Image Credit: Pixabay I just finished the Six of Crows duology. And holy cow. It was AMAZING! If you haven't picked it up yet, you need to. Leigh Bardugo hit it out of the park with this one (and after the original Girsha trilogy, I was not sure about her, but now I'm convinced). More than it just being a good story, the characters were ridiculously appealing. They were easily recognizable, memorable, and heartfelt. They felt real. After I finished the first book, I closed it and stared off for awhile. How? I thought, How did she do that? Six completely different characters, all of whom I fell in love with for their different qualities. So when I sat down to read Crooked Kingdom, I read it as a writer this time. And it changed everything for me. It was like a light bulb went on and I finally got it! I knew how to make my character's like Bardugo's. And it wasn't anything new or revolutionary, but the way I went about it changed everything for my writing. I hope it'll help you, too. Note: This post does contain some spoilers for the books, so proceed with caution. 1. Choose visual characteristicsFirst, I took a look at Bardugo's six main characters: Kaz, Inej, Matthias, Nina, Wylan, and Jesper. I wrote their names in little bubbles like a thought web you make in middle school. Next, stemming from each of the character names, I wrote the first things that came to mind when I thought of the character. For example, with Kaz, I wrote walking stick, gloves, magic tricks, scheming/vengeful. Each of these things makes Kaz stand out in my mind against other characters. And when I see fan art depicting Kaz, it typically displays these things. What's beautiful about each of these attributes, is that Bardugo has specific reasons for each of them and they are purposeful to build the character. Which leads me to my next point. 2. Discover the Reasons behind characteristicsWhen I took it a step further and looked at what these things represent or show about the character. For example, Kaz's gloves. They're not just a cool accessory (though they make him visually stick out in a readers mind - another important fact to note), they have a reason. And the reason is connected to his backstory. The reason Kaz wears gloves is because he can't stand the feeling of skin to skin contact. 3. Plan the why behind those reasonsSo Kaz wears gloves because he can't stand the feeling of skin to skin contact. What do we do with that information? We go a step deeper and look at the why. Why does he hate skin to skin contact? Because he survived a near-death experience in a pile of dead bodies and floating to shore on the bloated corpse of his dead brother. Woah. Now there's a backstory. There's something that shapes this character, that makes him so memorable, that makes readers sympathize with him (even if they can't relate to his exact circumstances). This is the power, the essence of the character you want to get at when writing. This is what sets great characterization apart. The Formula In examining Six of Crows, I realized creating characters actually has a simple formula. Visual character choice + (reason+why) = memorable character My end character sheet for Kaz looked like this. So how can you apply this to your own characters?
I'm a firm believer of write first, plan second (classic panster right here). Let your characters speak to you throughout the story and then go back and chart them like this. If there is nothing particularly memorable about them, try to dig deeper and find something that has affected them from their past. Add in small physical traits or tokens of their past. In sum: 1. Choose visible characteristics: Think of your characters and write the first 4-5 characteristics that come to mind when you think of them. It helps to have at least 3 be physical characteristics that aren't something their born with unless it is significant (e.g. blue eyes). If we were making me into a character, I would choose my refusal to straighten my curly hair. 2. Discover reasons for those characteristics: Most people don't just do something for no reason. If you can get at the reason why your character does something, it makes them more relatable. For my personal example, the reason I keep curly hair is because I wanted to be different than my peers growing up. 3. Plan the why behind those reasons: This is the heart of your character and if you get this right, your character will pop from the page. There is a why behind every reason! For my personal example, my aunt, whom I was incredibly close to before she disappeared, was a very unique person herself and I always wanted to be like her. I strove for uniqueness because she showed me that it made me special. Her disappearance affected me greatly. Look at that - we went from something as simple as curly hair, to a deep personal backstory. And THAT is what you have to do for your characters. THAT makes them jump off the pages, makes the readers connect to them, makes the artists create the fan art. THAT is what sets an okay book apart from a great book. When you think about real life, everyone has something that made them who they are. Whether it was abuse, a personal addiction, or what have you, everyone has been changed by something in their life. Pull real life into your stories and you're guaranteed to create memorable characters. Wishing you all the inspirational fairies, M
1 Comment
MicheleWriter
12/27/2020 12:53:40 pm
This post helped with the three steps:
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