Some people use character sheets where they
fill out everything you need to know about a character. Some people base their characters off of
something they already know. Some people
hear the voice of the character in their head and it organically comes together. I could go on and on about how people build a
character and all of them would be a perfectly legit way to do it. For me, however, it is a crazy mash of all of
it and here is how it goes:
There’s usually a song, image, feeling that makes me write a little scene. It isn’t even a thought out plot or story, just an emotion filled scene with a voice blazing through it. Suddenly, I have the heart of the character.
From there, an image burns into my mind. I am a very visual individual and if I can’t see how the character dresses, their features, the way they walk, how they move when they speak, then I can’t see the character. But I am also coming from a very performance based world where those are the things that come across to the audience and so, that is how I begin to build a character.
Then comes the character chart so I can keep track of my descriptions and what relationships they have with the other characters because for me, that informs every one of their decisions in the story. Once again, this is a very performance based approach: they have to be doing/trying to achieve something and that is usually through interactions… So one character isn’t built at a time, but a cast.
It spirals outward from there… over and over and over again. But what is strange is how organic the process feels. It is as if I am a sculptor and I am sculpting a character out of clay and then they open their mouths and have the run of the world that has been created. It is then that they tell me how to write their story and if I try to control them, I learn the hard way.
My characters write themselves because they have built themselves and I am only the vessel they use to come out. I create and then let them run free. It might not be the wisest choice, but I have learned through the years that this is the process that is the most freeing and creative for me.
In many ways, this is how I want to create myself and therefore, I treat my characters in the same way. We have to live with each other after all.
There’s usually a song, image, feeling that makes me write a little scene. It isn’t even a thought out plot or story, just an emotion filled scene with a voice blazing through it. Suddenly, I have the heart of the character.
From there, an image burns into my mind. I am a very visual individual and if I can’t see how the character dresses, their features, the way they walk, how they move when they speak, then I can’t see the character. But I am also coming from a very performance based world where those are the things that come across to the audience and so, that is how I begin to build a character.
Then comes the character chart so I can keep track of my descriptions and what relationships they have with the other characters because for me, that informs every one of their decisions in the story. Once again, this is a very performance based approach: they have to be doing/trying to achieve something and that is usually through interactions… So one character isn’t built at a time, but a cast.
It spirals outward from there… over and over and over again. But what is strange is how organic the process feels. It is as if I am a sculptor and I am sculpting a character out of clay and then they open their mouths and have the run of the world that has been created. It is then that they tell me how to write their story and if I try to control them, I learn the hard way.
My characters write themselves because they have built themselves and I am only the vessel they use to come out. I create and then let them run free. It might not be the wisest choice, but I have learned through the years that this is the process that is the most freeing and creative for me.
In many ways, this is how I want to create myself and therefore, I treat my characters in the same way. We have to live with each other after all.
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