SHERI SINGERLING

Every good story has solid characters at its heart. No wonder. It’s human nature for us to be fascinated by other people, social creatures that we are. So, while the plot of genre fiction matters, it can’t be the only thing carrying a story. Yes, there is the beat-by-beat of events, the overarching narrative structure, but in the background, there will also be the character arcs. In great stories, these two are not distinct from one another. Events should shape a character, and a character’s personality and desires should drive the plot. In short, even for stories that are considered more “plot driven”, the characters matter.

Short vs Long Form Fiction

Firstly, the length of the fiction a writer aims to pen will influence how they develop their characters. The shorter the fiction, the less space there is for the characters to grow. I write both short stories and novels, but my approach to my characters in each is quite distinct. This is necessary for how I tend to write. I’m a planner, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, but too much detail can actually hinder me when it comes to my short fiction. If I have expansive world-building and characters with lush histories, I’ll want to use those. I find it painful to ignore them. But this can easily weigh a short story down, transforming it from a succinct, sharp piece into a bloated thing.

Short Stories

My approach to character development for short stories is simple. I settle on names, have rough ideas of how the characters look, act, and what their motivators are. I give them a few key physical descriptors and sprinkle those throughout the story, maybe concentrated upfront a little more when they’re introduced. They might have a unique tick or common gesture, but that would only depend on their relative importance to the story. For the core characters, the ones significant enough to warrant having a name, I also have a motivator or desires in mind for each.

All vague statements? I’m a scientist and learn by examples, so let’s run through one. I’ll use my short story “The Seed” (Clarkesworld Magazine, issue 223). The core characters are Jana (the protagonist), Trun (her husband), and Oot (the AI/djinn). Here is select text related to how the characters are described.

Jana and Trun: “Neither Trun nor I were beautiful in our middle age, but I had been when I was younger. Blonde wavy locks, chestnut eyes, slim and tall. Always smiling. That was before I’d been wedded. Trun had never been handsome, but he did have an air. He seemed strong and proud. How naïve I’d been to misjudge his nature so poorly.”

Oot: “A shiny black surface peeked out. Metal and rustless, which could only mean it came from the deep. I hurried to wrap the cursed thing back up, but my hand grazed the surface. Lines appeared on it and glowed a pale blue.”

As for the characters’ motivations, these are again kept simple and related to the core plot and themes. Very briefly, “The Seed” is set on a backwater world in the distant future. Humanity is in a set of dark ages. Jana is intelligent and wants more for herself and humanity at large. Trun is petty and cruel, motivated by baser instincts, acting as Jana’s foil. Oot is enigmatic. He claims to want to help humanity return to their former glory, speaking to Jana’s own desires. All of these, in some cases contrasting, desires drive the plot.

Novels

The aforementioned tips are all fine and good, but clearly this lack of detail wouldn’t suffice for a full-length novel. Readers spend hundreds of pages with these characters, and they need to care about what happens to them. For that to be true, the characters must feel real. How do I approach that daunting task of turning words into living, breathing beings that go on to reside in the hearts and minds of readers long after they’ve closed the book?

Physical Description

I dig deep. I plan more thoroughly. Instead of just having a few key descriptors, I map them out. Age, gender, race, hair color, eye color, hair style, build, clothing preferences, a few other key metrics for various parts of the body (e.g., nose, mouth, teeth, ears). I don’t describe all of these the first moment the character appears on page, and in fact, I often never get around to including all of them anywhere in the book. The point is, I have them, and to me, I can see the character in my mind’s eye.

Behaviors

But as important as the physical appearance of the characters is, it doesn’t make them feel truly fleshed out. They need to be dynamic rather than static. How do they walk, talk, laugh? Do they breathe too loud? Do they enunciate words strangely (of-ten, ex-act-ly)? Do they have common ticks (brushing a hand through their hair, biting their nails, mirroring others)? The list goes on and on. As I notice these kinds of unique behaviors in real life, in family, friends or even strangers, I note and store them away for future use.

Personality

Personality is also key, but I tend to let this develop naturally as I write. When I start writing the story, I have the character’s backstory in mind, which will often shape who they are and how they act. Their motivators/desires too go a long way towards influencing their personality. For example, it wouldn’t make much sense for the psychologist Edgar in Nytho to be loud and obnoxious, oblivious to how he influences those around him. He’s an expert in his field and understands the human mind. It would make the most sense for him to be introspective, observant, analytical, and intelligent.

Dialogue

Knowing a character’s personality is one thing. Conveying it? That can be trickier. Dialogue is key here. So much of a person comes through in what they say (or don’t say) and how they say it. I love writing dialogue. Sometimes, I think I ought to be a screenwriter because I often find myself rushing through a scene’s description just to get to the back-and-forth between characters. So, how do I write believable dialogue and make it distinct between characters? Honestly, I don’t have fast and easy answers. I read and watch TV and movies and analyze people’s interactions in real life. I suppose I absorb what I hear and see and somehow process that information into something useful. See this previous post for more details.

Desires

More than anything else, to feel fully realized, a character must have needs and wants. Without them, they’re just a puppet moving your story along without any more meaningful role. It’s an easy mistake to make, especially in more plot-focused genre fiction. The thing is, it’s a surefire way to turn a reader off. Who wants to read a story if it’s just a series of this happened then this then this with no human connection.

Every major character should want something. It doesn’t have to be grand or complex. In fact, it’s more believable and relatable if it’s a desire shared by the vast majority of people, but it needs to service the story. For example, the titular character in my debut, Nytho, has a very simple desire. He wants to be free. Nytho is a rogue AI. At the start of the novel, he’s being kept prisoner by the company that created him. Everything he does is dictated by that desire for freedom. His actions influence other characters and their motivations and set off a chain reaction that propels the plot forward. Nytho’s desire is a simple one—freedom—that is also incredibly relatable.

Cheat Sheet

To summarize, there isn’t a magic formula for creating characters that feel real, but there are a few methods that can go a long way. Flesh your characters out, physically and emotionally. Use your powers of observation to find examples from the real world, not just those in books or TV shows or movies.

But the easiest way hits a little closer to home. You know one person better than any other, and that person can be a treasure trove for inspiration. That’s you. Take bits and pieces of yourself—things you love and things you hate, things you wish you could be, things you lost as you aged, things you gained—and plant those in your characters. I do this without fail. Sometimes, I wonder if anyone that knows me well and reads my work can pick out what in my various characters is me. And what is them!