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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47805
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/47805
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

A character is not a human being. A character is a construct created entirely by the author for the purpose of telling a story. This works because stories are much neater simpler things than real human life. They exist in part to allow us to escape our humdrum human lives, and in part to help us understand what human life is actually like and/or to prepare us to bear it vicissitudes.

There is certainly a school of thought in writing that says that you should create a complete biography for a character even if most of it never appears in print. But the fact that most of it never appears in print is itself proof that a character, as they appear on the page, is not a human being. And there is another school of thought that points out that some of the greatest and most memorable characters in literature are essentially known for one very particular thing, one quirk, one turn of phrase. In _How Fiction Works_ for instance, James Wood points out that one of Dicken's most notable characters, Emma Micawber, is actually little more than a catch phrase: "I will never leave Mr. Micawber". The same thing could be said of characters like Uriah Heap who is constantly telling people how "'umble" he is. They stick in the memory, for sure, but as representation of a single human characteristic, not a whole human being.

Personally, I tend to look on characters as a collection of goals and values. The goals animate them in the story, and the values determine what they will and won't do in pursuit of their goals. It is reasonable to think of real human being in these terms as well, but in real human beings the collection of goals and values is usually large, somewhat vague, and often held and pursued quite indifferently. That won't do in characters. The story would never get going. To create a workable character you have to simplify and heighten: give them one or two fiercely desired goals and three or four well defined and fiercely held values so that they are easy to understand and can act with clarity.

Original score: 3