Characters

7-27-10

Characters are my favorite part of reading a story.  They are my favorite thing in writing.  When I write fiction, I write though characters thoughts and feeling.  Most of my stories are told in first person.  Very seldom do I describe what a person looks like though because I’m so focussed on their thoughts.  Physical description is my biggest weak spot in writing.

I think it’s amazing how people work.  People in the real world are very round.  Even though someone might be a true and loyal friend, that doesn’t mean they’re a nice person all around.  Of if someone cheats to get ahead in any way they can, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they aren’t going to donate a few moments of their time on weekends to help out a charity.  But then again, there are those people we come across in our lives that seem flat.  Just because we don’t take the time to get to know them.  Like the person at the drive-through window at McDonald’s or a lady you walk by who happens to have the same type of dog as you.

When I make up a main characters for a story I learn everything I can about.  I imagine myself having conversations with them, sort of like interviews.  I make a list of favorites and find out everything from their favorite subject in school was to what they’d name their children that are years away from being born.  Not all of this goes into the story of course.  There’s no way it could fit.  That would be like me writing a memoir on my entire life from birth to now, including every moment of my existence.  The reason is I want well developed characters.  I don’t want my main character to seem flat.  I also tend to make up life stories for the person who asks, "Would you like fries with that?" at the drive-though, but that’s just because I love characters.  I love creating people.  Maybe that’s because I want to understand people or maybe it’s just because I make these people because they are what I aspire to be like… which wouldn’t be good because I mostly write about really pissy teenagers.

I believe that good writing comes from good solid characters.  If the character development sucks well… the whole story’s going to suck.  A reader needs to feel what the character is going through.  A reader needs see inside the characters head.  That’s why I like fist person.  It really makes a reader feel like they are part of the story.  Third person limited is okay too sometimes.  Omniscient makes me feel like God, and second person is creepy.