In real life, we rarely find a whole host of folks who share the same beliefs, lifestyles and goals that we do – even the people we are closest with will have differences of opinion from minor to major issues. It would also be illogical for every character we create in our stories to share the same traits.
In order for a character to seem believable you have to create a way of speaking, acting and responding to situations that is unique to him or her. You, as the writer, must learn to speak in your character’s voice; to make it believable you will have to be able to get into your character’s head and understand everything about him.
WHO is your character? Yes, it is important to understand who he is today – his age, gender (for purposes of simplicity I am merely referring to HIM), career, financial status, etc. It is possibly more important to know WHERE your character came from, not just his hometown but also how he grew up and the circumstances that influenced him.
Study the people you know around you. How does someone who grew up in lean financial conditions deal with money issues now? It is a common fact that most of our parents or grandparents who lived through the depression have a tendency to be more frugal and waste less than someone who never had to worry about making ends meet.
Education makes a difference in the way we speak, analyze situations, obviously choose our careers, and even creates certain friendships. Your character’s educational background will also influence his choices and circumstances. Your character’s childhood and home life will have a lasting effect on his views and aspirations regarding marriage and parenthood. If your character was athletic as a child, with the exception of a physical disability or injury, chances are he will remain athletic or physically active as an adult.
Traumatic experiences will possibly have the most profound effect on someone’s life, it is the same with your characters. Victims of crime are stereotypically more hyper-vigilant, may panic or experience flashbacks in similar situations, or may be more fearful generally. Please notice that I said stereotypically – there is no one way someone will definitely react after trauma whether is crime, bereavement, accident, illness or emotional loss. In the Death Wish series, Charles Bronson’s character becomes a vigilante and tracks down “bad guys”; in Copycat, Sigourney Weaver’s character becomes agoraphobic and refuses to leave her house.
Learn to understand your character, know his complete background. It doesn’t matter how much of that background your readers will learn about, you MUST know it in order to make your character believable. If you find yourself getting stuck while you are writing a story, spend some time with your character, have a discussion or two, and learn what makes your character “tick”.
Writing lesson: 1) Create a dossier on each of your main characters listing where and how they grew up, their family and friend relationships, education, financial situation then and now, and important events that happened in their lives BEFORE your story opens. 2)After you have developed your main characters, have each of them write THEIR OWN obituary.
Writing prompt: Choose the person closest to you (in relationship closeness) and then pick a recent unexpected event you both experienced. How did you each react? Why do you think each of you responded the way you did? Specifically what is it in your individual backgrounds that prepared you for this experience?
