by James Scott Bell
@jamesscottbell
Colin Clive in Frankenstein
In the classic Universal horror movie Frankenstein, Colin Clive, overacting as Dr. Frankenstein, shouts, “IT’S ALIVE! IT’S ALIIIIIIVE!” He’s thrilled to the core when his creation takes on real life.
The doc was onto something. Isn’t that how you feel when your character starts to come alive as you write?
While there are many aspects of great character work, I think the following three features are always present.
1. Attitude
Compelling characters have a way of looking at the world that is uniquely their own. This is attitude, and done well it sets them apart from every other fictional creation.
If you are writing in first-person point of view, attitude should permeate the voice of the narrator. Julianna Baggott’s Lead in Girl Talk, Lissy Jablonski, is smart, witty and a bit cynical. She describes an old boyfriend:
He’d been a ceramics major because he wanted to get dirty, a philosophy major because he wanted to be allowed to think dirty, a forestry major because he wanted to be one with the dirt, and a psychology major because he wanted to help people deal with their dirt. But nothing suited him.
We learn a lot about Lissy from her singular voice. One thing she’s not is dull.
A third-person character shows attitude primarily through dialogue and thoughts. In L.A. Justice we’re given a look into the head of Nikki Hill, the deputy D.A. who is the Lead in the Christopher Darden/Dick Lochte legal thriller. In one scene she reacts to her superior, the acting D.A. He’s a man of two personalities she had labeled “Dr. Jazz” and “Mr. Snide.” In the office he was the latter, bent and dour, with an acid tongue and total lack of social grace . . . At the moment, he was definitely in his Mr. Snide mode.
This is a quick look at Nikki’s attitude toward authority, which continues to be developed in the novel.
The best way to find your character’s unique views is to listen. You do this by creating a free-form journal in the character’s voice. It’s okay if you don’t know what the voice is going to sound like when you start. Keep writing, fast and furious, in ten to twenty minute stretches. A voice will begin to emerge.
Have the character to pontificate on such questions as:
- What do you care most about in the world?
- What really ticks you off?
- If you could do one thing, and succeed at it, what would it be?
- What people do you most admire, and why?
- What was your childhood like?
- What’s the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you?
Let the answers come in any form, without editing. Your goal is not to create usable copy (though you certainly will find some gems). Rather, you want to get to know, deeply, the character with whom you’re going to spend an entire novel.
2. Courage
A great novel, I say again, is the record of how a character overcomes some form of death—physical, professional, or psychological. Which means the Lead has to have guts.
In Rose Madder, Stephen King gives us a Lead who is weak and vulnerable—a terribly abused wife. In the Prologue we see Rose Daniels, pregnant, savagely beaten by her husband. The section ends, Rose McClendon Daniels slept within her husband’s madness for nine more years.
Chapter One begins with Rose, bleeding from the nose, finally listening to the voice inside her that says leave. She argues with herself. Her husband will kill her if she tries. Where will she go? But finally she works up the courage to open the front door and take her first dozen steps into the fogbank which was her future.
Every step she takes now requires courage. Rose is unprepared for dealing with the outside world, with simple things like getting a bus ticket or a job. And all the while she knows her husband is going to be tracking her. Still, she moves forward, and we root for her.
3. Surprises
A character who never surprises us is dull by definition.
Surprising behavior often surfaces under conditions of excitement, stress or inner conflict. Archie Caswell, the 14-year-old protagonist of Han Nolan’s When We Were Saints, is torn about his experience of the divine. Alone on a mountain he dug his hands into the ground beneath him, pulling up pine needles and dirt. He threw it at the trees. He picked up some more and threw it, too. He berates God, then asks God’s forgiveness.
It’s completely unexpected behavior from a heretofore normal, troublemaking kid. And bonds us to him all the more.
When your character has an emotional reaction, don’t choose the first one that comes to mind. That’ll be expected. Brainstorm. Make a surprise.
If you plumb the depths of your characters’ lives by exploring these three aspects, your fiction will truly come ALIIIIIIVE!
What do you do to bring life to your characters?
You don’t know it but you solved a mystery for me. When I was growing up the phrase “It’s ALIVE!” was randomly used in my family and I just picked it up and used it, without ever knowing where it really came from. Now I know. Frankenstein. 😎
I’m here to help!
This brings to mind a workshop from Gayle Wilson who was talking about heroes. She said readers should think, “If I were in that situation, I hope I could behave like that.” I throw stuff at my characters and see if they’re behaving the way a reader could connect with, be it in a good situation or a bad one.
Exactly. Vicariousness is the secret sauce of a thriller.
At In-N-Out, I always ask for an extra packet of sauce.
Jim, amid all your excellent advice, the voice journal is the technique that guides me the most often. Thank you!
When I don’t have a firm grasp on a character, I start writing a scene from their POV. Their attitudes, wants, needs, and fears all start flowing out. After a few scenes in their POV, they’re ALIVE. This works esp. well for villains who find ways to justify and rationalize their bad behavior.
Even though I’m writing these scenes as brainstorming exercises, a surprising number of them wind up in the book.
That’s terrific advice, Debbie. In my workshops I’ve had students imagine their character in a stressful situation, like being at a party and an enemy from the past walks in. Now write that scene. It’s a great exercise, but as you say you can often find usable material.
Terrific tips, Jim!
Getting a character’s attitude down is key for me. The voice journal and free writing have helped me with that. There’s an element of surprise in my own discovery about a character’s attitude and mindset.
When they first appear in my mind, it’s like meeting someone for the first time–there are initial impressions, then, as I get to know them better, I see the person beneath the exterior. Plumb that depth, as you noted, can in turn lead to discovering surprising actions by the character.
Right, Dale. It really is like meeting someone for the first time, then hanging around to get to know them better.
Love this, Jim!
What do I do? In my stories, I put their shoes on.
Happy Sunday!
A famous trial lawyer once told me that he has to get in a client’s moccasins and walk around. Why he used moccasins I don’t know. Maybe to avoid a cliche!
Making a character relatable lets readers identify with them. I have a short story that will be published next month. The protag, an inexperienced miner on the asteroid 16 Psyche, ignores the advice of old-timers and heads into the asteroid’s Badlands to stake a claim on a rich, new deposit. I can see myself in his gravity boots, eager to beat the competition and foolish enough to ignore good advice.
Yes, we sometimes mine ourselves for material. Maybe more than we realize.
Great advice, Jim.
Writing in first person helps me get to know my characters and bring them to life. They frequently surprise me with what they’re thinking.
Yes, and I think a third person POV writer would do well to write several pages in first person before converting back.
The character interview approach I learned (I think from Don Maass but could be JSB) really helped me get some traits down. It’s a combination of what others here have said.
Questions such as: 1. How do you feel about the way I’ve portrayed you? 2. What am I getting wrong about you? 3. What do you want to do that I’m not letting you do? 4. What do you dread seeing yourself do on the page? 5. What about the other characters? You know them better than I do. Who am I not getting? What am I missing? 6. What’s this story really about?
Ending with the toughest: What do you think of me as a writer?
This line of inquiry forced me to be brutally honest. Writing the answers in my main character’s first person present voice, as if we’re at a table together, becomes a conversation that leads to greater depth than jumping into draft. Works for me, anyway.
Wow, Dan, that toughest question is a doozy. I may have to try that!
I have to get into the heads of my characters character and a voice journal is a great way to do that. But I often have to start writing the story and throw things at them to find out what will do. Great post!
I wish we had an edit button. I was riding in a car and my finger hit sand before I finish reading. It should’ve been what they will do.
😂. Been there, Pat!