McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Character Development - Chicken or Egg Approach
meg_evonne:
--- Quote from: Griffyn612 on April 24, 2014, 08:46:48 PM ---I'm not published, so I'm probably a bad example to follow. I'm writing my first book, and I didn't even write out an outline before starting.
--- End quote ---
Ha! What does that have to do with anything? :-)
Remember the movie Drive? It's based on a book written by an author I heard at DNRS. His style scared the you know what out of me. Literally his current WiP at the time was an MC who finds bodies in a mine shaft. He had no idea where it was going. More crazy for me? He didn't really care. He figures if you aren't scared to death writing and not sure where the plot and characters are going, your reader will be just as terrified reading it.
Me and my little excel sheets, developed after years of work and study and weaned from suchuncontrolled writing, couldn't even grasp the concept. Now, even farther along my craft learning curve, I can understand the tension that kind of relationship with your writing can offer. It terrifies me still, but I can see the day and if I have the write concept for it, that i'll try another seat of the pants writing experiment. TRUST your method, right?
--- Quote from: the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh on April 24, 2014, 11:11:54 PM ---I would call myself 80% of the way towards having them fleshed out and solid before I start, but I do expect to learn new things about them with every chapter.
--- End quote ---
And wow! i figured you for it all being planned out. This was cool to learn!
--- Quote from: superpsycho on April 24, 2014, 11:54:24 PM ---.... I know one author who includes things like birth order to create the personality they need for a characters motivation.
--- End quote ---
I remember at a conference where a mystery writer insisted that to be successful (and she was) that an author needed to use the Briggs Meyer Personality Test (or it was something similar) so the characters would be real and their interactions would be real. Thankfully, I must get that kinda organically, but since she said it, I am more conscious that I'm consistent with my character's personalities.
--- Quote from: LizW65 on April 25, 2014, 12:11:58 AM ---I voted #1 as that's my principal M.O. but I do a lot of tweaking in rewrites, especially to the supporting cast.
--- End quote ---
You're writing in a series right? I can imagine that the supporting cast does take on different characteristics by necessity. How about your MCs? Have they taken you on surprising paths that enriched the manuscript?
LizW65:
I had to Google the Briggs-Meyer test but I promptly performed it on one of my protagonists. I have a feeling he'd laugh hysterically if he could see the career choices it picked for him (Nurse, caterer, elementary school teacher...really? He's a private detective.)
Both of my protagonists have taken some interesting turns, personality-wise, though they don't really surprise me so much as feel right. And a lot of what I've discovered about them is backstory that will never make its way onto paper, but helps to inform what they have become.
superpsycho:
Some schools of thought suggest questionnaires.
Writingclasses Questionnaire
The one suggest at the above site, seemed to have a lot of pointless questions that wouldn't often come into play but I could see some writings generating a set of questions that would cover what they need for a specific story.
OZ:
I like to know my main characters, both "heroes" and "villains" very well before the story begins. I will often even sketch out a history for them even if it never appears in the story. That's just their starting point though. The events of the story will change them just as major life events can change most people. I didn't check any of the boxes though because the one thing I usually struggle with is names. I will sometimes change the names several times before I find one that feels right.
meg_evonne:
--- Quote from: OZ on May 02, 2014, 01:38:52 PM ---. . . . I didn't check any of the boxes though because the one thing I usually struggle with is names. I will sometimes change the names several times before I find one that feels right.
--- End quote ---
Me too Oz.
And what a riot Liz!
Also, I am pleased to announce, and Shecky will probably agree, that it's about time I figured out there is a difference between "..." and "...." Who'd a thunk?
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version