Creating Memorable Characters, Part Two

In my last post, I mentioned two points: A, being curious about lots of different things in the world, and B, studying real people and their lives in order to create characters that are completely, humanly, real, yet still have that larger-than-life characteristic.

Curiosity. If you're not curious about a gajillion things in this world, you need to develop curiosity. For example, I found the TV show Ice Road Truckers by accident back in August, when I wanted to watch something after seeing an installment of a three-parter about the CIA called The Company (and what an interesting drama that was). I saw "Ice Road Truckers" on my cable guide, said what the heck can that be, and watched it. By the end of the hour, I was hooked on the human drama of these drivers and what they dealt with as part of their job's routine.

I have to confess here that extreme climates, and how people cope with them, fascinate me. I love Alaska, want to visit Death Valley (the hottest place in the US), et cetera, so I probably was an easy sell for getting hooked on IRT. But I'm also curious in the extreme--I've been known to watch all varieties of strange (according to my husband) shows and read nonfiction books about obscure matters. I've been known to people-watch and eavesdrop on conversations of strangers. I check the newswires every day for offbeat stories, and save them in an "ideas" file. Everything, as I tell an artist friend of mine, is grist for the mill.

If you write, and want to create memorable characters, first study some real people. I've never written a story with truckers in it, but I suspect that, at some point, I'm going to have ice road truckers in a story, even if it's only a character's background. For something I'm currently working on, I found a bit of backstory for my hero that gives the conflict a neat twist--in a tech news story about the guy who wrote the first-ever computer virus when he was fifteen. This tidbit has become backstory for my hero in my erotic romantic suspense tentatively titled NETWORKED. So, you see, raw material for creating stories and characters can be found everywhere.

Okay, you've observed a lot of human drama and you've come up with a character or two. Now, how to make them larger than life? It's all in the details.

In my latest release, PLAY HARD, the hero, Burt Stone, comes from old money in Philadelphia's Main Line suburbs. He's richer than sin, but can't abide being a playboy, so he works hard to follow his dream of becoming a world-class equestrian. Then, a jumping accident leads to the death of his horse, and his left leg and hip being put back together with pins, so he can't ride any more. The story starts two years after that accident--and he hasn't even touched a horse during that time. But, because he can't bear idleness, he starts his own company, providing custom databases to the equestrian community. He drives a Lexus Hybrid SUV, because he also can't abide wastefulness, but needs a car big enough to accommodate his bad leg. He goes to a charity auction with a childhood friend, and bids on poker lessons on a whim, because it benefits therapeutic riding for special needs kids.

Okay, what do we know about Burt? A, he's rich but hard-working; B, he's had the one thing he loved most taken away from him; C, he's moderately disabled (he needs a cane to walk); D, he's enviromentally-conscientious; E, he has a big heart when it comes to charity; and F, he has a childhood friend with whom he's close. From these we can interpolate that he's loyal, overcame great pain, and generous. You know he's not going to hang out in casinos playing baccarat. He's not going to party with Paris Hilton. He's the real deal, despite his money. And he's not perfect.

It's important to remember that--your characters should not be perfect. They should have some wound or some negative attribute--that will keep them human and believable. But they should also have attributes that push them to take risks, because, remember, characters (especially primary ones) need to change over the course of a story.

Homework: go to Ann Roth's site and download "Getting to Know You". Her character template is fairly complete, and it will force you to answer questions and consider personality characteristics to help you define your characters. Ann's Word document is by no means the only one on the internet--try Googling "character development in writing" or something similar if you wish. But her document will at least get you started.

Barrie