Building Character

 

Think of three books that you have read recently which you really enjoyed, and make a list for each book of the top 5 things that have stuck in your memory as things that you really liked about that novel.

Compare each of those three lists. How often did you mention something to do with a character in that novel? Chances are, all three of your lists will include some sort of memorable character: someone you identified with, someone you found interesting, a villain, a hero, and so on.

When people begin writing a story, often they ask themselves: what is this story going to be about? They worry about what their plot is going to be – what events are going to happen, how they all link, and how can they put a character in to link these scenes.

Most good stories are driven not by a clearly defined or predestined plot-points. Rather, they are driven by their characters and the actions of those characters. Stories driven entirely by plot are often bland and predictable. Stories driven by characters are relatable, unpredictable and more engaging.

 

 

How can we create a character-driven story?

The key to a good character-driven story is to not begin with the plot. Rather, you begin with your characters. Ignore the plot entirely – it will emerge later as a result of your character’s actions.

 

Step 1: Think of a character with a multi-faceted/complex problem

Forget about your story. You don’t need a story or a plot. What you need is a character: someone or something that can can create the story for you. For this exercise to work, you must begin by creating and describing your character.

Their name, the brand of shirt they wear, or what they ate for breakfast are not important at this stage. What you need to do is to create their personality and a set of circumstances that will help to establish their lives.  

Consider the following:

  • What personality traits does your character have?
  • What adjectives would you use to describe this character?
  • What are this character’s likes and dislikes?
  • Pose as many other questions as you can. Is you character intelligent or a bit thick? Are they impulsive or cautious? Are they outgoing or quiet? Are they nervous or confident? Do they have any fears? What do they value most in their life?

What you want is a detailed, complex and realistic character who can be the vehicle for your story. Once you have this character, you need to present them with a problem. This problem should be complex and multi-faceted (i.e. it should have many possible outcomes). There should not be an easy solution to this problem.

Your story will emerge from between this character and the problem they face. Here are some basic examples of a character who is faced with a complicated problem:

  • A woman with two children is running from a natural disaster and is only able to rescue one child.
  • A boy who loves animals finds himself in a situation where he must decide whether or not (or is forced to) harm an animal.
  • An honest man finds out that his boss is stealing money from the company in order to keep him (the honest man) employed.

 

 

Step 2: Present the character with a difficult choice that has two (or more) sides

So far you have a character who has a problem, and must make a difficult decision/choice in order to solve it. Now we are going to introduce some new elements to help refine this into a story:

  1. This difficult choice must infolve a struggle between choosing path A and path B.
  2. This is a choice that could potentially be life defining for the character.
  3. The choice will show the reader who the character is.

The character has been presented with a problem and must make a choice. Neither path should be an easy choice: both will have good and bad outcomes. Because of this, the character’s response to the problem will show the reader just who this character is: are they selfless or selfish? Brave or cowardly? Nervous or determined? Pragmatic or idealistic? Clever or impulsive?  

Consider the following:

  • What potential paths can your character take?
  • What are the costs and benefits associated with each choice?
  • Which path will they choose and why?
  • What are the potential consequences of this choice (both foreseeable by the character and unforeseeable?)

 

 

Step 3: Escalate the problem by introducing a new element(s)

 The story isn’t over yet. You have a character, they have a problem, and a number of choices that they can make. Now we must introduce a new element: we must escalate the problem for the character.

You will need to introduce a new external element that will make the character’s choice even more difficult.

This new element will create a further CONFLICT for the character, creating tension in the story, and will in turn drive the plot forward.

The character must now make the ultimate choice: one from which there is no turning back. Once the character makes this choice something important happens: they become real for us. They become an acutal person, making decisions that we can either agree or disagree with.

 

Step 4: Repeat as necessary

You can add further escalations to the problem as you see fit, giving your character further choices that they must make. Remember that each of these choices should have at least two possible ways of being resolved. The choices that the character makes will reveal their personality, and show us who they are as a person. We may also see how their personality changes throughout the story in response to the challenges they are faced with: will they become stronger or weaker? Kinder or meaner? Smarter or more frustrated?  

 

 

An Example of Creating a Character-Driven Story 

Step 1: Character

  • A squirrel. This squirrel is meticulous and very well organised, always gathering lots of nuts and organising them by size, colour and tastiness well before the start of winter. He may even be a little obsessive about his nuts. His house is high up in the highest tree, well out of reach of any other animals.
  • This squirrel has a squirrel wife but no kids. Just like him, his squirrel wife is a bit obsessive.

 

Step 2: The Problem

  • Winter comes early and is very harsh. The other animals are not prepared for winter, but the squirrel has lots of nuts.

Multifaceted Problem: What is the squirrel to do with his nuts?

  • Path 1: Squirrel can keep all the nuts for himself, allowing himself to survive the winter in comfort and with no risk, but his friends will starve to death.
  • Path 2: Squirrel has enough food to share with some and can exploit his position of power, becoming a ‘king’ amongst the other animals because he can decide who starves and who lives.
  • Path 3: Squirrel can try and keep all of his animal friends alive. However, while he has a lot of nuts saved up, he won’t have enough to last everyone through the winter, and if they can’t find other food they will all risk starving by the end, Squirrel included.

Character’s Choice:

  • Squirrel is very nervous and listens to his wife, who is slowly going mad with the ‘power’ of controlling the nut-supply. He only shares with a small group of animals.

 

Step 3: Escalation of Problem

  • Problem: The first animal dies. It was an elderly Badger who had been very kind to Squirrel when he was a youngster and everyone else simply thought him ‘neurotic’.
  • Response: Squirrel reconsiders his position, and decides to ration out his nuts to help the other animals, so that Badger’s death was not in vein.

 

Step 4: Further escalation of Problem

  • Problem: A violent and terrifying storm hits. There is rain, hail, thunder and lightning. A lightning bolt hits his tree, splitting it in two, and nearly all of Squirrel’s nuts are washed away into the river below.
  • Response: Squirrel decides to use the remaining nuts to have one last feast with his friends. They gather around the fire left behind by the ruins of his tree-house, and eat the remaining nuts together, swapping stories and jokes until their bellies are full. The nuts are all gone.

 

 

Why is character-driven drama good?

Look at the points above. If you follow this approach, each choice that the character is presented with will have multiple paths they can follow. This means that it is very difficult to predict where the story will end up, as the path the narrative follows will depend entirely on the choices made by the characters. Unpredictability is interesting – it keeps the reader guessing about what will happen next, and what the character will decide.

It also gives the reader a stake in the story. Just as the character is making a decision, so too can the reader. The person reading can compare what they would do with what the character decided to do, encouraging them to engage with what is happening in the novel on a personal level.

The plot will now be much more complex: rather than having one clear predestined path, we have now created a spider-web of potential narratives. There is not one the path that the character has followed, but also the potential paths and narratives that could have emerged had they made different decisions:

What will make your story unique (and more ‘real’) will be the choices that your character has made:

 

Finally, this also gives us another opportunity to perform some showing writing. You no longer have to merely tell the audience that a character is kind, selfish, cowardly, brave or impulsive, as these characteristics will now be shown through their actions and the choices they made in response to each challenge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Useful Documents

 

External Resources

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