January 27, 2012 - Creating Characters

When creating characters, it's always important to eliminate the cliche, the familiar, the hackneyed, old-hat types. Out with timeworn fustiness! In with the nuanced originality!

Why must all Disney princesses be so damn nice, pure, and innocent?

Jasmine's still my favorite.

Or rednecks? Has anyone ever written a minor role for a Southern man without stereotyping?

No.

So where should we look for characters?

The best one comes from the people around us. Truth makes for relatable, believable characters. Everyone has flaws, dreams, hopes, and accomplishments, and hopefully, you know those specifications of at least a few people in your life. Start with yourself. Take traits from your own life and write a book with that character.

If you've exhausted everything about yourself and your friends, what should you do? Go to the internet of course. Google unusual jobs for inspiration.

Egg smeller ranked pretty highly (Pun intended).

There are rodeo clowns, bingo announcers, fingerprint analyzers, jelly donut fillers, phone psychics, lifeguards for nude beaches, game show question writers, cemetery telemarketer, and haunted house actors.

For a list of traits, I just used a random word generator. 

"Severe"

"Precise"

"Preparatory"

"Marauding"

"Funerary"

"Condolent"

"Unflaming"

(Seems like my character's a fireproof, calculating, sad sack.)

Creating unique characters isn't a major challenge, but it does require some effort. An audience will tune out things they've heard a million times, so if you want your message to be heard, you've got to craft interesting characters. Period.