Writing Meme Day 9
9. How do you get ideas for your characters? Describe the process of creating them.
Asking this question is a little like asking "how do you meet people?" I dunno, you just come across them, and some of them strike you enough to want to know more about them?
Of course, it's a little different with characters, but that's a good general statement. If you want more details, I am of course happen to provide them. ;)
Often, I'll be thinking about something in a general way, not planning to write a story about it or anything, and I'll just naturally find myself imagining what it would be like to be a person in that situation. Sometimes, those people turn out to be compelling enough that I really want to spend more time imagining what their lives and experiences and feelings would be like, and those become my characters. I keep reaching in the world in my head for details about them. Sometimes it's up to me to decide them, but usually something either fits or doesn't fit, whether I like it or not.
(Digression: This is one of the reasons fanfiction often troubles me. Some -- definitely not all -- fanfiction writers don't seem to care whether things fit for the character; they are bending the character to their will, which really goes against the whole experience of writing for me. I do, of course, know many fanfiction writers who are trying just as hard to understand the character as they would truly be, rather than as the writer's puppet; I think this could be a great way to appreciate the story at a deep level. And I'm sure that original fiction writers sometimes make puppet characters too, though it wouldn't be as obvious.)
Anyway, before I really start writing The Story, I spend a while writing little scenes that may or may not be meant to fit into the story itself, just to see how the characters would act. Sometimes these devolve into outlines or even just jotted notes that no one but I could decipher, and even I couldn't if I let it go too long. But this is how I figure out who that character is. I usually have a pretty good ball on who the character is, but from time to time in writing these scenes, I do find myself writing a scene that Just Doesn't WORK for some reason -- upon later reflection, it is often because I was putting too much of myself into it, or hadn't quite figured out how that character would think yet. It's so often easy to tell when an author is putting him or herself into the story rather than trying to get into that character's head. (This ties in well with what I was saying in my regular LJ the other day about empathy. You need a strong sense of empathy, I think, to be a writer! "I don't feel this way, but she does and I can see why she does; and it's her story I'm writing so I'd better stick to that." Sometimes a 3rd person narrator can stick in your commentary if you really feel you need it there; it's dangerous, of course, to write a character whose views you don't share because so many people who don't understand this kind of writing process will assume these are all views you share.
"The views in this novel are solely those of their characters and do not necessarily represent the views of their author, publisher, or fans." Hah! Some people would really have trouble with that, wouldn't they? But it's true.
One story in which I did have some trouble with that was Azilie's story. I'm not saying everyone should want to stay juvenile for ever, but at times it seems that way, because that's how Azilie feels. I hope they'll stick around for a while to see her get a little more mature...but her feelings are valid for when she feels them!
And of course it's hard to write a character you can't empathize with at all. I can always empathize with my characters (even my villains) in SOME way. Otherwise I can't make them ring true. But you only need a little tiny bit of understanding (not even something you necessarily agree with) to make a character work, I find.
Hmm, what was the question again? Describing the process of creating characters? Well, that's it. It's all about stumbling across them and then trying to understand them, just like you would another actual person. There are a few choices you get to make about things that don't affect their outlook on life, but...well, actually not all that many. Even something like saying their favorite color or favorite food could say something significant about them. It's just so obvious to me that Azilie likes tart, tangy things like oranges and Mega-Warheads. I mean, you just can't get that wrong or the story won't be true to me. (Another reason why as an author, it will be hard for me to read fanfiction...but of course, readers are free to fill in a certain amount of this. Not to change the character -- at least, I find that disrespectful -- but to flesh out all the details you can't give them. Still, it'd be hard for me to read because I'd "know" that was inaccurate, just because of how my process of creation works.)
Asking this question is a little like asking "how do you meet people?" I dunno, you just come across them, and some of them strike you enough to want to know more about them?
Of course, it's a little different with characters, but that's a good general statement. If you want more details, I am of course happen to provide them. ;)
Often, I'll be thinking about something in a general way, not planning to write a story about it or anything, and I'll just naturally find myself imagining what it would be like to be a person in that situation. Sometimes, those people turn out to be compelling enough that I really want to spend more time imagining what their lives and experiences and feelings would be like, and those become my characters. I keep reaching in the world in my head for details about them. Sometimes it's up to me to decide them, but usually something either fits or doesn't fit, whether I like it or not.
(Digression: This is one of the reasons fanfiction often troubles me. Some -- definitely not all -- fanfiction writers don't seem to care whether things fit for the character; they are bending the character to their will, which really goes against the whole experience of writing for me. I do, of course, know many fanfiction writers who are trying just as hard to understand the character as they would truly be, rather than as the writer's puppet; I think this could be a great way to appreciate the story at a deep level. And I'm sure that original fiction writers sometimes make puppet characters too, though it wouldn't be as obvious.)
Anyway, before I really start writing The Story, I spend a while writing little scenes that may or may not be meant to fit into the story itself, just to see how the characters would act. Sometimes these devolve into outlines or even just jotted notes that no one but I could decipher, and even I couldn't if I let it go too long. But this is how I figure out who that character is. I usually have a pretty good ball on who the character is, but from time to time in writing these scenes, I do find myself writing a scene that Just Doesn't WORK for some reason -- upon later reflection, it is often because I was putting too much of myself into it, or hadn't quite figured out how that character would think yet. It's so often easy to tell when an author is putting him or herself into the story rather than trying to get into that character's head. (This ties in well with what I was saying in my regular LJ the other day about empathy. You need a strong sense of empathy, I think, to be a writer! "I don't feel this way, but she does and I can see why she does; and it's her story I'm writing so I'd better stick to that." Sometimes a 3rd person narrator can stick in your commentary if you really feel you need it there; it's dangerous, of course, to write a character whose views you don't share because so many people who don't understand this kind of writing process will assume these are all views you share.
"The views in this novel are solely those of their characters and do not necessarily represent the views of their author, publisher, or fans." Hah! Some people would really have trouble with that, wouldn't they? But it's true.
One story in which I did have some trouble with that was Azilie's story. I'm not saying everyone should want to stay juvenile for ever, but at times it seems that way, because that's how Azilie feels. I hope they'll stick around for a while to see her get a little more mature...but her feelings are valid for when she feels them!
And of course it's hard to write a character you can't empathize with at all. I can always empathize with my characters (even my villains) in SOME way. Otherwise I can't make them ring true. But you only need a little tiny bit of understanding (not even something you necessarily agree with) to make a character work, I find.
Hmm, what was the question again? Describing the process of creating characters? Well, that's it. It's all about stumbling across them and then trying to understand them, just like you would another actual person. There are a few choices you get to make about things that don't affect their outlook on life, but...well, actually not all that many. Even something like saying their favorite color or favorite food could say something significant about them. It's just so obvious to me that Azilie likes tart, tangy things like oranges and Mega-Warheads. I mean, you just can't get that wrong or the story won't be true to me. (Another reason why as an author, it will be hard for me to read fanfiction...but of course, readers are free to fill in a certain amount of this. Not to change the character -- at least, I find that disrespectful -- but to flesh out all the details you can't give them. Still, it'd be hard for me to read because I'd "know" that was inaccurate, just because of how my process of creation works.)