The other week I wrote a guest post about a film that gets away with not developing its protagonist. However, that tends to be the exception to the rule. Normally, it’s a good idea to spend some time developing your characters. You want to know as much as you can about your main and supporting characters and see what makes them tick.

A great way to get started is with a character questionnaire. There are dozens of these on the internet, and I’ve listed a few below. Questionnaires can range for simple characteristics (hair color, favorite song), to detailed life-histories of your characters. I like to scan these forms for questions that gets me excited. It’s always different from character to character, one question might be relevant to my protagonist, while another gets me thinking in a new way about the villain.

Over time, I’ve found that there are a few questions I like to go back to over and over again. For me, these are the ones that cut through the fluff and get to the real guts of my character.

Favorite questions that help to develop character in regards to story and plot:

What is your character’s controlling belief?
What is your character’s biggest fear?
What is your character’s great weakness?
What does your character need?
Who is your character hurting at the opening of the story?
What is your character’s moral need (this will relate to who they are hurting)?
What is the crisis or problem your character is in at the opening of the story (before the inciting incident or any other events occur)?
What is the “ghost,” wound, or hole in your character’s heart? (Something that happened in the past that affects their actions today and may or may not be related to their weakness/fear).
What is your character’s obsession? Why are they obsessed with it?
What is your character’s external goal?
What is your character’s self revelation? What do they learn at the end of the story?
What does your character believe or think they know at the opening of the story?
How is your character wrong about what they believe at the opening of the story?
How does the story world reflect your character’s needs, desires, fears, or challenge their weaknesses?
What is your character’s Inciting Incident? (This is an event that connects need and desire, and jump starts the hero out of paralysis and into action). What would cause them to act?
Who are your character’s allies? And what do those characters want for themselves?
Who are your character’s opponents? Who wants to stop the hero from getting what he wants and why? What does the opponent want? Is he/she competing for the same thing?
What are the opponent’s values and how do they differ from the hero’s?

Favorite questions that help to get to the heart of your character:

How does your character relate to other human beings? Why?
What’s his/her relationship with their family (mom, dad, siblings), friends, co-workers?
What/who does your character love? Why?
What/who does your character hate? Why?
What does your character view as his/her greatest failure?
What does your character view as his/her greatest success?
In what way does your character feel the world has wronged them?
What’s your character’s greatest strength? And weakness?
Who does your character think they are better than?
Who/what do they think they will never live up to?
What traits does your character value/respect in others?
What causes your character shame?
Who does your character trust?
What are your character’s religious and political views? And what affect do they have on their actions/way of life?
If your character could change one thing about themself, what would it be?
What does your character lie about when they meet other people?
What’s your character’s motto?

Other fun questionnaires to check out:

January 28, 2014 by ingridsundberg

Breaking the Rules of Character Development

One of the ten commandments of writing is that you must develop your characters! And yet, over the weekend, I saw the Robert Redford film All Is Lost, and it breaks this rule unabashedly. In fact, the story is stronger as a result.

How is that possible?!

My discussion of how the film defies character development is on Ellar Cooper’s blog today: Ellar Out Loud. It’s part of a fabulous Dystropian guest-blog series that she’s sponsoring this month, guaranteed to be full of awesome posts on writing and craft. Be sure to check it out!

Read my guest post: Breaking the Rules of Character Development

Quote of the Week: Tristan Riehl

April 9, 2013 by ingridsundberg

99 Problems But the Witch Ain’t One

By Mary Pleiss

When I was a little girl, the witches I knew came from fairy tales. They were old, ugly, and mean–life ruiners who cast evil spells with no provocation. My young friends and I ran into the problem of the witch in our play. We didn’t want to meet a witch in a dark forest or a bright one, even if that forest was the pair of trees in our backyard. Certainly none of us wanted to be the witch. But we knew we had to have a witch. Witches made things happen, provided scary, shivery tension, and gave the good characters something to fight against and overcome.

We often solved this problem by keeping the witch offscreen; we called out plot points detailing the unseen, unheard witch’s actions: “Now the witch is casting her spell. If you get to the swing set, you’re safe!” or, “You stepped into the witch’s clover patch–you’re trapped!” We could imagine the witch without casting her because we’d read stories and seen movies (mostly Disney movies and of course The Wizard of Oz). We knew witches well enough to weave them into our play without having to face the fact that we all had it in ourselves to be witches.

In sixth grade, I read Elizabeth George Speare’s The Witch of Blackbird Pond, and I started thinking about witches in a different way. What made the people of Wethersfield believe Hannah Tupper and Kit Tyler were witches, when any reader could see they weren’t magical or evil–just a little bit different? Why did their neighbors feel the need to banish or imprison them? If Hannah and Kit weren’t really evil, what did that say about the fairy tale witches I’d always feared and hated?

The witches in our fiction today are very different from those in fairy tales, and it turns out that even the Wicked Witch of the West has more complexity than I realized when I was growing up. I knew her from the movie, but reading the books as an adult, and learning more about the history of the Oz books in particular and witches–and those who were accused of witchcraft–in western culture has witches in a new light. L. Frank Baum was heavily influenced by his mother-in-law, Matilda Gage, who was an historian and feminist who promoted influential theories about women who were called witches in history. Baum had those theories in mind when he populated Oz with witches who were more dimensional than what had come before; they had backstories and motivations, and while some of them were evil, just as many were good.

Since Baum, of course, a number of children’s and YA writers have included witches–and women accused of witchcraft–in their stories. Whether bad, good, or somewhere in between, those witches have developed into characters with more depth and complexity than even Baum could have imagined. As societal attitudes about the roles of girls and women have evolved, fictional characterizations of witches have changed, and we can’t get away with taking the problematic witch offscreen or making her a one-dimensional villain. Now, when we write about witches, we work to make them as dimensional as all of our other characters, and our problem becomes the same as that we face with most other characters: how do we bring the witch to life?

Here are some suggestions and questions you can ask yourself if you’re including witchy characters in your fiction:

Consider doing some research into historical witches and witchcraft trials. You might find an angle or a detail no one’s ever written about before.

If your witches really do practice magic, is their power individual or communal, or some combination of both? Is magic learned or innate? Can you make witchcraft/magic a source of conflict, rather than a crutch that relieves it?

Does your character need to make choices about her “witchiness”—whether it’s to become a witch, to fully use or curtail her own power, or to educate herself about her power? Against or for whom she will use her power? Will she embrace her power right away, or resist it?

These are, of course, just a start to creating fully realized witch characters, but they’re a way to turn the witch into an integral part of your story, rather than a flat stereotype. Give your readers more to think about when you write witches, so that kids who play pretend will argue over who gets to be the witch, rather than relegating her to an offscreen ghost.

Mary Pleiss: Though some might say all the hours Mary Pleiss spent haunting the library and disappearing into book worlds hinted at her future in writing for middle grade and young adult readers, she confesses that at the time she just thought it was a good way to escape her noisy family (she loves them, really, but six siblings can be a bit much at times). She is a curriculum development specialist, teacher, and recent graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts, with an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults.

Follow Mary on Twitter: @MKPleiss

This blog post was brought to you as part of the March Dystropian Madness blog series.

September 13, 2012 by ingridsundberg

Are You Writing Propaganda?

I was recently reading a book and halfway through it I realized I was reading propaganda! By propaganda, I mean that the author clearly had an idea that he/she wanted to promote with the book and was using the fictional device as a vehicle for that idea. I was simultaneously intrigued and appalled. I was impressed by the author’s ability to pull me into the story and make me feel. But I was appalled by how easily I was manipulated, particularly when I realized the manipulation.

This got me thinking about our authorial agenda as we write.

It’s not uncommon to start a book with a particular idea or point of view in mind. For example you might want to write about teen pregnancy, or school shootings, or true love, or any number of topics that you personally might have an opinion about. And here’s where it gets tricky… we should write about topics that we care about and are interested in. But, the question is: should we force our opinions onto our characters, their lives, and situations? If we do that, are we no longer telling honest stories? Are we instead creating propaganda where our characters become vehicles for our opinions?

I need to take a moment to define propaganda, particularly because it has a strong negative connotation. When we say the word propaganda, it’s easy to think about something “evil,” like war propaganda. We think of lies and rumors and things created with malicious intent. In fact, the dictionary definition reinforces this idea:

Propaganda: information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation, etc. The deliberate spreading of such information, rumors, etc.

But notice the key words I point out below, particularly in relation to our own intent as writers for children:

Propaganda: information, ideas, or rumors deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group,movement, institution, nation, etc. The deliberate spreading of such information, rumors, etc.

When we focus on just the positive words related to Propaganda we see where propaganda comes from. Ultimately, one probably doesn’t think they’re spreading propaganda, they believe they’re sharing an idea that they think will help others. As adults writing for children, I think we may have a lot of ideas (and agendas) about how to help and influence children, including values and beliefs that we think will make them grow into healthy and happy human beings. It seems like a noble thing to do. Not to mention that literature as a “teaching tool” has a long history in children’s lit. But do we have the kids in mind when we do this, or are we working in service of ourselves and our own beliefs?

I speak from experience when I ask this. Not too long ago I was writing a YA novel about virginity. I wanted my character to not have sex and to realize that abstinence was an okay choice and she was a good person for choosing it. I clearly had an agenda! But you know what…I couldn’t do this book justice. I wrote draft after draft and it never worked. This is because what I wanted my character to do was not what she wanted to do. The issues of my book were much deeper, more complex and fascinating, than I was allowing them to be. I was trying to force my ideals into the book and it became didactic and soul-less in the process.

In a recent lecture at school, one of the faculty members said:

“It’s not our job [as writers] to take sides. If we do we are writing propaganda. It’s our job to advocate for both sides.”

I’ve come to agree with this statement, because the amazing thing is – my story came alive – when I let go of what I wanted to say and let my characters be honest to themselves and direct themselves through the difficult questions and issues that the novel wanted to explore. The story became infinitely more complex, deep, and honest without my meddling little hands on it.

Personally, I search for truth in my writing. That’s my bottom line. Truth. And I don’t think I can find the truth of my story with my agenda in the way. There’s a great quote that goes something to the effect of: “True wisdom is knowing that you know nothing.” And I take this nugget with me when I sit down to write. I may have my opinions, but I don’t know what my character needs. She does and she will tell me. All I can do is advocate for her, and advocate for her antagonists as well, so that she is truly challenged in her beliefs. And it turns out, that in this writing process, sometime my beliefs get challenged too. But isn’t that what we really want to do with our writing? Don’t we want our readers to think for themselves and decide what they want to agree or disagree with, believe or not believe? Mustn’t we show both sides in order to have them do this?

Here’s some good gut-check questions to see where you stand with your story (and be honest with yourself):

Is there something you want your character to learn in this book? Or is there something you want your reader to learn from this book?

Are you willing to let your book develop and your characters to learn a different truth than you may have set out for when you started writing? If not, why not?

Do you allow your character(s) to make choices or take actions even if they will move the story in a direction other than the one you want it to go in? If not, what are you afraid will happen if they go in a new direction?

Have you ever found yourself forcing your character’s reactions to story events? If so, why does it feel like you’re forcing them?

Have you looked deeply into the other “side” of your story? What’s the point of view that’s the opposite of your protagonist’s? Have you only skimmed the surface or have you given it a chance to try to convince your protagonist that there’s a different way to live her life?

Have you simply let things fall into the camps of good vs. evil?

Do the answers to these questions mean you are writing propaganda? Not necessarily. I mention them only to point out how we – as authors – might be directing our stories more than we should, how we might have blind spots we weren’t aware of, and to explore how there is depth and complexity in some of the opportunities we may not be considering.

One of my current philosophies on writing is that if I want my character to read like a real honest living human being, then I must treat her like one. I must allow her to make her own decisions. I must not judge her if she makes choices that I am opposed to (even morally). I cannot force my character to do anything, and if I do, she’s no longer a human but a pawn of my story. I must do my best to respect, understand, and empathize with my character in order for her to come alive and trust me with her secrets. And I think we should do this for all our characters, even the villains and antagonists.

Truth is not an easy thing to find. But if we put our own agendas and preconceived notions aside and truly follow our characters on their journeys, I think we might have a better chance at finding it together.

October 19, 2010 by ingridsundberg

School, Drool, and Other Daily Disasters

School, Drool, and Other Daily Disasters was the title of author Rachel Vail’s keynote speech at the SCBWI LA 2010 Conference. In it she shared her process, writing for middle grade readers, and how to get inside your characters head. Notes from her speech are as follows:

Why Do We Read?

A book is more than a story well told. It needs to have humor and heart.
The theme of my writing career has been: What does love require of us?

My Writing Day…

Typing
Making Tea
Wandering around and imagining
Making more tea

Books That Really Influenced Vail:

Of Mice and Men
Tales of a 4^th Grade Nothing

What is Middle Grade?

Middle grade is the age group of 3^rd through 7^th graders.
Most middle grade books are structured like a one-act play.

What is the Middle Grade Dilemma?

Middle grade is the moment you emerge into the world and you discover that your family is weird.
It’s when you wonder if there are others out there like you.
Life or death moments are a dime a dozen in middle grade. Those feeling knock you down. Your bones ache you are growing so fast.
Little kids harbor secrets and worries that adults are not privy to.
Being brave is not the same as being fearless.
Remember that one somebody who took you seriously when you were a child? (Vail shared a story about her uncle who was the only one who wanted to know the rain cycle, which she had just learned in school and was excited to share with someone).

The Impossible Task of Writing…

Writing a book opens a window.
Writing a book is like building a sky scraper from the top down. You build, and then tear it down. You build again, and tear it down again.

Getting Inside the Head of Your Character…

How do we become someone else? We aren’t all memoirists.
Start with what you know. J.K.Rowling probably didn’t live in a cupboard as a child, but she may have lived in a metaphorical one. I’m sure she knew the loneliness and dreamed of more.
Mine and re-purpose. I write for a girl who is like me but not like me.
Try speed writing. Write for ten minutes on your dad’s car. Go!
Voice sometimes comes later, after many drafts.
We have to listen to our characters as much as we do our own kids. It’s just as hard.

Finding Your Story…

Michelangelo once said that when he was sculpting he was “chipping away at the stone to find the sculpture inside.” It’s the same thing for writing only we have to barf out our first draft to get a stone.

Great Notes from Rachel Vail’s Breakout Sessions:

How acting can help you to develop character.
Writing the adolescent voice.

Rachel Vail has written over 30 books for kids through teens. Her most recent include her trilogy for teens: Lucky, Gorgeous and Brilliant; and her novel for kids Justin Case: School, Drool, and Other Daily Disasters.

October 10, 2010 by ingridsundberg

Seeing Your Characters: Creating Adolescent Charaters From the Inside Out

Author of over 30 books, Rachel Vail, has created her own fair share of characters. As an author of young adult, middle grade, and picture books, Vail gave insight on how to create believable adolescent characters for all age groups. The following notes were taken from her breakout session at the 2010 SCBWI LA Conference.

You Are Your Best Source…

We often feel like our own lines are boring and obvious. But we are sometimes our own best source of material. Start with what you know.
You contain multitudes!
If you want, start with your own story. It’s a way in. A way to start writing.

Find a Core Part of Your Character to Guide You…

A note Vail left on her computer for herself said “Don’t redeem Morgan.” This was an important point for her character. She didn’t want to redeem the “mean” character. However later, she replaced this note with the word “Shattered.” This seemed a deeper element of the character and why she was mean in the first place.

Writer’s Block is a Character Problem…

If you find you are blocked it means you don’t know your character well enough.
It could also mean you are avoiding a certain scene that you are afraid to write but the book probably needs you to write.
If your character starts to use dialog where they say things like “I don’t even know what I want anymore,” the character is talking to YOU the author. The character lacks motivation and is asking you for some!

Use a “Character Form” to Develop Your Characters…

A Character Form is a list of questions you ask your character so you can get to know them better and really understand who they are. These start out simple with what the character looks like and their mannerisms. But you want to be sure to get into more complex questions as well. Some character form question examples are:
My name is _____________. Who named her/him? Who are they named after?
Character age____________.
How do I look? This is a good question to answer in the voice of the character. This is more than the physical appearance. This is the character’s opinion of his/her own appearance. This will really help you to find the character’s voice.
I cannot stand….
I love my mother, but…
My friends are…
I wish…
If I could change one thing about myself it would be…
What is my favorite food?
I love to wear…
The worst thing I ever did… (this is a great one to help you with plot!)
I wish I was more…
Don’t panic if your character surprises you when answering these questions. That’s a good thing! That means your character is coming to life.

First Drafts and Brutal Rewriting…

The story begins when the main character’s life is thrown off balance. Your job is to re-find balance for your character.
A fully developed and realized character is not going to come out in the first draft. It will probably be somewhat boring and cliché. That’s okay. That’s what’s at the front of your head. Draft and re-draft!
Astonish yourself! Your first draft is what you know. Re-writing will show you something new.
Sometimes the deleting is the most important part of the story.
When Edison invented the light bulb, he said he really invented 173 ways to NOT make a light bulb. You’ve got to go through many drafts.
See your work with new eyes, again and again. (Re-writing)
Don’t fall in love with your words or your characters. They may have to go.
Fall in love with your story! Get lost in it, and then be ruthless! Then have some chocolate or scotch.
Revise. This is the way to the truth.

Other Notes on Character Development:

All the objects in our lives have history. Where did this scarf come from? Who gave you that ring?
Young people are growing in plain sight, there is no place for them to hide, no cocoon. It’s hard.
If you are not scared, then no bravery is required.
8^th grade is the great and horrible year of “Who the Hell am I?!”
What does your character NOT say? What is she holding in?
Seeing the world through different eyes. That is the challenge of being a writer.
Get to know your characters through how they speak.

On Writing For Kids…

Be kind. That should be the message.
Kids have a built in, shock-proof, BS detector.
Kids come to books to find hope.
Even if it knocks you around, leave kids with something to hold on to.
Kids are constantly evolving, learning, and growing. They aren’t who they were yesterday.

General Writing Tips…

As a writer you must have a creative self. But you must also be an independent businessman/woman. That is also your responsibility.
Know everything, and then learn more!
You are not just what you are, you are what you imagine.

October 6, 2010 by ingridsundberg

How Acting Can Help You To Develop Character

Before becoming a writer, author Rachel Vail, studied acting and theater. Today she may not grace the stages of Broadway but her numerous books showcase her ability to “get into character”, or more accurately create them. During her breakout session at the 2010 SCBWI LA Conference she explained how it might be worth your wild to check out an acting class.

Things I Learned About Character From Acting Class:

You must know everything about your character. Where were they the moment before the scene you are writing? How did they sleep last night? This will affect the scene and how the character behaves. (This was an acting lesson Vail learned before going on stage).
What does your character want? What does your character enter the scene wanting? An actor friend of Vail’s told her that the way in which he keeps scenes fresh night after night of doing the same show is by changing what the character wants as they enter the scene. “Each time I do the show I have different motivations.”
As hard as it can be to get into character, it can be just as hard to get out of it.

How Body Language Develops Character:

Before I can know a character, I need to know them emotionally and physically.
All characters walk from a different part of their body. This is called the center of the body. Some people are centered at the forehead and walk with their heads down. Others are centered from their chests and have a confident walk. Drunks often walk with their shoulders first. How does your character walk and move through space?
For a book about a ballerina, Vail learned all about how ballerinas hold themselves (posture, walk, etc.) They often hold their hair back. They don’t cross their legs. These small physical effects changed the whole way in which Vail saw the character.

September 13, 2010 by ingridsundberg

Seven Ways to Develop Compelling Characters

Gail Carson Levine, author of Ella Enchanted, spoke at the 2010 SCBWI LA Conference. In her keynote speech she shared the following tips on how to develop your characters.

Seven Ways to Create Compelling Characters:

1) What role will my character play? I always start with plot when writing a book, then I think about the role in which my character will need to play in this story. That role is essential to creating your character. Do they need to grow into that role? Is it something inherent about their character to begin with? Etc. This is a keystone to build your character from.

2) There’s a tarantula on your head. What are you gonna do? I need to be with my characters for awhile to learn how they will react. I discover who my character is through writing dialog, actions, and internal thoughts about who he/she is. Put your character in different situations and see how they will surprise you.

3) What if? What if? This is a book full of great questions that will help you to get to know your character. Answer the questions for your character. A lot of authors also use a character form or questionnaire with a list of questions they have created. (Examples of character forms can be found at: Elfwood Character Creation Form or Writing.com Character Development Form).

4) Invented characters vs. real humans. In a novel it is not possible to create a character with as many layers as a real human. The reader is going to end up doing a lot of the work themselves, that’s okay. The reader will build from their own experience to create depth for your characters. But you have to show the reader the way.

5) You know, like, dude! It’s just how I talk, duh! Look for speech mannerisms in your characters. For example, I have a friend who always starts a sentence with: “You know what…” and always follows it with something angry, “…this sucks.” Etc. Some people always start sentences with “I have to tell you…” How does your character start sentences? What tags do they put at the end of sentences? This will help each of your characters to sound unique.

6) Don’t invite the circus! Don’t overload the reader with a circus of exotic talkers. You want each character to stand out and be unique, but if everyone has crazy lingo and weird phrases, the audience is going to get tired. No to mention the in-authenticity of too much jargon!

7) I could have danced all night! Movement is a tip off to character. Use body language. Simple examples include: She rolled her hands. or Her eye twitched when she was nervous. Why do people touch one another? Some do it to show dominance, others just have a touchy feely nature. Another character might twirl their hair while they are plotting. Show us actions! In a movie we see all these actions, but in a book you need to remind the reader.

Gail Carson Levine is the author of seventeen books for children. After nine years of manuscript rejection, many writing classes, and enthusiastic membership in SCBWI, her first published book, Ella Enchanted, won a Newbery honor in 1998. She blogs about writing at www.gailcarsonlevine.blogspot.com

Ingrid's Notes

… musings on creative writing and craft …

Character Development

Quote of the Week: Martine Leavitt

Character Questionnaire: Getting to the Guts of Character