Now you're ready to start writing! You've mastered the theme, imagined the setting and have a good idea of the general appearance and character of your main character, but you're not averse to adding one or two endearing or striking characteristics, as the case may be. On the other hand, you're a little uninspired when it comes to secondary characters. You just want them to be authentic, to feel real. In this article, I'll give you the keys to creating your characters.
Inspiration: everywhere, all the time
What do your tone-deaf neighbor, the grouch in line at the bakery, the mother who can't get her head around the park, your spouse who never tidies up and your cool high school English teacher all have in common? They're all potential characters for a novel. The best way to give your character authenticity is to give them real traits (physical and personality). Between the eight billion (give or take a few million) human beings, mixtures and your imagination, the possibilities are endless.
Let's imagine that your main character is an elf (because yes, the real world offers you characteristics that can be adapted to the imaginary world). You want him to be slender and handsome (that's how the collective imagination sees elves). However, your elf is a little different, with a little something more, or less, that sets him apart. In your case, it's his ears. Instead of being pointed, they're... shall we say, crooked, like those of... well, yes, like those of the ticket inspector on the train. On the other hand, for their long, slender hands, you'd describe those of the pretty hairdresser (who, by the way, gave you the best head massage of your life). And speaking of hairdressers... in the waiting room, you spotted a photo of a model with long, beautiful blond hair with slight auburn highlights. This is your elf's hairstyle.
You can give your characters the features of any passer-by or, why not? mix those of your neighbor (his long nose, for example) with those of the guy sitting opposite you in the subway.
Character or muse?
But be careful who you're describing. While the bus driver or delivery man may not take offense at the way you perceive them (they'd have to read you first, but that's all I hope for), your mother, best friend or significant other might. You might describe their lovely love handles, adorable beer belly or chubby little fingers with a beating heart and tender eyes, but they might not see it that way and take serious offense. So avoid describing those closest to you. In the same vein, don't tell their story (at least, not without their agreement).
You can, however, draw inspiration from them. From fictional characters, they become the muses of fictional characters. In concrete terms, it might look like this: our dear Legolas (what, there are other names for elves?) has a little sister. For the sake of the story, you'd like your sister to be hellish. But your sister is absolutely brilliant (my dear sisters, if you're reading this, I'll let you guess who I'm talking about...). On the other hand, she's a real maniac, and that annoys you. You think back to all the times you've turned up at her place and she's made your life hell... because of her mania. So you think about what annoys you about other people. Take your mother, for example: she's always early, so you're never ready. And your best friend, who spends too much time criticizing others. And what about your partner, who keeps their phone on at the table, glancing at it regularly while you're telling them the most interesting things? There's a lot of fertile ground here. Very fertile, by the way. Legolas' little sister, Leonie (because why not?), will be as messy as you like (and after all, isn't there a bit of you here?), addicted to Insta (that's totally plausible if she's a teenager of this decade), always running late (but she'll blame the others for being late the one time she's on time), with a sharp, forked tongue. Unless you share your cocktail of personalities with them, your loved ones won't know that they've been your source of inspiration.
Where to start?
In my previous blog post, I talked about character sheets. I explained why you should create them. Now that we also know how to create them, let's see where to start. The easiest way is to open a Word document (or similar) soberly entitled “Character sheets”. In this document, you'll record all the characters who appear in your story, from Legolas (your main character), to a dragon's distant cousin who dies on page twelve and is never mentioned again. Under each name, you'll need to list physical characteristics (age, eye color, hair color, hair length, height, body type, special appearance, style...) and personality traits (character, general mood, type of humor...). You might say, “That's a lot." To which I'll reply, “Well, yes." (I'm good at repartee.) Then you'll ask: “Do we really need to be this specific for all the characters?” And then I'll answer: “Well, no.” Which leads us to the following question:
How far do we go?
You can't describe your main character in the same way as the waiter who brings the main character his beer. The more your character is described, the more important he needs to be. And the opposite is also true. The same applies to actions and locations: the elf kingdom where the main action takes place is described at length (or briefly, but repeatedly), but the newsstand where one of the characters buys his newspaper doesn't need more than a two-word description. We'll go into great detail about the fights between elves and orcs, but we won't talk about how the elf eats at the table if we barely mention a dinner party. To recap: the more important it is, the more it's described, the less important it is, the less it's described. It's not a hard-and-fast rule, but if you use two pages, three paragraphs and two more lines to describe an orc's club, I expect it to be the murder weapon and not his favorite toothpick. Conversely, if the only thing I learn about Legolas is that he's an elf, I'm going to have a hard time believing he's the main character.
Don'ts
I'll end this article with a few things to avoid:
Don't draw inspiration from another fictional character. Nobody wants a Henry Potier with a moon-shaped scar on his forehead, to discover magical powers or to be the king of accountancy. Unless the book itself is a parody, we don't copy!
You don't settle scores with your cousin by naming the bitch in the story after her and recounting some anecdote or other from her life in the process, in your own way of course.
You don't change your mind ten times along the way without writing it down. It's the famous "I don't need to write it down, I'll remember it". Now that's the joke of the century! I can't tell you how many books I proofread where the names change along the way!
We don't apply everything I tell you to the letter - after all, who am I to tell you what you can and can't do? On the other hand, we do recognize that there is food for thought here...
Does this make sense to you? Don't hesitate to send me your comments by e-mail: contact@larelectrice.fr
Happy writing!
Ludivine
P.-S. Do you know any other elf names?
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