On a recent Writing Excuses episode they talked about aksing multiple questions of your characters. A couple they suggested were favourite swear, what scares them, how would you describe them in 10 words. My friend and I have both been trying to improve our character writing so we sat down with our main characters and interviewed them using the following questions.
- How would they curse?
- Boil them down into ten descriptive words (Oily, strong, hungry, etc.)
- What is their opinion and history with magic?
- In what ways do they hold power over others?
- How would they describe their backstory to a friend? To a stranger?
- How do they react in emergencies? What would make them stop in their tracks?
- Who do they have allegiance to and why? Who is their best friend?
- What is their driver’s license appearance? Height, build, hair color?
- What do they do for fun when the plot isn’t looking? Guilty pleasures? Snacks?
- How do they decorate their personal spaces?
- What are they truly scared of losing? Certain people dying, sure, but what other things?
- Are they religious, spiritual, superstitious, realists, etc.? I.e. “Bad things always come in threes.”
It was a lot of work. More than I thought. There were times that I had to stop myself from saying that I'll just write on and see what comes up, my usual method. However, at the end, it was completely worth it. I feel like I can actually tell apart the knights of the round table and they feel more alive than just names on a page. Also writing Gwaine telling his backstory was so much fun.
Of course now I am in the process of going back through the story and making sure that what I have written reflects these choices. Not to mention using the opportunity to flesh them out now that I do know them better. It's proving interesting and self-consistency as I edit the early chapters while writing new chapters is going to be hard. Next steps is to do an abridged version of this for my secondary characters.
Favourite writing from this week:
“You know, he spoke often of you in his letters,” Nathaniel said. “He told me how you were a bright young lad with an aptitude for creative problem solving. And poor research techniques, but those could be improved upon.”
“It’s harder when you don’t already know every book in the library,” Merlin groused.
Nathaniel smiled quickly, but then looked more serious. “It made me wonder if you noticed the flaw in the mage hunter’s plan today?”
Merlin froze with his spoon still in his mouth. Flaw? What had he overlooked? Could Nathaniel tell it had been his own illusion? Merlin lowered the spoon and swallowed his mouthful of soup. Did he notice the slight burns left on Merlin’s wrists? Did he realise Merlin hadn’t slept in his room last night? William would’ve noticed, but he didn’t think Nathaniel would ever wait up for him to come home.
“Besides the illusion dropping when the ropes were untied?” Merlin asked, glad his voice sounded light, untroubled.
“True, that wasn’t particularly wise either. Though I think it was more foolish to imprison a member of the court. If I was trying to tell the king I captured a sorcerer, I would grab a lone peasant in the woods. Someone without a sword.” He stood and brought his bowl over to the basin for dirty dishes. “Although I suppose if I was better at illusionary magic and I had been captured, I would let him continue to court and only escape at the last minute so that he did meet his justice.”
Merlin felt his heart skip. He knew. Maybe not the whole truth but he knew. Hold on, he had said “If you were better at illusionary magic?” Merlin repeated. “You have the gift?”
“It’s very slight. My mother was a hedge witch.” He returned to the table. “And am I right in guessing that you have the gift too?”
Merlin nodded. He trusted William’s childhood friend, but it was still hard to say the words out loud.
