“I’ve got this character in mind but I don’t know where to start.”
Been in this situation before? Sometimes it’s hard. Are You using techniques to help?
Let’s start from the beginning.
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Table of Contents
What Is Character Building?
Characters are the backbone of any piece of fiction.
Building characters means to craft their:
- Personality
- Appearance
- Traits
- History
- Core beliefs
- and more.
The characters in my stories are regular people and my protagonist is usually a woman. I like to build my characters slowly and deliberately, taking my time to fit the pieces- like a Lego set.
At times, I create them effortlessly, but most of the time, I struggle to put them together, piece by piece. Over time, I have discovered a few techniques that work well for me. Below are methods that I find helpful.
3 Winning Techniques To Building Your Fictional Characters:
1 Snowflake Method
The snowflake method is a technique developed by American author, physicist, and writing coach, Randy Ingermanson.
This method is an approach to writing that encourages starting your writing with the simplest premise possible.
Gradually, you build a comprehensive list of qualities for your character, as you build on the rest of your novel.
Get your own book writing coach who will help you with every step of making your story come to life.
The Snowflake method helped me create three-dimensional characters, with depth and motivation.
For example, I am able to capture things like my character’s favourite colour, her food allergies and move to things that make her personality unique’ Like her strong willpower and her courage in testing times.
Pointing out her extraordinary qualities as well as her flaws.
2 Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages
There is no wrong way to do this. As the name suggests, “Morning pages” are writing three pages of longhand, first thing in the morning.
This writing exercise helps me clear my head and helps navigate on clearing any dead ends that I face while writing my stories.
For example, if I am struggling with the pace of my plot, I start with the last line from the previous scene and keep writing until I finish 3 pages.
By the end of it, I am able to gain some powerful insights, which help me in steering my story in the right direction.
3 Object Writing
I borrowed this technique from the random objects that we use in my weekly writing group.
I start off by writing about the object and then move on to describe experiences related to it. I have learned to use this in my fiction writing as well.
Using random objects to add more layers to my character. For example, if the random object that I come across is a chessboard, I use it to either make my character a great chess player or absolutely detest chess.
Often I use simple objects like a tea mug, an ink pen or a T-shirt as a starting place to delve deep into my character’s thoughts and bring them out in their reflection through internal dialogue.
Object writing works well for me especially in times when I feel stuck at the initial stage of building my characters or when they are at crossroads.
A helpful tool I use all the time is Grammarly to ensure my writing is at the height of the quality I can achieve.
Conclusion
Remember that even if your story has a great plot and exciting twists and turns, if your characters are boring, predictable or fail to connect to your readers, your story will not have its desired effect on your readers.
So, as fiction writers, it is important for us to focus on creating relatable and interesting characters, in order to draw our readers and keep them engaged until the end.
Did you find this helpful? Let me know in the comments. Until then
Author
Words have always been my best friends, allowing me to find comfort and joy in playing the role of a copywriter, storyteller, poet or essayist, not necessarily in that order.
My blog https://surabhiwritersmind.blogspot.com has links to my work published in several websites in India and the United States.
Apart from being a writer, I am also a book addict, love learning new languages and a trained Carnatic music vocalist and binge watch or hike when I am not writing. I enjoy conducting Move to Write<>Write to Move workshops, a unique workshop where movement enhances creativity and writing ignites expression.
I am offering these FREE workshops in challenging times of this pandemic, allowing participants to explore ways to express themselves and use writing as a coping mechanism, develop a hobby or use it as a distraction, if they like.
After moving to the United States in 2015, I volunteer with public libraries in Charlotte and have a close association with Write Like You Mean It, a writer’s group at Main library, Charlotte, North Carolina.
– Surabhi Kaushik