Building Character

When asked why he robbed banks, the famous bank robber, Willie Sutton replied, "Because that's where the money is." If asked to explain why I read and write books, the answer would be equally simple. "Because that's where the characters are." I do not think I am unusual in my motivation. People read books to be with characters – to enjoy them, to admire them, but mostly just to share their experiences.

The natural evolution of this motivation is something referred to as character-driven fiction. But what does "character-driven fiction" really mean? It means that the characters drive the story.

I know, I know. About now you're saying, "Duh!" Okay, so how exactly do we create strong, driving, interesting, multi-dimensional characters? Answer: We build them from the ground up.

Once I have an idea for a storyline, I start with a one-inch 3-ring binder that I use build my characters. Each character has a section and a four or five page character profile. The character profiles take up only a portion of the binder. Behind each profile, I include articles, photos, clippings – things that I've read in newspapers, online or in magazines or collected from the library that might help me bring my characters life.

What do I mean by this? Well, let's say your protagonist's parents were alcoholics – or maybe he or she was an abused child. There is a tremendous amount of material in your local library an on the web that address the human condition. In the examples I mentioned, both children and adults who grew up in these circumstances react to life situations differently than other people. I have a friend who, as a child, was physically abused. One day I reached up quickly to swat a mosquito on my head and noticed that my friend flinched and recoiled. My unexpected action triggered this person's 'I'm gonna get hit' reaction. Even as an adult, this person was hard-wired to react to sudden gestures by others. It was a revealing moment.

Alright, so we build our characters physically. In our character profile, we record appearance, hair color, eye color, skin color, scars, tattoos, etc. This is the obvious and easy part. But we also have to build them in depth. To do this, we go back in time. All the way back to school days. What were their favorite subjects? Were they part of the "in" group or were they nerds or geeks? Were they "cool" or socially awkward? Who did they hang out with? Were they a cheerleader or a member of the band? What forces shaped them as they grew up? What are their habits, good and bad? This history helps shape and give depth to the emotional and personality traits you give your characters.

We will talk a lot more about character profiling, but I first want to discuss the juxtaposition of characters. Opposites attract. Tension attracts. Think about the quintessential "Odd Couple," Felix and Oscar. A sitcom about a compulsively organized character like Felix probably would not last past the pilot episode, but toss this person in with his natural opposite, Oscar, and you have tons of conflict, tension, and comedic opportunity. The thing I like most about the pairing of Felix and Oscar is how their interaction reveals as much about themselves as it does the other person.

As one of my former professors would say, "Teaching Point:" The contrast created by pairing opposing characters provides deeper contrast and will give you, the author, a lot more to material with which to work.

In The Marked One, my main character, Pella, stands in stark contrast to most of his fellow characters. He is shy, socially awkward, lacks confidence and is politically naïve. These traits stand out each time he interacts with other characters in the book. In other words, the cast of characters provides a backdrop against which Pella is illuminated. As each of the cast members step onto center stage, they too are illuminated against the same backdrop and this contrast makes for a richer, and hopefully, more interesting story.

Ebon Melanos is Pella's opposite. He is wealthy, powerful, handsome, tough and ruthless, but in many subtle ways he is like Pella. Both characters are vulnerable and both have their demons. Pella's gentleness is best seen when in contrast with Ebon. But as Pella's character develops and is molded by the events that unfold, he and Ebon appear to have more in common than one might think. As Pella hardens and becomes more like Ebon, this is a form of danger. A classic rule of novel writing is put your characters in danger and keep them there.

So where does this leave us? It is not just enough to build good, complex characters with solid motivations; the author must analyze and understand how the characters' chemistry reacts. As I built my story's cast, I carefully examined how each of the characters would react, not just to the main character, but to each of the other characters in the novel.

Think of your characters in terms of a chemistry set. When I was a kid, and after I tired of running traditional experiments, I would combine random chemicals just to see how they would react… always hoping for something exciting to happen. I do the same thing with my characters, only there is nothing random about them. Every character is there for reasons -- to reveal, to react, to contrast and, yes, to cause something explosive to happen. Characters that do not 'react' when placed in proximity with other members of the cast, do not make it into a story.

Another tip about character building: Hopefully your characters will not remain static. Each will grow and evolve as the story progresses. As the author, you obviously have to chart this path for each of your characters. So, as we move beyond blue eyes and bulging biceps of character development, we need to ask, "How does this character grow in the story? What life lessons does he or she learn as the story progresses? How are they molded by the forces the novel brings to bear? HAPPY WRITING!

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Bob Rhodes
Writers Passage
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