Mmm, I fell off this particular wagon pretty hard. But the good news (best news) is that the essay is now in for marking. I have literally no idea what any of it even means any more (Writer World Problem number 658: TFW you've read the thing so many times it doesn't even seem like language to you), but hey, I can't do anything about that now.
So! Back to the 100 Days of Writing prompts. Today's is about character, thank the universe - that's a topic that I can really get behind. There's a couple of things that I want to delve into on that topic though, so today, I'm just gonna address the daily question, which is about character creation:
So! Back to the 100 Days of Writing prompts. Today's is about character, thank the universe - that's a topic that I can really get behind. There's a couple of things that I want to delve into on that topic though, so today, I'm just gonna address the daily question, which is about character creation:
How do you create your characters? Do you make a profile of them? Do you know your character before you start writing the story?
Okay, so I don't tend to think of characters in a vaccuum. We're all products of our environment, and the people we're around, right? So it makes sense to me to think of them in groups, and as being moulded by their experiences. Characters that are forced to take a lot of responsibility early in their lives are either polished or busted up by it; characters who have to live around someone they don't understand (or don't like) are going to be shaped by that association and how they feel about it.*
I'm about to start playing Dungeons and Dragons, so I'll use the character I'm fleshing out for that as an example. I looked through a lot of different race and class types when I started creating this character, but it wasn't until I had a better idea of who the other characters were in the group that I could really get a handle on who I wanted to be. Many of the other people had chosen anthropomorphised animal races and various permutations of the chaotic alignments. I chose a human lawful good alignment. Many of the other characters had personal vendetta type rationales for joining the party; I chose a 'greater good' storyline for mine.
Trust me, I'm not doing it to be willful. But inter-personal conflict is a great way to drive story, and if the characters are both bound together and pushed apart by their core essences, there will be a native requisite tension in the story that in my opinion is hard to beat.
____________________
*Yes, I know those are two sad examples. Trust me, I am not a happy-ending-all-the-time kind of writer.