Last week’s post was actually written for and posted last year by the NaNoWriMo blog. I may be late, but here’s to cross-posting!
Better, however, is that I can now expand upon it in a series of other blog posts, here on my own website. I love that post, and I love the Minus 1 Rule bit of advice, but there is a lot more I can say about it.
(I will say more about it, too, hinging on one of those other New Year’s Resolutions I made!)
Character creation is something of a multi-headed hydra, mythic, powerful, and terrifying.
To some people.
To others, it’s a walk in a sunny park, picking fully-fledged original characters like flowers from their mind’s garden.
Enter: the Minus 1 Rule. See previous amazingly written blog post for a full explanation. It’s quick and easy and dirty and fast and simple, so long as you can do basic math. (I’m still sorry for making all you writerly types do math.)
But as anyone who’s put pen to paper knows—nothing in writing life is quick or easy or fast or simple. Only sometimes dirty. A character is more than their traits. This creates a flat, static being, like a paper doll trying on paper clothes to try to fit into a real, 3D dollhouse.
What else does a character need? Goals, aspirations, desires, an arc*, idiosyncrasies, a speech pattern, interpersonal relationships, a design—and more.
(*Static characters, technically, may not need an arc. We’ll talk more about static vs dynamic characters later.)
And following on that asterisk… Some characters may not need some of those things. There are anime series (Mob Psycho 100, Aggretsuko) completely dedicated to figuring out what the main character’s goals are. Tom Hanks’ character in Castaway’s primary relationship is with a volleyball, so it can hardly be called interpersonal. But these are facets of those characters, too.
Going back to the examples given in the Minus 1 Rule post, let’s look at a character who is quick-witted, intelligent, and physically strong. Cool. I could write something with a character like that.
But what else?
This character needs a goal. Are they going to use their wit to outsmart someone? Do they need to lift a car off a child? Are they a superhero? A supervillain? Do they work at a Starbucks? Do they want to become President? Do they need to go grocery shopping? Do they want to fall in love?
A lot of these cross over from goals into even more facets of your character. (That’s good.) This character being a superhero already says a lot about the worldbuilding of your story. A character struggling to lift a car off a child gives you an immediate plot thread to follow.
The Minus 1 Rule is meant to be a starting guide. It is the first step over the starting line; you won’t win a sprint or a marathon with only that step. It is the first glimpse out of the corner of your mental eye of a new person.
Though far from complete, take your newly created character and look at this list. Start thinking about more.
–Motives: Motivations can be both short- and long-term. What propels your character through the fire? Is it tragic backstory, love, the power of friendship, the need to defeat the evil lord, wanting a better life? A good, dynamic character should have both short- and long-term motivations, even if they are as simple as needing to pick up more milk.
–Goals: Goals are similar to both motivations and desires (below), but a little more tangible. Again, a good, well-rounded and dynamic character should have both short- and long-term goals. Goals can be going to the grocery store for that aforementioned milk, getting a better job, getting married, beating a high score, or beating someone in a fight. Goals should be things your character can attain (even if they don’t).
–Desires: Desires have a lot of overlap with both motives and goals. But I’m also going to lump in some Likes & Dislikes here, too! These are all things that enrich your character’s inner life. What do they want? What do they not want? A character who likes dogs may want to get a dog, or volunteer at a shelter, or apprentice under a famous breeder. Or they may just want to pet a dog they see in the park. Desires can be tangible, but they themselves aren’t.
–Idiosyncrasies: Okay, this may be one of my favorite things to think about with characters. It is also totally optional. It is also something I recommend not doing at the start of character creation, but I’m including it here as something to think about. Idiosyncrasies are the little things: a character who chews bubblegum too much, a character who collects taxidermied birds, a character who uses incredibly old adages, a character who speaks only in rhyme. You can make a character shaped around something like this. Or it can come to you as you write. I personally recommend the latter, but both can be rewarding!
(Except rhyming. Characters who rhyme are a pain to write. 0/10, do not recommend.)
–Speech patterns: See how all of these are slowly overlapping? Some speech patterns can be idiosyncrasies or include verbal tics. How a character voices their desire to attain X goal is almost as important as wanting that goal. I can’t find the source ever again (thanks, tumblr!) but I vividly recall a writing advice post saying that not every character should talk like Spock, Yoda, or a cowboy. A speech pattern doesn’t have to be a wildly distinct thing, though it can be. I’d even say that most of your characters should not have wildly distinct speech patterns. It would be confusing and distracting at best. But diction and syntax, those old forgotten words from high school English class, can come back into play here. Accents can help. (Be careful of eye dialect, however!) Since not every line of dialogue needs (or should have) a speaker tag, this can help with reader comprehension, too.
–Interpersonal Relationships: Most stories have something called a cast—how terrifying, you have to come up with more characters! I jest, but these characters interacting are going to be a big part of your story. How they interact with each other is key to defining who they are, how they view others, and what sort of benevolent or malevolent roles they have with others. Two best friends go on a quest with each other. The villain turned out to be the long-lost father. The teacher cares deeply for their students, like children. The strict, overbearing mother or the absent father. Your characters are going to have others they like or dislike, and in different ways and quantities. (Two units of dislike for you, Villain!) Shounen anime love the power of friendship as plot device. Buddy cop movies also thrive on it.
Characters should also have a design and some sort of arc, but those are definitely and especially their own posts. (Oh, and a name! Those are important. Post(s) concerning names to come later and likely multiple times.)
So, you’ve got a handful of character traits ready, and you’re delving deeper into what makes your character special. What makes them that character. This is far from a comprehensive guide to character creation, but it should be a quick way to jumpstart your creation process, or help you to figure out what areas you still need to work on. Happy writing!
