Friday, October 31, 2008

Friday Five- Building a Character


Today, I'm going to highlight the five basic things you need to help bring a character to life.

1) List physical characteristics (not just the basics- dig deep)
2) Mannerisms- pick one or two that can show your character's inner feelings
3) Verbal expressions- What is the character's favorite expressions
4) Strange quirks- list any strange quirks the character has
5) Back story- this could end up several pages: childhood, family, beliefs, values, things that drive them, career history, romantic history, motivation, priorities, goals, what the character wants, what the character is willing to sacrifice to get it, vulnerability.

When you sit down and think this information through, you slowly build a solid character that you know as well as you know yourself. When you have this kind of a relationship with your characters they will jump off the page and come to life for the reader.

What kind of system do you have to 'birth' a character?

3 comments:

Helen Hardt said...

Paty, hon, what exactly does that NA hunk have to do with your blog content?

*Big Grin*

Helen

Paty Jager said...

Helen, I had to get people's attention some how... LOL Thanks for stopping by!

Nicole McCaffrey said...

I don't actually plan out my characters at first. I tend to "walk" with them a bit, spend time with them in my mind, until I find out what it is that makes them tick. With some characters this come easy, with others, it takes a while.

Great blog, love the hunk!