Defining Characters
Character is the most important element of most great fiction. A memorable character will live in the mind of the reader long after details of the story are forgotten. Sequels are written about characters much more frequently than about the events in a story.
A memorable character is a gestalt, the sum total of his or her physical, mental, emotional, and social characteristics. A real person has all of these traits, and we expect a believable fiction character to be equally multifaceted. The Character form’s eleven tabs can provide you a rounded, three-dimensional character. Not all characters need that much detail: some are bit players or have lesser roles. But early in your story’s development, you need to meet and get to know your major characters: how they look, act and talk.
As with all the elements of a story outline, be specific and use details. Giving the reader these details allows him to explore the character and learn his personality for himself, which is more effective than any explanation.
To go beyond the stereotypical, your characters should contain contradictions and flaws, just as real people do. To build these paradoxical elements into a character, start with a fairly well-drawn character, and ask yourself what trait or characteristic would be at odds with that personality. Then write the trait in. Often the contradiction can be built into the character’s back story.
When you’re defining your characters, use conflict as a lens. Conflict is your story; always look for opportunities to increase it. Agency
Your characters are your story’s actors, and so they must act. Thy must make decisions and carry them out, successfully or not; they must drive the story more than be driven by events. Your story’s plot unfolds as a direct result of your protagonist’s and antagonist’s (and other major character’s) actions.
At the risk of being repetitive, the keys to this are your character’s goals and motivations, which brings you back to the Problem form. If a character lacks agency, up his or her stakes.
Action, particularly action at crisis, reveals character. Your characters must act in accordance with their nature. Psychological factors such as Values and Focus and Inner Traits will show through. A character also needs (or must learn) the skills and abilities to act effectively.
Action also molds character. Normally, in fiction as in life, this occurs where the character’s innermost qualities are untested. When a crisis calls upon your character to do new things, the inner traits will be revealed. People can also sometimes change their inner values in fundamental ways. This usually requires him or her to ‘go through the fire’, to undergo literally life-changing experiences. StoryCAD provides several ways to outline such changes. One is to describe an internal ‘Person vs. Himself’ problem and its outcome. The other is to identify a character defect using the Flaw tab on the Character form, and resolve it. A tool, Flaw Builder, can help with this. These two approaches aren’t meant to be mutually exclusive. Finding a flaw exposes a character’s need, a goal hidden from the character herself. That goal is the basis of the Problem the character must solve through character growth. These are often problems of discovery or decision.
Wants, Needs, and Flaws
You’ve defined what your protagonist wants, his external goal. But we humans have an extraordinary ability to deceive ourselves, and our goals are sometimes the very means of deception.
The Defining Problems topic Outer and Inner Problems defined an inner problem is some want or need within the character himself, a need to grow or change.
Having both a want (the external goal) and the need (a flaw or wound that’s often buried and not allowed to surface) exposes a ‘wants versus needs’ conflict, and a potentially richer story. In these cases, what your character wants (the goal) and why he wants it (the motive) are at odds. Often what a character believes his motivation to be is a lie.
Socialization and Relationships
The Social Tab’s elements are the major factors which affect this character’s behavior that come from the influence of others or the community.
The four socializing factors on this tab are important, but there is another, equally important source of social influence: specific relationships with other people. Parents are notable examples.
Social factors may war with each other in an individual, as a source of story conflict. For example, a young white boy might have been raised to dislike or distrust blacks, but the positive influence of a particular person of color could contradict that background. This type of conflict is common in ‘Man against Society’ stories.
Wealth is a form of freedom; the poor are often shorn of choices which the wealthy enjoy. However, wealth can also serve as an insulator, which isolates a character from real life. This is true more of inherited than earned money, so also consider how the wealth was acquired. Changes in economic status can be powerful sources of conflict; that works in both directions, towards richer but also towards poorer.
Education is a primary means of social mobility, or rising above poverty or humble beginnings. But education is also sometimes associated with class separation, snobbish behavior, and lack of worldliness. In either roll, positive or negative, education can place a character in conflict with his earlier environment.
The Ethnic and Cultural background of the character provide great color and variety to stories. Be sure that you know the ethnic group or culture you’re writing about, either from experience or from careful research— or both. Be wary of stereotyping. In fact, interesting characters often come from providing character traits which are at deliberate odds to stereotypes.
As with other social factors, changes in the ethnic and cultural environment can provide a source of story conflicts. This happens in situations in which a person moves from one social group or strata to another, such as from employment, travel, or marriage.
Religion is not widely used in fictional character development, except in religious market genres. Characters frequently express religious beliefs, but don’t show or act upon them except in unusual circumstances. But religion can provide a foundation for characters in crisis, a source of comfort and strength when things are at their darkest. A religious background can provide the basis for character choices at the turning point. This is especially true for stories in which the protagonist is on the brink of a fall into immoral or unethical behavior.
Personality Type
There are a number of methods for classifying people according to type. For example, Aristotle classified personalities according to ‘humor’, or temperament, into four categories: melancholic, sanguine, emotional, and phlegmatic. Carl Jung classified people as introverted or extroverted, and also used four categories: sensation, thinking, feeling, and intuitive. Today a system called Briggs-Myers Type Indicators, which classifies personality along four scales (such as extroversion / introversion), for a total of sixteen unique categories.
StoryCAD uses a different approach: the Enneagram. This system is very old, and is believed to have originated with the Sufis. It groups people into nine types (‘ennea’ is Greek for the number nine.) The system teaches that people in a given type often behave and react in similar ways.
You may wish to use personality types to better understand what motivates your characters, and how they may think and feel in certain situations. But remember that a personality type is just a stereotype. No two people are alike: one may be an only child; the other, the youngest in a large family. One could be born to poverty, another to luxury. Each character is shaped by different experiences.
Intelligence
Intelligence is the capacity to grasp meaning. Action-based stories generally require less intelligence in the protagonist than do character-based stories. A character who reacts, rather than acts, can be less intelligent. Your antagonist should be about as intelligent as the protagonist, to insure a fair struggle.
Values
People can have vastly different ideas of what is right or worthwhile in life. These ‘governing values’ are seldom articulated, but maintaining and defending them is a huge influence on an individual’s behavior, because her self image is tied to the values she holds.
In real life, people have multiple values. In fiction, it’s more useful to think in terms of just one or two values. Conflict can be created by threatening your character’s important value, by giving her two opposing or exclusive values, or by destroying or removing a value.
The choices for this trait represent common values people hold. Be aware that different social backgrounds (especially different cultures and educational experiences) may have profound effects on values.
Focus
The character’s Focus is where he places his attention and activity. His Focus (along with his Values) determine what’s important to him. From the perspective of plotting, these frequently determine what’s at stake for the character, and therefore what should be put at risk— in other words, what the story problem should be about.
Misalignment of Values and Focus can create conflict. For example, if a man values his family, but spends too much time earning money to support them, this can cause problems. Your character may discover that what he thinks is important isn’t, or that values he has neglected are truly important to him. Stories of discovery and decision are often concerned with these situations.
Abnormality
This control describes the abnormal mental state of a character.
The line between normal and abnormal behavior is one of degrees. Nor should you restrict unusual behavior to your villains. A touch of abnormality adds color and unpredictability to a character.
Abnormal behaviors are complex and difficult to describe. Be sure to research the specific illness you’re using carefully.
Manic Manic behavior is characterized by mood swings, excessive activity and talkativeness, impaired judgment, and sometimes psychotic symptoms.
Paranoid The paranoid has systematic delusions ascribing hostile intentions to other people or groups. He often has a mission or goal associated with his perceived persecutors.
Depressive A person suffering from mental depression exhibits emotional dejection and withdrawal, and unreasonable sadness. Depression is the most common form of mental illness.
Schizophrenic Schizophrenics tend to have disorganized speech and behavior, delusions, and hallucinations. This severe mental illness is often associated with physical brain disorders.
Anxiety neurotic Feelings of anxiety and helplessness tend to dominate personality and behavior.
Obsessive/ compulsive neurotic In this form of psychoneurosis, obsessive thoughts and/or compulsive and repetitive behavior patterns dominate the personality.
Phobia Phobia is a persistent and irrational fear of a particular object, activity, or situation.
Psychopath This character disorder is characterized by amoral or antisocial behavior without feelings of remorse or regret.
Sociopath These individuals don’t have normal feelings and reactions to social influences, and can act in completely asocial or antisocial ways.
Inner Traits tab Outer Traits ab
A trait is a distinguishing quality. Unlike Psychological qualities which are hidden, these are a character’s attributes which can be seen and recognized through their behavior. Inner traits are aspects of character stemming from psychological and social causes. External traits are habits, choices and behaviors which often reflect and illustrate the inner traits. For instance, a girl may be submissive toward her mother (an inner trait) and may reflect it by bringing her small presents each day (an outer trait.) You will want to find external traits to illuminate the inner traits of your characters, following the ‘show, don’t tell’ maxim.
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