Creating good characters?

[rcoope23]

Hi there all,First post, Yewt:) Just wondering do characters just come to you or do you have creative excersises that make the character come alive?
Do you have a form you fill out?
Just looking for some good ideas for character creation.
From Rachel

[Anna]

Hi, Rachel!

I think everyone has their own way of creating their best characters. Sometimes it's by filling out a character form. All StarRise characters need one, anyway, so that's good. But the idea for the character itself...? I can only speak for myself!

My best/favorite characters tend to spring on me, complete in themselves. I may not know all the details consciously, but ask me a question and suddenly - I know the answer! I actually find filling out character sheets to be tedious and I'm very, very bad about skipping that step when I can. You'll seldom see a character sheet for any characters I create for an NPC Weyr!

My characters take on lives of their own. It's not, quite, like having a voice inside my head - but definitely a presence.

This probably isn't very helpful, but I've been writing characters for a long while now.

I remember, though, when I first created Z'leena. She was my very first StarRise character, back in, oh, 1991 or 1992. She was among my first handful of characters period. She still bears the marks of my mistakes.

With her, I started with a blank character sheet. I had a mental image of what I wanted her to look like, but the rest of the sheet I really stressed over. I wanted her to be different, interesting, to have something Not Normal Or Usual about her. So at every point, I asked myself: "What can I do here?"

Which is how I ended up doing all the classic newbie mistakes in creating a character.

But if you're starting with a blank character sheet, fill out the background first. Where does she come from? What was her life like? Does she have family? Any old sisters and brothers? Younger? Then, fill out the physical description. These two areas are going to form the character's personality, because they will form how she sees life, how she handles life, and what her goals are going to be. Basic personality traits - determination, shyness, introversion, extroversion, ect - will also bear a lot of weight, but the background forms how she THINKS.

Or is there a type of character that's already nattering away at you in your head? If so, write her (or him!) up. I guarantee they won't shut up until you do. And after you do, they'll only simmer down for a little while at a time.

Another way to do it, and one I've used before, is to ask, "What kind of characters are needed? Crafters? Lower caverns? Blue and greenriders?" (the answer to that is - yes, yes, yes) Once you have the job decided, you can build a character around that. People usually choose their jobs for specific reasons, and that speaks to the character's personality and background, too.

See? There are many ways to create a good character. It just depends on which one works best for you - and which one the character LETS you do!

[Hope]

Rachel--one of the best all time essays on writing I've ever read is Katherine Paterson's "Characters I Have Known". If you've read _Jacob Have I Loved_, that's one of hers.

We tend to put ourselves into our characters, so, like Anna, I tend to start with background. Who would I be if I had been born under these circumstances, to those parents? A few life-altering experiences help to develop the character, and you get to know them by mentally throwing them into situations and seeing how they react. Sometimes they surprise you; a meek character may turn out to have a backbone, or a caustic one may turn out to be more sensitive than you at first supposed. And sometimes the character you think you want to create is not the one who shows up....

Happy writing!

[geo]

I blame my characters on friends. Usually I get ideas that resemble the people I'm closest to, and over a few weeks they develop into characters. I tend to be a more emotional writer-when it comes to creation, and my mood definately plays a role in whats developed.

[ginnystar]

Hi Rachel I new to here, I so how do I put stumble into RPC as just Ginny with beastcraft background and when from there. www.annemccaffreyfans.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=30 its in there some where. lol at myself

[Kris]

Hi, Rachel,

My characters come out before my stories do, and it's usually in response to someone I've met or read about. Sometimes, it's, "Hey, this person would be great to write about! Let's just tweak a few details!" And sometimes it's, "Wow, nice event in this person's life, but . . . ugh. I can make this person into a character I like."

And a few characters jump into my head full-blown. I've got a few in Pern, and others elsewhere.