Best Practices for Getting a Sense of Character
I'm a plotter. I develop and plan my novels and characters well before I write them. When it comes to character development, I make sure that my characters (or at least the central ones) are people that the reader wants to read about. I make them people the reader will find interesting, and will cheer on past the end of the book. I achieve this by giving them details (certain traits, detailed and central inner conflicts, etc.).
I recently read an excerpt of a novel. The excerpt had a profound sense of character. The character felt like a real person, even though I was reading an excerpt and knew nothing about that character. The emotions, thoughts, and actions all just felt authentic. I can't really say why. That's why I'm asking this question.
I believe this is referred to as a sense of character: that undefinable something which just makes characters seem real. I'm not always missing this sense of character in my novels. Not by a long shot. Sometimes a character falls flat though, and I'd like to know what I can do about it.
How do I create a sense of character? Being a plotter, I'd obviously prefer a formula, a process that I can follow. I realize this might not be the case however.
Note: This question can easily be subjective, so please do not answer with just the opinion of one person. That method might not (and probably will not) work for everyone. I'd like methods that work for a wide variety of people.
1 answer
I think it is important to remember that fiction is not primarily a matter or invention but of observation. You are not creating new stories or new characters, you are discovering story and character in nature and sharing them through storytelling.
If you discover character in nature, then your reader can recognize character in your stories because they too have observed character all their lives. Then it only takes a few brushstrokes to establish character vividly because you are relying almost entirely on the reader's recognition and memory. Pull out the right poignant and telling detail to evoke the memory of character and your reader immediately has a fond and vivid reaction based on people they have known of similar character.
Almost any book would suffice to illustrate this, but take the opening dialogue of Pride and Prejudice and see how deftly the character of Mr Bennet is established by his gentle teasing of Mrs Bennet as she tries to persuade him to all on their new neighbour. In a few words, Mr. Bennet stands before us whole because we remember such affectionate teasing between man and wife (or between parent and child, or between siblings or friends). We know that guy. We remember him. You create a sense of character through an appeal to memory.
This is true across the board. Storytelling works through the invocation of memory. It does not create new sensations or emotions; it recalls to mind sensations and emotions that the reader has already had. If it builds new landscapes, it does so using pieces of the old. If it is truly skillful, it refines and concentrates sensations and emotions it a way that may feel new or more vivid than life, but it is all life recalled.
This is also, by the way, why we have to keep retelling the old stories: to recast them the the framework of memory of a new generation.
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