Jan Walker's Blog - Posts Tagged "character-arc"
Character Development in Fiction
Character Development is my favorite part of writing fiction. Through the years I have used assorted backstory worksheets, psychological forms, and character arc flowcharts as aids to the creative process. Though they served as good starting points, I strayed from them as the characters in my stories took on identities beyond the parameters of the selected guidelines.
So, how do fictional characters develop? It depends on the story plot, structure, settings, other characters, and all the elements of writing. Here are some things that have worked for me.
Begin with a Real Character:
This may be a person close to you who has some strengths or issues you’d like to explore in writing, or it may be an historical character whose life you’d like to research or scrutinize.
When your character is a person close to you, I suggest you create a background that includes at least one characteristic she or he did not possess. Base the story character on the real person, but add or subtract something that changes the personae enough for you to let the story character grow.
Here’s the reason for changing the personae—it frees your writer instincts or muse to stray outside the boundaries your mind sees as the real person’s character. It frees your Character to become what the story needs, not what you, the writer, believes about the Real Person behind the character.
In my Depression era novel, THE WHISKEY CREEK WATER COMPANY, I gave school teacher Maeva Swanson the ability to sketch and draw well enough to gain some recognition from those who saw her work. The Maeva character is based on my mother who had taught during that era, and who said she shuddered at having to include art and music in a basic curriculum. She lacked those talents. She taught grades one through four, and was highly respected in the community as an outstanding teacher. I know that from hearing stories about her from men and women who’d been her students. Her character in the novel is set several years before I was born, so my story character had freedom to become a reliable narrator in the book without being constrained by the real person I knew at the time of the story, and the narrator used sketching as a way to deepen her thinking.
When your character is someone known in history, I urge you to learn all you can from what’s already recorded and published about the person. Do your research. Write a fresh story with a fresh perspective. Be true to the real person, but develop characteristics that have been overlooked or underplayed by previous writers. When you’re writing historical fiction, you have some latitude to wonder and ponder, and to create a facet of the personae other writers only alluded to, or skipped entirely. When you’re intrigued deeply enough with an historical character, you will find the path your story needs to make it valuable to readers who are also intrigued by that character. Go for it.
So, how do fictional characters develop? It depends on the story plot, structure, settings, other characters, and all the elements of writing. Here are some things that have worked for me.
Begin with a Real Character:
This may be a person close to you who has some strengths or issues you’d like to explore in writing, or it may be an historical character whose life you’d like to research or scrutinize.
When your character is a person close to you, I suggest you create a background that includes at least one characteristic she or he did not possess. Base the story character on the real person, but add or subtract something that changes the personae enough for you to let the story character grow.
Here’s the reason for changing the personae—it frees your writer instincts or muse to stray outside the boundaries your mind sees as the real person’s character. It frees your Character to become what the story needs, not what you, the writer, believes about the Real Person behind the character.
In my Depression era novel, THE WHISKEY CREEK WATER COMPANY, I gave school teacher Maeva Swanson the ability to sketch and draw well enough to gain some recognition from those who saw her work. The Maeva character is based on my mother who had taught during that era, and who said she shuddered at having to include art and music in a basic curriculum. She lacked those talents. She taught grades one through four, and was highly respected in the community as an outstanding teacher. I know that from hearing stories about her from men and women who’d been her students. Her character in the novel is set several years before I was born, so my story character had freedom to become a reliable narrator in the book without being constrained by the real person I knew at the time of the story, and the narrator used sketching as a way to deepen her thinking.
When your character is someone known in history, I urge you to learn all you can from what’s already recorded and published about the person. Do your research. Write a fresh story with a fresh perspective. Be true to the real person, but develop characteristics that have been overlooked or underplayed by previous writers. When you’re writing historical fiction, you have some latitude to wonder and ponder, and to create a facet of the personae other writers only alluded to, or skipped entirely. When you’re intrigued deeply enough with an historical character, you will find the path your story needs to make it valuable to readers who are also intrigued by that character. Go for it.
