Character Study: Personality

What about your character's personality?  For me, it's hard to imagine a personality different than my own.  It's hard for me to imagine someone who is unemotional, extremely introverted and self-focused.  But for someone who is shy, it might be hard for them to write about an extroverted, one-hundred-miles-an-hour talker, someone who is the life of the party.  

I've heard it said that the main characters will reflect at least some of the author's personality.  I agree, although I think if one spends a lot of time with a main character, the author might begin to act like the character!  :)  

Occasionally you might decide to write about someone of the opposite gender than yourself.  This can be challenging but interesting.

I think it's helpful to know your character's personality type because it will help you figure out what kind of choice they might make when faced with a certain decision.  Their choice might be different from yours.

One way to help you think of other personalities is to think about your friends.  Although my friends and I have much in common, we also have different personality traits.  One of my friends is very intellectual and smart, she likes to talk about important issues but isn't really "into" hugs and feelings.  Another friend comes in the room and people gravitate towards her, and everyone knows who she is.  She's fun and sweet and make sure everyone is included.  

God made us all with different personalities, so there's no reason your characters should have various personalities too.  I think it's helpful to make sure you have multiple personalities presented in your book, because that's realistically the way it is in our world.  Plus, many reader will be able to pick out a character that reminds them of themselves! 

One thing I really love to do, I actually enjoy it, is to take personality quizzes pretending I am the character.  You might want to take the quiz first for yourself, and then take it for one of the characters you know the best.  The Big 5 Personality Test can be a huge help although I noticed that many of the tests are used for scientific research, so I would recommend not using those for your characters!  Similar Minds has a good test, check out either the Short Test, Big 30 Test or the Big 45 Test for an in-depth look at your characters. 

You can also check out some personality books, I'm reading one from a Christian perspective at the moment called Understanding Your Child's Personality by Dr. David Stoop.  Yes I know, your characters are not your children...but it's still quite helpful!

What's YOUR character's personality?

-- Klara C. 

What'shisface?

In Fine Detail

If someone asked you to describe your main character - or any character really - how well would you be able to accomplish this?  There are, of course, the major details - hair and eye color, height, weight, etc.  But what if you go deeper?  What about the shape of their nose (if your character does not have a bulbous nose then you may not have thought much about this), the length of their fingers, or the complexion of their face?

I used to worry that my readers would not imagine my characters the same way I did, so I would try to describe them in a very detailed manner.  I realized however that my readers will probably imagine my characters' exact minor features however they want.  No matter how hard I try, transferring my exact image from my brain to theirs is near to impossible...but, that's okay.

What does he look like again?

There are pros to NOT describing your character in minute narratives - your reader will be able to imagine her / him the way they want.  For example, if you want them to think that a character is extremely beautiful, they might put in their mind their version of an extremely beautiful person, which would be stronger and more meaningful to them than your version of the word.  "Beauty" is relative and it's a word whose meaning varies from person to person.

You yourself

Although our outside appearances are only the covering for our real selves, our inner thoughts, desires and dreams, it still might be important to really know what your character looks like.  I think it's important that an author knows every detail about their main character, even though the outward shell called appearance might end up being the least of their worries.  (Characters can be huge problems sometimes...  sometimes they just aren't working out.  In that case, appearance is generally not the issue).

When it is important

Becoming skilled in describing people might be helpful in your fiction writing, or even nonfiction writing - say, if you were going to write about George Washington's appearance, you'd better get it right, because people can access photos of him on the internet!  


Assignment: A little practice
Next time you watch a movie, pick out a couple characters you would like to describe.  If your main character is a brunette with short, straight hair, next time you see one on a movie, pause the movie (or find a picture online) and try and describe her.  Or, just pick anyone - a guy with a funny beard, a handsome gentleman, a little girl, an elderly person, a young woman, etc.

How to use your description
If you're introducing a character in a book, the reader may or may not be interested in a lengthy paragraph concerning them.  If the character is a side character or it is an inopportune moment to spend in depiction, you can try and intertwine their physical appearance in with the action.  For example, you could describe the way their ____ (color) eyes dart around the room in fear, or how they sweep a piece of ____ hair from their face in a moment of battle (cliche!  Cliche alert!).  Do they stand on their tiptoes when in the presence of tall people, because they are short?  Are they self-conscious of a physical fault on their face, or a wart on their hand?  These things can be revealed as the story continues on, adding quirks to the characters that might make them seem endearing.

Occasionally, a long description is acceptable, especially when the book is narrated in the first person.  When you see someone, you take in most of their physical characteristics in a couple seconds.  If the first person narrator has just met someone, she will most likely look them over - and in doing so, will describe him / her to the reader.  But in general, you shouldn't make them too long, or your reader will fall asleep and start drooling on your novel.  (And you're shouting, "TMI!" at me now, aren't you?)

Conclusion
So, the next time someone says, "Hey, what about that character...uhhh...what'shisface?" you can surprise them by offering a long description of your character...  just kidding!

Klara C.

Character Study: Personality

If you could think of one word to describe your main character (or any character you want to "study"...) what would that word be?  "Brave"?  "Funny"?  "Modest"? "Serious"? "Virtuous"?

I adore describing my characters.  As I briefly discussed in "Characters or Besties"?, these people (or animals, or elves, or whatever) that you spend so much time with become your friends.  How much do you know about your best friend?  You know his / her physical characteristics and likes / dislikes.  You know their personality, (probably) worldview, and maybe even what flavor of ice cream they would order.

A really good Character Profile Worksheet can be found here.  It's fun to fill out and will probably make you think about your aspects of your character you may not have considered before.  The questions that I had trouble answering were the ones about shape face and embarrassment! :)

-- Klara C.

Characters or Besties?

Characters - they're the people that hold your book together.  Without them, your reader has no reason or interest in reading your story.  Without characters, I think readers are pretty helpless.

When I was younger, I based my characters off some of my toys - a plush dog, a flocked horse, a plastic figure.  Others simply popped into my mind and I developed them as I wrote.  Recently, I get to know my characters and flesh them out as I write.  Occasionally they are based off friends but some are inspired by other book or movie characters combined with my own ideas.

At first I had no idea how attached I could become to one of those characters.  I mean, they're just characters!  How could I possibly become so involved?  But when you really create a main character, and give them a personality, mannerisms, habits, speech, likes, dislikes, passions, as well as some of your own personality in too, you'll soon find yourself caring about the three-dimensional characters you've thought up.  They soon become your friends, if you spend a lot of time writing or thinking about them.

Recently I've learned a little more about aspects of writing.  I always thought of writing as something creative, not restricted by a set of rules.  I could use simile or personification without knowing what it's called - I learned about grammar and writing styles from reading various books.  Although I still believe writing is a creative process, it does help to learn about different writing tips and helps.

A couple months ago I became interested in studying people.  I would listen to voices and see how everyone's voices were unique - some people spoke in matter-of-fact tones; others enunciated and were interesting to listen to; others spoke in more of a monotone.  Although your reader doesn't need to know everything about your main character(s), you should know quite a bit about them.

I'm thinking about doing a series of articles about characters.  I might call it a "Character Study", although this usage of "character" will of course refer to, "a person portrayed in an artistic piece, such as a drama or a novel" (according to the Free Dictionary).

Although I adore hanging out with people in the "real" world, I enjoy hanging' with my characters too.  :)

-- Klara C.