Whether you have a pen in one hand or ten fingers on the keyboard, whether you're looking at the blank page of your notebook or the screen, you feel ready to write down the thoughts that have been running through your mind for a while and that will make a wonderful story when put together, you’re certain of it. But here's the thing: I invite you to postpone your project a bit and start with the basics.
Oh the killjoy! Yes, but it's for the sake of your story...
Before you do anything else, I suggest you read - if you haven't already - my blog post entitled Get Ready to Write Your Novel in 10 Steps. This article is intended to be a comprehensive list of steps to take before you start writing. The character sheets are Step 5, and they are important enough to detail here.
Why is it important to create character sheets?
1. For authenticity
It doesn't matter if your story is a biography or a fantasy, if your character is largely based on someone you know or if it’s entirely made up, it has to be believable! Writing down the main characteristics of your characters will allow you to analyze them as a whole to see if they produce an authentic whole. This is not just about the physical characteristics of your characters, but about their personality traits, their way of expressing themselves, any old grudges that might explain their current personality or any desire for revenge.
One might think that this is superfluous, that it's just a matter of having a few main characteristics in mind and that the character will naturally take shape as the story unfolds. While this may be possible for a seasoned author, it seems highly unlikely to me that an amateur author will be able to make their character authentic without infusing a large part of themselves into it.
Let me illustrate this with a concrete example.
Caroline (let's call her like that) has written her very first novel. It's a love story between a young ballet dancer and a forty-year-old surgeon from the Italian mafia. Caroline had a big problem of authenticity with her characters, especially with Alessandro, the surgeon. Yet she scrupulously respected the characteristics she had probably given him beforehand: tall and handsome, virile, kind, heavy past, broken heart, fear of trusting again... Yet it was impossible for me to believe in Alessandro's character. Why was it impossible for me to believe in the character of Alessandro? Well, because this 40-year-old surgeon, raised in the Italian mafia, talked like a silly young girl. I'm exaggerating, but Caroline, an inveterate romantic who was fed on love stories such as Twilight, to name but one, transferred her own feelings and emotions onto her male character. She made him speak as she would like a man to speak to her at her age (Caroline is not older than 20) and not as a man of his age, with his past and his career. The words she put in his mouth, as well as the tone and gestures she made him use, were not at all plausible.
2. For coherence
Unless you can lock yourself away day and night without any constraints and you're not afraid of tendonitis, you can't write a novel in a week. It takes time, and time is something you don't always have. Ideally, once you start writing, you spend a little time every day, but in practice, work, activities, children, life in general, means that you often have to leave a few days between two writing moments. And during this time, you can easily forget what you have written. If you only have five pages, you can quickly reread them, but it will no longer be possible once you have two hundred.
Sunday afternoon, you have a little time alone, you take the opportunity to write. You are super inspired, the words write themselves. But in the middle of a paragraph, you stop. Alba, the school principal, did she have brown hair or red hair? Unless she was blonde and her assistant had brown hair? or red hair? This may not seem like a big deal, but it's the kind of detail that seriously undermines the coherence of a story. Especially if you multiply the incoherences, it goes without saying. And here, good luck finding this information if you don't know exactly where to look. The point of having a character sheet is to be able to refer to it whenever you have a doubt.
The same goes for the character or the way of speaking: the more you detail Alba in her sheet, the more authentic you will make her character and the more coherent her words and behavior will be throughout the story.
Be careful, being coherent does not mean being consistent! Characters, like humans, change their minds and evolve!
3. For categorization
Creating your character sheets in advance will allow you to know precisely how many characters you want to put under the spotlights and to distinguish between those who will be in the foreground and those who will only intervene briefly.
The more important a character is, the more detailed you will need to be. On the contrary, there is no need to describe the life of the school's cleaning lady at length if her only intervention in the story is to interrupt Alba to vacuum her office. A simple piece of information about her outfit or the tone of her voice will suffice.
4. For inspiration
If you like role-playing games, you already know the character sheets. They give you the main characteristics of the character you are playing, including strengths and weaknesses. Throughout the game, you refer to your character sheet to see what you can and can't do. When the game master asks you what you want to do about a berserk monster, you look at your character sheet and work your imagination from there. Well, in writing, it's the same. Sure, you're the author and you tell your characters what to do, but you'll see that the characters, if they're well constructed, take over and make the story come alive on their own. At some point, the idea will come to you and you'll say, "Yes, Alba has to get mad at her co-worker and spill her coffee on his face! That's what would make the most sense given her personality." You will feel as if Alba herself has told you this new development, but in reality, you will have laid the foundation for your story by describing the personalities of the characters in your story from start to finish. You will thus allow the story to evolve. It won't be set in stone, because you will surely change your mind as you write, but at least it will remain coherent (at least from the point of view of the characters).
Now all you have to do is describe your characters! Not sure how to do this? My next blog post will cover how to create your characters. Where to look for inspiration? Where do you start? How far to go? We'll work on a real-life example.
In the meantime, if you have any comments or questions, you can always email me at contact@larelectrice.fr
If you'd like me to do a beta-reading of your synopsis or story, contact me and I'll send you a personalized quote.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Ludivine