoy, and feel free to share what you use. Also, if you have questions, feel free to ask them.
Note: I have updated the files to reflect comments by Gordon Highland. (See 12/25 post.)
I think the most important things to always keep in the back of your mind while directing your characters on the page are: What do they want? and What are their weaknesses? Because those are actionable, and nearly everything else about them that's story-relevant can be determined as an offshoot of those. Their strengths are what they want to use, but their weaknesses are what you'll (and their antagonists) continually exploit to create conflict. Of course, many of those other details are important, too, especially their history with others, they're just more complex. I cast my major players with known actors and keep a headshot of them on their dossier—just for physical consistency, not personality.
^
Wow, I do the exact thing with headshots. I even mapped out their connections with Visio once.
Same here. That real-world connection REALLY helps me visualize the unfolding of each scene like its own movie.
This brings me back to when I use to do character interviews.
@Gordon,
I'm uploading a revised version of the form that incorporates your suggestions. I don't seem to be able to replace the original version that I uploaded.
@Thuggish, @Strange Photon,.@anyone You'll see that I've included an artist's rendering in this version. Feel free to delete that rendering (which I commissioned) and replace it with a photograph or drawing that meets your needs.
@Sarah Yes. Suggestions for character interview questions were and still are included at the end. Now, I've hyperlinked to them too. Can you share with us how you do them? Can you suggest additional questions to include?
The first file is in .docx format. The second file is identical, but in .doc format.
Anyone, feel free to upload forms or character interview questions that you have.
Could you perhaps make these in an RTF? Thanks a bunch.
I used to basically have a list of basic background questions: Name, Age, Physical Appearance, Skills, Abilities, et cetera that came without appyling any real character development right off the bat.
Then I would ask them random question that were specifically targeted: Why were you adopted, why did your mother not want you, what langauge difficulties did you develop, et cetera.
I've often found it more effective (appearance wise) to use three defining physical traits that directly effect the characters lives. (Ex. They have a swooping cough, that annoys those they talk to.)
This is really, really interesting. Thanks for sharing!
Sarah,
I made a couple of changes that include your suggestions. Here's the latest version of the file in both .doc and .rtf formats. However, I'm not allowed to upload .rft files, so I changed the name to .doc. After you download it, change the extent from .doc to .rtf.
What type of word processing program do you use? Most will open a .doc file.
I'm going to pretend this is a share your method thread, and share my method, even if no one wants to hear it. This is going to probably sound like a rant, but here goes.
Writing a Novel:
I think the most important thing about character is not what they say so much as what they do. It's the choices they make. For example, a character can be cool and all, speak in a specific way, and walk with a certain swagger, but how long are you going to want to read about that guy? Not very long if he isn't getting the job done in interesting ways.
I go about things this way. I might write a bio about a character. It'll probably be about a paragraph, but once I see them in my head, I set about writing them in their environment. I intentionally put them through the ringer. Get them into situations any normal person would shit themselves in, and see how that person would work their way out of it. I guess I am of the mindset that character development is a nice thing on paper, but all that stuff goes out the window once you start writing a story.
I mean how much of that bio you wrote is actually going to get used, and how much of it is just busy work? How much of the back story of a character are you going to shove down your readers throat just because you wrote all this cool stuff about the character that no one is ever going to see? I think when you write extensive backgrounds on characters, there is this hidden urge to put all that stuff into the story somewhere, when that is exactly where it doesn't belong.
I guess I am in the Carmac Mcarthy camp where you don't even need to know my characters name, you just need to know what kind of person he is, and if you read on, you'll know, for better or worse.
If I feel like a character is getting stale, I will put them in a position they are helpless to win, and have them do something completely out of character in desperation to survive. It may make their situation a little worse, but it keeps them alive to figure out a sane way to win. They will grow thorugh these experiences pretty naturally, and that is why I don't like to commit their character to paper. I'll always be asking myself, would he do that? The reality is, if you got a gun to your head, you don't know what you'll do. I feel like those moments are just the thing that is needed to spice things up, and can really drive your story into unknown territory.
All I need at first is a general idea about a character, goals, and such, and a character arc which is usually three words, each word stating an idea: Poor, rich, happy. How I go about the arc is entirely up to me, but I can interpret this in a lot of different ways. Man grows up poor, becomes rich, finds the trappings of yuppie lifestyle to be horrid, and becomes comfortable with mediocrity in societies eyes so long as he is happy doing what he does. Sounds simple enough, but that is where the story comes in. What tragic events shape this arc, and make this person the way they will become? You can't seperate character from story so to me it makes no sense to work on characters seperate from story. Like they are a seperate entity or something.
I also believe there are two camps in this area of thought. Those who excessively plan, and those or fly excessively by the seat of their pants. So long as you know where you want to end up at the end, and you stick to the story story story, both approaches work.
@Paul,
I agree with you. Perhaps I should have mentioned that I don't feel these all have to be completed prior to writing. I do find it useful to update these as I go along now as it becomes hard to me to keep all of the details straight as I revise and rename, particularly when a character appears in more than one story or book.
By the way, I think it's fine for threads to evolve.
One example I often use --
"We need to go through the forest of doom."
"But I don't want to go back through the forest of doom!"
"Why not?"
"Because werewolves man."
Says a little bit more than, saying they fear dogs.
