CHARACTERIZATION

By: Mary Lou Rich

What are characters?   

I can tell you what they aren’t.   They aren’t the rich heroine with long golden hair blowing in the breeze, perfect body, perfect features, perfect life---per-fect-ly bor-ing–unless you put her in a handicapping accident, lose her memory, or plunge her into poverty.

Characters are the foundation of your novel, they drive your plot.  Characters are real, not-so-perfect-people with hopes and dreams. People who must endure trials and tribulations, and find a way to overcome those problems in order to obtain their goal.     

How do you find these character-people?

Think of your own family.   Everyone has at least one person who stands out in their memory.

In our family, it was my grandmother’s younger sister, Ida Mae.  She had red hair, blue eyes, a large nose, a short, stocky body.   She delighted in shocking my grandmother, a very prim, proper, southern lady.   Ida smoked, she wore pants, she said ‘damn’, she whistled tuneless songs all of which drew a shocked ‘well, ah declarah’ from my grandmother. 

I adored Aunt Ida.  She was not only spunky and fun, she was hard working, courageous, honest--and patriotic.   When the United States entered World War II, Ida left her southern home and rode a bus to California where she got a job in a defense factory.   She worked after hours in a USO, where she met a soldier from Tennessee and fell in love. 

They planned to be married.   He was killed in a bombing raid over London.  After the war, Ida returned home.  She lived a full life with family and friends, but she never married.  Her sweetheart’s photo remained on her dresser until the day she died.

Ida was a heroine.  She had spirit and she had a beautiful soul.   She had the courage to leave her home and face the unknown and the strength to stand up to heart breaking adversity.  She had the ability to adapt to a future she would not have willingly chosen.   She gave us the gift of joy and love.  

She will not be forgotten. 

You don’t know anybody like that?  Yeah, sure.  You are either an orphan and you’ve lived on the moon all your life or you aren't very unobservant.

Every family has one or two who stand out from the rest.

But if you really and truly can't think of one, try a character chart.  There are several good ones out there or you can develop your own.    I usually like to have a character sketch for each person in my novel so that all my heroines and heros aren’t alike.   It also comes in handy when you are writing a family saga, a series, or a spin off and need to look back at one for references.   That way your heroine who makes a token appearance in the new book doesn’t suddenly change from a blonde to a brunette, etc. etc.  

You can find character charts online I imagine.  Or perhaps through some of the online writing organizations.  If not.  Create your own by listing all the important attributes of your character.  Give them a background, and friends.  Memories.  Be sure to describe every detail, not only their looks and hair and eye coloring, but even scars, dimples, a crooked tooth, a limp, etc.  Actually, this is a good way to get to know your characters very well, indeed.

Courtesy of www.fiction-writing-tips.com