How to create a character's personality

One of the hardest things for me in writing is character development. I write a lot of blog posts about it, probably because I'm constantly trying to learn more about it so I can improve my characters. Today, I wanted to share something I do at the very beginning of character creation to come up with a starting point for my character's personality.

Keep in mind this is only a baseline. It's two small parts of my character worksheet, which is like ten pages long. And I've gradually discovered that the best way to find out who my characters are is to write about them. Still, these two tips help me a lot, especially when I have NO IDEA who the heck these people are before I write about them.

One of my first baselines is the color code. Basically, it's a personality theory that breaks people down into four colors: red (the power-wielders), blue (the do-gooders), white (the peace-keepers), and yellow (the fun-lovers). It sounds a bit Divergent-esque, but it's actually quite helpful. The point is that people have traits of all of these colors, and usually are stronger in one or two of them. If you go here, you can see the full breakdown of what each color means.

I start by deciding what two colors are strongest for a particular character, and list what particular traits from a color they have. Then I pull a few traits from the other colors. This gives me a quick list of personality traits that are both complimentary and contradictory, so my character starts out just a little bit complicated.

My next baseline is the Meyers-Briggs personality indicators. There are 16 "types" of people, according to this personality test, all of them listed at the link. I do MB second because once I have the color code basics, it can give me enough of a hint of my character to guide my choice in their MB test. I pick one of the MB types and highlight certain traits within that type that stand out in my character.

And voila! My character is no longer a complete blank face to me. With these two (very) basic points as a foundation, I can build the rest of my character until they drip with tree-dimensionality.

So, my friends, what are your preferred character-building techniques? How do you create characters from the early beginnings of the story when you don't know much about them?

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How to write emotions so the reader cares: Lessons from 13 Reasons Why

Since I talked about the importance of showing authentic emotions on Monday, I wanted to talk about how to actually do that in your writing. I'm by no means an expert on this; I'm still learning a lot about how to not only portray the emotions your character is feeling, but how to get the reader to feel them too. We all know the rule of not telling: "I was sad" just doesn't cut it.

So what do we do, then? I recently read 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher and it packed an emotional wallop I won't soon forget. I figured we could do some analyzation today. So, first step: read the first chapter here (click "Look Inside" over the graphic). It's only four pages, and it'll help the analysis below make sense.

Now, let's take a look at the techniques Asher uses to get the emotional ball rolling right from the get-go.

Have other characters react to your character, or show their actions in contrast to your character's

Let's look at the first line:

"Sir?" she repeats. "How soon do you want it to get there?"

The simple use of the word "repeats" is brilliant. It implies that Clay, the main character, was not listening. His mind was distracted enough that he didn't answer a direct question. Immediately, before we even know what's happening or even the main character's name, we know that something isn't right.

Through the first few pages, the contrast between the clerk's cheerful obliviousness is a stark contrast to Clay's own actions. She jokes about him not having enough coffee while he thinks despondently that maybe not drinking the coffee would be better, so he doesn't have to wake up. Notice he doesn't say something like, "it would hurt too much to wake up." He says, "maybe it's the only way to get through the day." This thought implies his hurt using the next technique:

Internalization

A character's internal thoughts are one of the biggest and most helpful things for portraying their emotions. This is also a big place for reader's to connect to those emotions.

Most of the time when we think, it's not in blatant terms. For example, where Clay could have been thinking, "I hope Jenny gets this and it hurts her as bad as it did me," we get instead a few lines of him wishing he had waited to send the package so Jenny could have another day of peace-- though she doesn't deserve it.

This train of thought is natural, and it does several things at once. We understand Clay himself is not at peace because he knows Jenny won't be at peace either. And we feel the bitterness in the final line. She doesn't deserve peace. Does he? Guilt and sorrow well up from those lines, even though the words themselves are never mentioned.

Physical beats

This is the most common way for most writers to show their character's emotions. Are the shocked? Let their mouth drop open. Are they irritated? They cross their arms and tap a finger on their elbow. The problem with this is overdoing it. I use it like crazy in my first drafts, and have to go back and do a lot of revising. Because if you use these too much, they become cliche.

But you can't deny that emotions do have a physical effect on us, which is why physical beats are still an effective tool. In Clay's case, he has a headache. And again, the author doesn't just say, "his head pounded with the pain." In the second line, Clay rubs his forehead and comments that "the throbbing has become intense." We know he hurts physically, and it mirrors how he hurts emotionally.

Images

This is another powerful tool. Don't let the name deceive you, though; it's about more than just what you see. An image can involve many senses-- in fact, it works well if it uses more than one. But images also work best if they're fairly simple, so don't overcomplicate things by throwing in too many sensory details unless the situation calls for it.

In the last few paragraphs of chapter 1, Clay imagines the path he feels he can barely walk that leads to school. It zips past like a camera zooming in on something, until at last we see the object: the empty desk of Hannah baker. Because of the technique used, and the building of emotions up to this point, the image of the empty desk is haunting to the reader, because we know it is what haunts Clay. It's the focus of his pain, the reason behind this mysterious package he has sent. One simple image clarifies the situation behind his pain, just a bit, so the reader can empathize. We understand.

And once we understand, that's when we hurt, too. This is the last key to getting your reader to invest in your character's emotions. They have to understand. They need information on WHY your character feels this way, even if they barely have a glimpse.

So, my friends, what techniques to you use to show character's emotions and get readers to care? Have you read 13 Reasons Why (you really, really should)? What books do you love that helped you feel the character's emotions?

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How to write a book readers can't put down: Using scenes and sequels

I've been working on revisions of my current WIP, The Unhappening of Genesis Lee, for a month and a half now. Because I did so much plotting ahead of time, I haven't needed as many large-scale changes to this book plot-wise, which is awesome. Of course, that doesn't mean the plot is perfect. My individual scenes, especially, need to be tighter, more focused, and to lead naturally from one to the other. I tried out a new method to make this work, and it has been one of the most helpful revision tools ever.

Have you ever heard scenes referred to as action/reaction types, or scene/sequel types (same thing, different terms)? I had, but I never knew how it really worked. Basically, every scene in your book will be either an ACTION (scene) or REACTION (sequel), and the scenes should always alternate. (Action -->reaction-->action, etc.) There are some handy graphics here so you can get the big picture.

An ACTION scene has the following components: a goal, a conflict, and a disaster. The goal, obviously, is your character's need/want/objective for that specific scene. The conflict is what gets in your character's way. The disaster doesn't always have to be a disaster. Either your character doesn't get what they want (if they do, the book is over), or they DO get what they want, but something else happens-- they learn they need something else, or the thing they get isn't what they really wanted, etc.

After the disaster, of course, your character needs to react-- hence the REACTION scene. This is made up of the reaction, the dilemma, and the decision. The reaction is your character's immediate response to the disaster. It starts with the emotional response or feeling, then a reflexive action, followed by a rational thought/speech/action. These three elements don't ALL have to be there, but they should ALWAYS be in that order.

After the initial reaction in the reaction scene (I know, confusing), comes the dilemma-- the disaster in the last scene created a problem, so now what? Your character needs to make a decision, which leads to an action. Wait, an action? As in an action scene? Fancy that! We've come full circle.

My approach to this was to take out a notebook and go through my chapters one by one, making sure the cycle flowed, and writing out each part of the action/reaction sequence for each chapter. I found that each chapter isn't necessarily its own action or reaction scene. Sometimes, a single chapter was a full action/reaction sequence (or even 1.5 or 2 of them), with either the action or the reaction being quite short. Sometimes, a scene would stretch for more than one chapter. But ALWAYS, I made sure they cycled from one to the other.

If done right, the cycle of action/reaction should flow seamlessly throughout your book. And, if done right, it will make it almost impossible for readers to put your book down! After each disaster, they'll need to know how the character deals with it...and after each decision, they'll want to see what action the character will take next...and soon it's 3 a.m. and they've read your book all night.

So, my friends, have you ever used the action/reaction/scene/sequel process before? Do you have other tips that make it impossible to put your book down? What book have you read recently that you just couldn't stop reading?

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How to Dump Info without Info-dumping-- Writing Lessons from Inception

I am a nerd. As a kid, I spent my summers doing science experiments in my giant white science book. For fun. And to this day, I get excited about things like sea slugs that absorb plant DNA and become photosynthetic. I get weepy about the space shuttle's last flight. It's why I write sci fi-- because I'm a nerd, and I love all that science stuff.

Here's the thing about writing sci fi: there's a lot of science in it. Which means there tends to be a lot of necessity for explanation, which leads to a lot of potential info-dumps. This isn't unique to sci fi, of course. Most authors have a lot of information to convey, and sometimes we have no choice but to reveal large bits of it at a time, potentially boring our readers just so they understand what the heck we're talking about.

I had some trouble with info-dumps in Devs, and it took me lots of revisions to get it right. And some of the biggest lessons I learned were actually from the movie Inception. There's a LOT of information they have to convey, but the movie never lags in its pacing. Here are the things I learned to apply in my writing. (Warning-- there are a few small spoilers if you haven't seen it before!)

1. Early in the story, weave as little information as possible to keep your reader engaged.

Inception doesn't start with Leo DiCaprio's character Cobb explaining the ins and outs of shared dreaming. We start with tension-- he's trying to convince Saito that he needs to train his mind to not be vulnerable to idea theft. Here's the thing. We learn, in a few brief sentences of dialogue, that someone can steal your secrets through shared dreaming. And THAT'S IT. We don't know how it works, or who can do it, or the history behind why it was developed in the first place.

We know just enough that when we learn everything we're watching IS a dream, we get it. Maybe we don't understand why Cobb gets dumped in the tub to wake him up, but we get it enough to be invested and intrigued. It's the technique of weaving small bits of information into a scene so we get small bits instead of large chunks. And especially for the first 30-50 pages of a novel, that may be as much as you need.

2. Have a character who doesn't understand what's going on so someone can explain things to them-- and the reader.

Enter Juno-- er, Ariadne. She's new to the team. She doesn't understand any of the history or the hows and whys of dream sharing. The team teaches her all the ins and outs, and as she learns, so do we. This neatly evades the "maid and butler" dialogue of "As you know, your subconscious is represented by all these people," and "Yes, Cobb, and they will attack us if they sense something is wrong in the dream." It's natural for Ariadne to be learning it, so it's natural for us to learn it too.

3. Don't explain everything at once-- use small chunks in addition to weaving.

The first time Cobb takes Ariadne into the dream, we don't get all the information about how dream sharing works. We get small bits. We understand that the dream can be changed by the people sharing it, sometimes in fantastic ways, and that the subconscious of the person dreaming can become aggressive when it's messed with too much. And, very briefly, we see again Cobb's projection of his terrifying wife. We don't learn much about the other parts of shared dreaming, such as the use of chemists, or about what on earth is wrong with Cobb's deranged wife. These things are woven in later as scenes.

Which brings us to another point.

4. Information should always be revealed as part of a scene.

Aka, NEVER SIMPLY TELL THE READER. Paragraphs that say, "and this is the history of x, and this is how y works," are the exact definition of bad info-dumps. In Inception, every single bit of information is worked in as part of a scene. In other words, it is not just giving you information. It's developing character, deepening mystery, and furthering plot at the same time. It brings tension around the very information we're receiving, and we're so engaged, we don't even recognize it as an info-dump.

For example, the scene where Cobb risks going behind enemy lines to find Eames, we learn about how inception is possible, and we learn about the idea of a chemist and using dreams within dreams. All around this information is the tension of Cobb being potentially caught by people who want him dead. And then, when we have just enough information, we get some action as Cobb is chased through the streets of Mombasa. We are kept engaged because it's a scene in a story, not an aside of information.

So, my friends, do you have trouble with revealing information in your writing? What are some techniques you use? What are some books or movies that you think do this well? And, just because I'm curious, did you like the movie Inception?

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How to Write Fascinating Characters by Making them Contradictory (AND it's JuNoWriMo!)

It's here, my friends-- JuNoWriMo! Pick a writing goal, any writing goal, and join the party! I may not be as active in the blogging world this month as I try to bang out my personal goal of 2,000 words a day, but I'll still be around.

Let's talk about something to get the JuNo writing gears flowing. Characterization is a big focus for writers, as it should be. We often talk about how to make them likeable, and relatable, and complex, but today I want to talk about making them fascinating.

You see, my favorite characters were the ones that were larger than life. They have huge imaginations like Anne Shirley, or brilliant, tortured minds like Ender Wiggin. Those characters stick with me because they stand out in a crowd. One way I learned to do this is quite simple: give your characters contradictory traits.

In Brandon Sanderson's writing class of pure awesome, we did an exercise with characters. We started by picking a gender and age of a character who might be walking down the street in our story. Then he had us yell out a profession they might have-- and picked the most contradictory one. For example, we had an 80-year-old woman who was an assassin. Then we picked another character trait that was opposite the profession. Our 80-year-old assassin was a champion knitter.

See how fascinating that character is? We don't even have a story for her to be in yet, but we already want her to be in a story because we want to know what she'll do. She stands out in the crowd.

If you're doing YA, you can still do this with characters who don't have a profession. Pick a hobby instead, and then pick traits that contradict your expectations. Here are a few examples from my JuNoWriMo project, The Unhappening of Genesis Lee:

Estelle, the French ballet teacher who is Muslim. (And yes, that actually CAN work with her religion.)

Kai, the bouncy-ball-collecting nerd who is sometimes frightening in his intense desires to save the world.

Kai's father, the minister who became a bar tender to reach more people.

Gena, the pacifist ballet-dancing protagonist, who wants to be an astronomer and ends up fighting the system to save the world.

See how fun it is to create contradictory characters? They're a lot of fun to write, too.

So, my friends, do you like to write contradictory characters? Who are some of your favorite contradictory characters in books or movies? What other strategies do you use to make your characters larger than life?

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4 Tips for Writing Characters Not of your Gender

Before I dive into today's post, I wanted to let you folks know about a few contests from fellow writers! You can win some great books (and follow some great blogs) from David Powers King and Chantele Sedgwick! Go check them out!

So today, let's talk about a tough one-- writing point-of-view characters that are a different gender from the writer.

When the idea for Devs first came to me, something happened that rarely does: it came with the main character intact. I had an immediate image of a shaggy-haired teenage boy, and so Ash was born. I didn't really think about the fact that writing a POV boy character would be a whole different experience.

In my first draft, Ash was an odd conglomeration of female mannerisms, a whole lot of action, and not much thought. I had to do some serious revision on him-- and in fact, my current rewrite is focused primarily on deepening his character. Through the process, I learned some very helpful things if I ever do this again.

1. Treat them like any other character.

I tried to think of Ash as a person first and a boy second. By fully developing his character profile and by writing him in terms of HIMSELF and not BOY, I was able to focus on who he was. Like I said, this has taken multiple drafts to get right. However, each time I came to a point where Ash had to take action or react in some way, I tried to think what Ash would do, not what a boy would do.

If you want to avoid falling into gender stereotypes (which I admit, I did), this is the absolute most important thing to do.

2. Don't forget the internalization

This is a big one I'm focused on right now. Basically, I was afraid to get inside Ash's head. He was a boy. I have no idea what goes on in a boy's head (or heart), so I just steered clear of the whole thing.

Bad idea. Not only did it make him pretty hard to relate to, it also underplayed many of the issues that come up in the book. I didn't address them, because I'd have had to address them through Ash. It's really kind of funny how terrified I am of a fictional 16-year-old boy...

At any rate, I've been doing my best to get over that, and discovered some fascinating things about how my character works. It goes straight back to number 1-- I have to focus on how Ash himself would think about these things. And it's amazing how much better the book is for all that internalization!

3. Have someone of that gender read the book

DO NOT LEAVE OUT THIS STEP. If I had, Ash would have spent the book with female mannerisms that are, in some cases, laugh-out-loud funny. The male members of my crit group have been invaluable to point out things like Ash swishing his hair back with his hand. For the most part, Ash's actions, reactions, and thoughts have been fine, though a few of those had to be modified as well. I wouldn't ever have seen them if it hadn't been for the awesome guys in my group.

4. Don't be afraid!

Of course, I should be one to talk. But don't be afraid of getting into your character's head, or letting them feel emotions, or writing them altogether. It's a whole different ball of wax to write a character that's not your gender, but it's actually quite a fun challenge. So if that's how a character comes to you-- dive in! After all, if it doesn't work, you can always rewrite things later.

So, my friends, have you ever written, or thought about writing, a character not of your gender? What things scared you? What tips can you share? What books have you read that do this well?

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How to Write Strong Character Relationships

Note: If you're here for the Show Me The Voice blogfest, you can find my entry here!

Writers talk all the time about creating strong characters, dynamic characters, memorable and unique characters. It's the core of our stories-- it's not just about what happened, but who it happened to. But there's a side of character development I think we often neglect, and it's one of the most important parts of who human beings are.

Our relationships with other people.

Characterization-- who a person/character is-- can sometimes be shown more strongly through relationships than through anything else. A relationship between characters is often a whole plotline itself. But even when it isn't, your characters will never feel as strong, dynamic, memorable or unique if you ignore their relationships.

As I've gone to conferences and worked on Devolutionaries, I've tried to make my relationships as strong, dynamic, and memorable as the characters themselves. Here's a few things I've learned.

For a strong relationship, no matter the type, your characters should need each other. There should be something about each of them that needs the other. In Devs, my main character Ash needs each of the others, even if he doesn't like it (or like to admit it). He has a distrustrustful and antagonistic relationship with another character-- but he also needs the training this character can give him. And this character needs Ash's ability to take risks to get what he wants.

There should be at least one reason-- and maybe more-- that each of your characters needs the others. This is especially important in romantic relationships. They need to fulfill a need in each other.

Of course, if that's all you use to define your relationships, you'll have a boring story. Your characters should also be in conflict with each other. This doesn't mean they have to be fighting all the time, or even that they have to have exactly opposite characteristics. But there should be some aspect of your characters that causes conflict. In Devs, Ash and his love interest have conflicting moral views on a key issue. For Ash and another character, their similarities (stubbornness, distrust) are actually what puts them into conflict.

Just like a character changes, relationships must change throughout the story. A static relationship is a boring relationship. However the relationship starts in the story, it needs to be grow and be different in the end. Through the conflicts and the needs, the way the characters see and interact with each other will be different. This is not restricted to romantic relationships-- Ash's relationships with each of the main characters evolves over the story.

And finally, don't forget about the relationships of the non-main characters with each other. This is something I'm trying to fix in my revisions. Ash's relationships with the other characters are the most important, but the other characters have relationships with each other that make the story stronger and more real. It doesn't have to be a focus, but it should be an element in the story.

So, my friends, how do you approach your character's relationships? What have you found that helps make them stronger? What are some of your favorite character relationships in books and movies?

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