“Character is, what a character does”

When I first started writing in earnest, with the intention of completing and publishing a novel, I came across many blogs, articles and the like from authors, aspiring and established, on the do’s and do not’s of writing.

One that came up so often was ‘how to establish your character’, ‘how to write a memorable character’, ‘how to write a strong hero’ or something to that effect. Many of them would come with a helpful ‘character sheet’, where you are instructed to go through and answer every minute detail you possibly could about this character and then voila! Your character is alive. Like sea monkeys, just add water!

Now, I’ve used character sheets since I can remember when I was first developing story ideas or characters, but every time without fail, I would get through the physical characteristics and get stuck. I would end up not filling out the rest of the sheet and felt like I don’t know my character, their likes, dislikes, favourite food or colour, religion, first job, etc. Heck, I probably couldn’t one out for myself if I really had to!

I felt like this MUST be the way to develop a character. Thousands of boards on Pinterest can’t lie, after all!

Then I came across this single piece of advice that changed the entire way I view character and the way to develop them:

“Character is, what a character does.” – David Mamet, celebrated playwright

Watching David Mamet’s Masterclass was eye-opening and worth it, even just for that one piece of advice. He describes how he’s worked with actors who go away and come up with every minute detail of their character, only for it to not matter and have no impact on the end result. His opinion is that it is essentially a waste of time and a way for the actors to feel like they are doing something other than getting up on stage and pretending to be someone else. Now, how this helps an actor get into character is a whole other kettle of fish, but the premise remains the same.

Your character is shown by their action, by what they do in response to the obstacles you present them in the story.

Unless it relates to the story, does it matter if your character’s favourite dessert is strawberries and cream? Or that their first girlfriend was called Jamie? If it doesn’t 1) further propel the plot, 2) develop the character in a meaningful way or 3) establish the theme, it has no business in your story.

Now, there are ways minute details about a character will become important or could appear to be. For example, if the character grew up in the sloping hills of the country and every weekend she would visit a strawberry farm with her now-deceased Grandfather and eat strawberries and cream together. Then, when her new boyfriend surprises her with a bowl full of strawberries and cream out of the blue, she gets emotional and reveals the extent to which she misses him.

That’s fine, if a little boring personally. It helps develop the character, it shows them to be sentimental and that they had a good-natured relationship with her Grandfather, which may feed into the story later. However, if you’re protagonist is let’s say, a Doctor that has been kidnapped to treat the sick leader of a terrorist cell, it’s very unlikely that his first girlfriend’s name is going to come up, or have any relevance to your story. You don’t need it. Cut it out.

Your character’s…character (personality, demeanour, etc.) will be shown in response to the hardships and the obstacles they face. It’s through this action (or sometimes, inaction) that you, and the reader by extension, will learn who they really are, what morals they hold and what they value. If you are finding your character, whether primary or secondary, is not interesting enough or seems too bland, throw more at them! Look at changing up things like gender, ethnicity or their background in order to generate conflict and/or tension.

This conflict or tension is ultimately at the base of any good story. One of the characters in my upcoming novels (fantasy fiction) was originally a man named Dietra, the right-hand man to the guy in charge, let’s call him a King for argument’s sake. Dietra had little to say beyond exposition and served no real purpose. He was boring me, to write him and to read him. I was considering cutting him out completely when instead, I flipped his gender, as well as sexual orientation. Now this woman, a gay elite bodyguard in a world where women do not typically fulfil this role, is solely responsible for the King’s safety.

It changes the dynamic between the two characters of the King and his bodyguard – maybe others (ignorantly and incorrectly) call him weak for having a woman be his bodyguard? Not to mention, this expectation that she should not be in this role will help develop her character. How does she respond to the vitriol flung her way by others inhabiting this world? Does she rise to each challenge, push herself to be better, or does she hide within herself and shrink away from society? Maybe a mixture of both.

She may only be a minor character, but by establishing this conflict, it helps me determine who she is and how she interacts with the protagonist. It gives her layers and in turn makes it easier for me to write her. This use of conflict is multiplied exponentially for your Hero. Your hero should have a single goal that drives the plot. When obstacles inevitably stop them, how do they respond, what do they do, what do they not do? If you are an aspiring writer, I would urge you not to worry about not knowing every part of the character. It’s not essential to writing a well-rounded, realistic character.

We as humans are not so easily defined, your hero shouldn’t be either.