Building Believable Characters

A Flipside Workshop
Part One:
The Basics

Hosted by [Po]



Fiction only works when the characters you create feel real to the reader. Regardless of the genre you write, or the species your populace belongs to, it is essential that your characters have traits your readers can identify with. Your character need not be likable, or evoke empathy, but must be believable.

The building of your major characters is the most important thing you do when you write.

Before you can make a character truly believable, you, the writer, must know him/her/it inside and out. You need to have as much information for them as you have for yourself, in order for them to exist as complete people to you.


You have to know their background – where they come from, and what the experiences were that shaped them to make them the person they are now. You have to know their mind – what their hopes and fears are, their phobias and talents, their enthusiasms and inhibitions. You have to know their appearance – even the smallest physical detail must be familiar to you.

I know this seems like a lot of work, and truthfully, it is. But as people dedicated to producing quality fiction, I believe we will all benefit from this workshop. Heck, many of us may even discover that not only is it worthwhile, but that we enjoy this in-depth approach to character creation.

I am hopeful that this workshop exercise will help keep us away from the Mary Sue trap. *For a little about Mary Sue, please see [Mister Saint]’s essay on characters at FS101 - Subject and Character.

Onward, then.

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The character you begin to build in this workshop should not be one you have used or attempted to use in any of your previous writings. This is a getting-started point.

This is not a finished attributes list. When you finish the exercise, you most likely will not have a ‘ready to use’ character built. You will have a great start, though.

We will dig deeper into your character’s psyche in our next exercise, Building Believable Characters – A Flipside Workshop Part Two: Creating Depth.

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Rules of this exercise:

1. Respond to each item in order! This is important, because the order of items demonstrates how we must build characters from the inside out. You may see what I mean as we go along.
2. Give yourself as much (or as little) room to respond to the items as possible. Some are simple one-word replies, others require a bit of scribbling and delving within.
3. Use yourself as a template. Your own fears and aspirations are the most authentic resources you have. While I don’t expect you to have all the items filled with information about yourself, using something you are intimate with will flesh out your character better.
4. Respond to each item in order! I know I already said this, but I feel the need to reinforce it. Resist the urge to skip to #33 first! Believe me, the others are more important.
5. Please create a writing or a wiki page (preferred) for your Characterization List, and link to it from the roster at the bottom of the page. Do not add it to this wiki.
6. Enjoy yourself and don’t give up! This is indeed work, but it should be pleasant work!

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Characterization List

It may be easiest to simply copy/paste the list into Word or Notepad and fill in the blanks.

Background:

1. Choose a gender.
2. Choose a place of birth
3. Choose a hobby.
4. Choose a past job.
5. Choose a present job.
6. Choose a past love interest.
7. Choose an enemy.
8. Why is your character not working at the old job?
9. Why is your character not with the old love interest?
10. Why does your character not make the hobby a profession?
11. How did your character make the enemy?
12. What is the one thing in the world your character would do anything to avoid? Why? What has he already done to avoid this? What do you see him doing in the future to avoid it?
13. What is the one thing in the world your character would do anything in the world to have? Why? What has he already done to try to obtain it? What does he hope to try in the future?
14. Where did they grow up?
15. Where do they live now?
16. How do they vote, or don't they bother (if they are old enough)?
17. How many siblings do they have - any older, any younger?
18. Are their parents still alive?
19. What do/did their parents do?
20. Where did they go to school, and what was their favorite subject?
21. Who was their best friend, and have they kept in touch?
22. Who was their favorite relative, and why?
23. Do they/did they get on with their parents?
24. What is their favorite food, and what would they never eat for all the tea in China?
25. Favorite drink?
26. Favorite color?
27. Regional accent?
28. What do they do for a living - and what is their dream job?
29. Do they have a partner, and if so, how did they meet?
30. What is the closest they have ever come to dying?
31. How do they spend their weekends?
32. What are their tastes - and would they be different if they had unlimited money to spend?
33. What is the name of your character?


The Physical:

1. How tall are they?
2. How old, precisely?
3. What color is their hair - and is it natural?
4. Eyes – color, size, sunken, protuberant, heavy lidded?
5. Skin color?
6. What do they like to wear?
7. Picture them walking down a street - how do they move?
8. Give them an outstanding feature - something that will always identify them: a birthmark, a scar, big ears, a big nose or small feet – the first thing somebody would notice when they saw them.
9. Something they would never go out without – the more unusual you make this, the more your character will take shape. Do they always have a backpack? Do they carry a snapshot of an old lover? Would they rather be caught dead than not have a clean handkerchief in their bag?


When you know all this, write down no more than three lines which build a recognizable picture of this person, without burying your reader in detail. Perhaps you will add more as you write your story, perhaps not. These should be the key features that your reader must see to distinguish the character from the rest of the world. When you place them in a story, leave some gaps for the reader to fill in. Know that if you were asked any detail about this character, you'd be able to answer.

Try hard to avoid stereotypes. Example – If you must have a tall, slender, blue-eyed blonde, give her heavy eyebrows, or flat feet and a clumsy walk.

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Well, now that we have overcome the initial hurdles, giving your character the needed depth should be simple!

When you’re ready to move on to the next exercise, go to Building Believable Characters – A Flipside Workshop Part Two: Creating Depth.

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Participants

Please place your name here if you intend to join this Flipside Workshop exercise. 

1. [SleepingDragon]
2. [Mister Saint]
3. [Burning Inside]
4. [Grey Wanderer]
5. [Veltzeh]

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Roster

Please place your name and a link to your Characterization List here, once you have completed this Flipside Workshop exercise.

1.[SleepingDragon]: 268.Rhonda-Character exercise
2.[Mister Saint]: Delmar Argent
3.[Burning Inside]: Character#1
4.[chuchutrain]: 63.Excercises.Building Believable Characters: part 1
5.[Grey Wanderer]: 331.Falk-Charpart#one
6.[Nell]: 226.NWW.Characterization
7.[Veltzeh]:: 39.Workshops.BBC.Characterization List

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