I’m not one of those people that holds to the adage of creating a character sketch. I grab some reference pics, and I go – otherwise I just get bored and forget whatever things I wrote about my character. At my recent trip to New York City for the Writer’s Digest Conference 2017, I attended a session on character webs. It opened with the following:
Your Protagonist, Before Page One
Before you start your book, keep in mind that you need to know these things about your protagonist. Write them down, and be specific!
- Who your protagonist is. You can learn about them as you go, but you’d better start somewhere!
- Your protagonist’s goal and why it matters. Be specific. She doesn’t “want respect.” She “wants respect so that she can…” This helps us relate and engage.
- What’s at stake. This keeps us reading. It has to have real significance, both to the character and to the reader.
- What happened before page one. This drives the character. Articulate what drives them.
- Define the protagonist’s journey:
- What they think they want.
- How that want affects them.
- Whether their character changes or is revealed through the course of the book, and how.
How to Use This
Here are ways you can use that information in your draft:
- Drive the Story. Each item on this list can cause an event, which causes another event, which causes another.
- Intensify. Make the issues and plot points more important and “larger” over time… the stakes getting higher,from a personal to a cosmic level.
- Define Change. This can help you see what will change as the book goes along, a useful thing to have defined in the back of your mind as you write. Remember, change can transform not only the character, but the story itself.
Side Characters, Simplified
I found the following character map once, to be used on every character before your book opens. It’s simple and easy and hits all the right points, so I felt like sharing:
- The character’s main strength (physical/mental)
- The character’s main flaw (physical/mental)
- What the character wants/their motivations
- What the character fears
Regardless, be sure to at least have the general gist of a character when you start your book – but don’t be afraid to learn about them as you go along! Always allow room for change. This will lead to authenticity of character in the end.
Look out for more conference recaps coming soon!