Building Characters & Giving Them Life

Creating characters that are full of life, personality, well-rounded and real is far harder to do then you might think. It’s more then describing them, more then giving them names, history and physicality. It takes more then rich colorful language and a strong handle of how to use it.

Photo: FreeImages.com/JasonAntony

And honestly, characterization is one thing that I have often struggled with. Creating diverse settings that pulse with a life of their own – that I’m generally good with, it doesn’t faze me. But doing the same for my characters… simply not the same.

One trick I have learned is to not sweat those descriptions during my first draft. (Simply put: during that first draft it’s perfectly fine to simply say “she has green eyes” or “he has dark brown hair.”) If you’re like me and struggle with your characters, in the first draft just focus on getting the story down first. Once you’ve got that done then you can go back and add more. 

With story down on the page you can go back and focus on the characters – describe their looks; give color and depth to their personalities. (“His rich brown hair was so dark, in moments of fantasy it sparked images of having dipped him in lush dark chocolate.”) Give them quirks. (“I discovered that she had this annoying habit of lifting her dark brows and opening her brilliantly green eyes wide, making them appear even more like highly faceted emeralds set into the fine setting of her face.”)

Photo: FreeImages.com/StefanHellwig

Once you do that you’ll discover that suddenly they’re alive and you’ll better connect with them. Then you build them emotionally – give them strengths, weaknesses, fears and dreams. And that’s when you find that now they have that pulsing life that you need from them. 

That’s when they become real.

It takes time. Patience.

But the more you write, the more often you’ll find that without even focusing effort on creating real, life-like characters that you’re writing that spark into them thoughtlessly. Some characters will grow easily, organically on the page and some are frustratingly more difficult.

The bottom line is to find a method that works for you, whatever that may be. But also remember that sometimes your method will change, with certain stories or characters you may go about their creation differently. And that’s okay.

So what are some methods you use for creating, building and bringing your characters to life?

Thus Sprang Inspiration

I found out Tuesday evening that one of my friends from high school had passed away in a car accident earlier in the day.   We just celebrated our 10-year high school reunion this past July.  He had just celebrated his 29^th birthday a few days ago.  And in an instant, he was gone.  Some people may say “that’s life,” or that “it happens” and while that is certainly true, obviously true, it doesn’t make it any less shocking, or make it hurt any less. 

He was one of those guys who was the epitome of a gentleman.  He was always kind and polite; he always held the door for a lady and pulled out her chair.  He would carry your bag for you if it were too heavy, and always asked if you wanted anything when he was going to the vending machines or the store.  All in all, he was just a really great guy and the world was a little brighter with him in it.

Gaily I lived as ease and nature taught,
And spent my little life without a thought,
And am amazed that Death, that tyrant grim,
Should think of me, who never thought of him.
~René Francois Regnier

The shock of this loss made me think about some of the men that I’ve written into my stories.  The type of men that they were in the beginning, and the type of man they each will become by the end of their stories.  It has surprised me greatly, over the past few hours, to discover that the men I’ve written carry so many of the characteristics that I find in the men who have surrounded me all my life. 

From the 5-year old boys who selflessly share their crayons with the other kids, to the high school teenager who stops on the way to school to give rides to kids who are walking. 

There are the 20-something year old men who are willing, and happy, to help babysit their friends kids; or the ones who shovel your sidewalk every morning when it’s really cold, just so that you don’t have to. 

In looking at my male characters, I found one in particular who reminds me of my passed friend.  My memories of him must have formed some aspect of the inspiration for the character, and through that character, for me, my friend will live on.

When working on and developing your characters, from where does your inspiration spring?

Meet: Dawn McKenna

Here I am again, later than I’d intended this morning, but back again with another update.  I’ve been busy writing – for The Gifted, as well as blog writing, and the short stories I’ve got on the go over at Becoming Dawn.  So I don’t have a lot of time to take with this update but I do have an introduction to make.  I’m very excited to introduce you all to another character (my leading lady) from The Gifted: Dawn McKenna.

This, like the introduction I gave you to Dylan many months ago, is just a sneak peak at her.  As I go along I’ll keep introducing you to more of the characters, but also I’ll give you more information about each of them, in bits and pieces… Something like a puzzle, all of the info you get will eventually go together to make them understandable.

So here she is…

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She’s used to being in control. 

Since her own parent’s death several years ago, Dawn McKenna has been in charge of running ‘McKenna’s End,’ the ranch that her father and his own brother started together when they were young.  She has lots of help, advice and input, from her uncle and her cousins, as well as from the others who live on and work the ranch, but in many ways McKenna’s End became like her very own fiefdom.  But more than that, it became a safety net and a place to hide from the rest of the world.

When her cousin, Shayla O’Connor convinces her that they need to get away for a couple of months and explore ‘the world’ beyond southern Alberta, everyone at McKenna’s End pushes her to go.  And since she wanted to visit some of their extended family who lived in Europe anyways, Dawn finally agreed. 

Part way through Dawn finds out about the death of the Tallant’s parents and rushes home to attend the funeral.  And that’s when everything begins to change and she starts to realize that you can only ever control things to a certain point.  After that, you have let fate have its way.

To remain close to Tallants’ in the months after their loss, Dawn takes a position as a dance teacher at a Lethbridge studio.  Using the travel distance as an excuse, she moves from McKenna’s End (which is located at the base of the Rockies) to Dylan, Aidan and Winter’s house in Lethbridge.  But that’s exactly what it is, an excuse.  There is really a much better, much more important reason for her desire to move, especially her desire to move in with them.

Through it all she struggles with maintaining a balance between having control and not, with sharing herself but not sharing too much, and finding a way for everyone to be happy.

(Ah there’s that control issue again…)

[All characters and information is from The Gifted.  The Gifted is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously.  Any resemblence to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.]  
copyright 2010 Lacey Ferris

Meet: Dylan Tallant

At 27 years old, Dylan is the middle Tallant child.  He grew up on an acreage near Magrath, Alberta with his parents and his siblings - his older brother Aidan and his younger sister, Winter. 

When they moved to Lethbridge to start University, Dylan and Aidan lived together and when Dylan turned 21 (and Aidan was 22 years old) the pair of them pooled their money and with some help from their parents they bought a house.  Both having worked for years at their father's construction company the two boys were more than capable of renovating the house into two suites - a 2 bedroom basement suite, and a 3 bedroom upstairs suite.  When Winter, who is 4 years younger then Dylan, moved into town to attend the University too, Aidan invited her to live in the upstairs suite with him. 

When their parents died suddenly, and unexpectedly, all three of the Tallant's were crushed.  They each suffered in different ways but Dylan had always been the closest to their parents because he shared more in common with them than his siblings.  Or so it seems.  

Dylan takes over the construction company after his father's death and acts mostly in a managerial position, though he does manage to put in a good share of time with the work crews.  He enjoys the work and it gives him enough freedom to attend to the personal issues that plague him. 

Not the least of which is Dawn McKenna, the beautiful dancer that has captivated Dylan for years through her local performances.  Now she's his younger sister's best friend, his older brother's roommate, and the single point of brightness in his world.  And he's fighting tooth and nail not to give in to her allure!

Stay tuned for more, when you'll meet Dawn McKenna...



[All characters and information is from The Gifted.  The Gifted is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously.  Any resemblence to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.]  
copyright 2010 Lacey Ferris