I am coaching some writers for nanowrimo this year. One of our exercises is creating memorable characters. A tool I used with the writers is this character generator. The generator gives you the gender of your character, a strong trait for your character, a weakness, and a prized posession. It is a good place to get ideas and practice thinking about how to make characters unique. This exercise stimulates imagination and is a starting place. The ideas my writers talked about were so interesting that they could grow into characters they will really use in their novel.
When I am developing my characters I write a description. I include their physical traits such as hair and eye color, height and weight. I include some memorable tags such as nervous habits, phrases they use often, or a unique laugh. I write out a bit of their back story, the life events that shaped them into the person they are when the story begins. I write down the thing they want most and their strong beliefs. For main characters this description can be several pages long. For minor characters it can be short. By the time I have written these descriptions I know them well enough to put them into my story and watch what they will do as the story develops.
The most memorable characters are multi-dimensional. They have flaws, they make mistakes, they have doubts about themselves. They may be both generous and thrifty. They may be physically strong but have cripling fears. Derek Berry writes "if a character can make you both laugh and cry, that may well be the gauge of how well you can relate to him or her." Derek warns writers about giving characters quirky traits. They only work out well if the traits play a crucial part in the story.
I have 50,000 words to write this month and I've only just begun. Are you signed up for nanowrimo? Go for it!
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