Finding the heart of a character

[rj_anderson]

I've seen a lot of discussion about how to generate and flesh out new characters for books, and I've dutifully worked my way through a variety of questionnaires designed to help me get to know my fledgling heroes and heroines better. Which seemed like a good idea in principle, but in practice turned out to not especially helpful, at least for me

Comments

[kerravonsen]

One thing I'd like to try, the next time I have to create a character (not that I'm going to do that often, seeing as I write fanfic) is to use Meyers-Briggs personality typing for them. The reason why I think that would be helpful is that it gives a core for how they act/react to situations; whether they are extroverted, whether they shut down and think about things, or whether they go from the gut without thinking, whether they're messy or fussy, cautious or impulsive... that sort of thing.

To me, those questions of desire, attitude and action are the really crucial ones in the formation of a character, not whether said character's hair is brown or black or what their favorite food might be.

Absolutely! Mind you, if their favourite food gives us insight into their desire and attitude, then bring it on. Or if they hate the fact that their hair is the colour of cream-of-tomato-soup, that's another. 8-)

but because the MC seems to have no clear goal or desire, or because they fail to take any action to push the story forward.

Yes, that is made of fail. Because if the character wanders around just having things happen to them, it's a plot-driven story and not a character-driven story.