From Head to Hand: Characters

Here is the long awaited first post of my series on writing. I thought about calling this series 'Just for Middo' since it was Middo who suggested I do it at the start of the year.......I hope you're reading this Middo! :)

Please note....these are just my views, they are not from a creative writing 'bible'. I did a creative writing major at uni and I learnt heaps about general rules and principles but throughout uni I enjoyed experimenting and breaking those so-called rules.

Here are is what I think is of importance when creating characters:

• Base them on people you know. Seriously those around us provide us with the best inspiration. Even if the character is an animal or a mythical creature, you can still give them personalities of those we know. This prevents the characters being two-dimensional and 'wooden'. I like creating 'hybrid' characters where I will take the body of someone I know and the personality of someone else and combine them to create a character.
• But be careful! Don't make your characters TOO much like someone you know. Would you like reading about yourself in a book, warts and all? You have be careful you don't get sued for portraying someone negatively in a book. Be subtle......don't think just because you've taken someone's character and given them a different name in your book, that the person won't recognise themselves.
• Search the net for questionnaires and surveys and answer them as your character. This helps create 'three-dimensional' characters.
• The good vs evil concept works well with children's books such as Harry Potter and many of Enid Blyton's stories but I think in adult fiction, characters with more substance are required. However, that doesn't mean that the behaviour of an evil character always has to be justified with an excuse.
• Avoid stereotypes e.g. the mad scientist with wild hair wearing a white lab coat. One creative writing tutor I had gave the example of a little old lady with a grey bun and floral dress in a nice little cottage.....who is growing dope in her backyard. Now THAT would be interesting ;)
• Make your characters flawed. No-one can relate to perfect characters, we generally want to read about people with struggles like our own but who can overcome them.
• Send your characters on a journey. This is one of the golden rules I was taught. Don't suddenly and dramatically change the characters' personalities but as they go through the story, they will learn, grow and change.
• Keep a notebook of random scribblings about the characters as you think up things.

In my novel that I'm currently about three quarters of the way through, I used the bodies of celebrities, people I know and my own body; changed little things about them; mixed them with several different personalities including my own, those of people I know and characters from other books and movies. One character in fact is part myself, part Maria from The Sound of Music, part Joan of Arc, part Pollyanna, part Velvet from National Velvet. Hopefully that's an interesting mix. However, many of the other characters are based on real people physically but have made up personalities.

What the gurus say.....

• Bryce Courtenay has admitted that The Power of One is based on his own story of growing up in South Africa. Yet, he's said when the main character, Peekay, begins pursuing his dream to become a champion boxer this was where the similarity to his own life ends. He urges budding writers to make their characters 'larger than life' so that people will want to read about them.
• Marian Keyes writes about characters suffering from low self-esteem just as she did.
• Candace Bushnell admitted the character Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City is her alter-ego.
• Enid Blyton went against the trend by declaring her characters, bar one, are always imaginary by rule and, as a result, they have been criticised for being two-dimensional.

The thing to remember about creative writing is that everyone will have a different opinion to mine and even to the 'experts'. There are recommendations but there is no right and wrong so play around and have fun!

Some of this was based on an assignment I did in third year (2003).