Creating Fictional Characters, Part I

Create Both a Protagonist and an Antagonist

In creating fictional characters, the protagonist (the hero or heroine) and the antagonist (the character that will create problems for the protagonist) are most important.

An early mistake of new writers is to omit the antagonist. A story without an antagonist may succeed through the use of internal conflict, such as conflicting needs. It may also succeed through the use of such external events as injury or bad weather.

However, if you write a clear antagonist to pit against the protagonist, you will write a better story, and in most cases, you will find the story easier to write.

Creating Fictional Characters Through Direct and Indirect Technique

Direct characterization tells:

Preston was a big man with a head of flaming red hair. He liked to laugh, and his laugh escaped him as if through a megaphone, amplified too loud for polite company. And yet he had charisma.

An indirect approach shows:

Preston stood a head taller than the others. A flashing neon sign backlit his mass of red curls, so that his hair flickered as if on fire. His laughter thundered across the room, too loud, as always, amplified so that heads turned, and yet everyone within ten feet of him smiled.

The first example tells readers about Preston, while the second allows them to see him for themselves. The second example provides more of an emotional experience as the imagination creates a sharper image, one that can be made clearer still through appearance, speech, thoughts, action, and the reactions of others.

Creating Fictional Characters Requires More than "Looks"

I sometimes check catalogues for inspiration when I'm "peopling" my fiction. I choose a model and write a paragraph about him or her. I keep these sketches in a notebook, and flip through them later in search of personality traits that have found their way into the writng.

Creating fictional characters requires more than such descriptions as, "She had dark hair and a round face broken only by a pointed chin." This provides superficial information about appearance, but shows nothing of human nature. If a character is to have dark hair, use her hair to suggest something meaningful about her:

Her hair fell in dark wisps about her face. They hadn’t been separated out and arranged for effect, but fell in disarray, escapees from the conservative silver clasp that could not contain them.

Readers now know that her hair is dark, but they also know she is not the type to spend time artfully arranging her hair for effect, and based on the “conservative” clasp, they might infer that she has a conservative side. The wisps that could not be contained suggests something else about her, a side that wants to break free.

Avoid such phrases as the tall blonde entered the room, and strive to impart more important information. Perhaps: Six foot in sensible flats, she had piled her blonde hair high, adding another two inches to her height, so that she rivaled even the tallest men in the room. This suggests confidence, perhaps a desire for power or attention.

Also avoid strings of adjectives: The man in the orange plaid jacket and green tie entered the room. Instead, split the adjectives into separate sentences, and make them reveal more than simple clothing choice. You might try something like this: A man entered. He clutched a slim leather binder. On anyone else, the orange plaid jacket and green tie would have looked ridiculous, but he made the pairing fashionable.

The Internet provides many unique and useful tools for creating better characters. See THIS PAGE for sites that provide character trait charts, that describe psychological disorders, medical illnesses, and more.

Go to Creating Characters, Part II



Read about Character Motivation

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