The Art of Character Building

            Characters are an important aspect to any story. They help move the story along as well as help to form the plot. Depending on how the characters act and react, the story can play out in many different ways. Any story with any type of plot has to have a protagonist (hero) and there is usually an antagonist (villain). The process to create characters can be complex.

            A writer has to think about the story when creating the leading roles in a television show, movie, or novel. The characters must fit into the story in one way or another. A cowboy would not fit in with a group of musicians in New York City, New York, just as a dragon would not work in a story set in outer space.  

            After the writer has decided the setting, plot, and genre, he or she then can move onto creating the story’s characters, or vice versa. The characters can be created first. Then after the protagonists are generated, the plot can be built around them. Character creation is a learning process. The characters grow and evolve. And through them, the author, also, evolves.

            There are various ways to create characters. Some writers choose to make a biography while other authors choose to figure out the character by writing the story. For each writer one way works better than another. There is no set ways for characters to be developed. It does not matter which way a writer chooses to create a character or a story.

            Sometimes it works better to stew on a character and then start to write (Field, pg. 63). Notes are not made on the characters or the storyline. To create a character without notes can be either scary or it can be thrilling experience because just like the reader, the writer does not know how the characters will evolve.

Others make a complete biography for their characters. Some novelists just jot down ideas on 3x5 note cards (Field, pg. 63). There is a need to know everything that happens and by writing it down, a writer does not forget any idea or character trait. Writing a biography can be time consuming, especially if the writer chooses to write down every single detail. An author cannot think of every tiny detail about the psyche and the past of the characters. Every character changes and evolves as they are written about. There will always be something new about one of the people in the books that was lurching in the depths of the mind. A visual aid can help the people in the novels becomes fully fleshed. Photos from magazines or from the internet are help as visual aids (Field, pg. 63). If biographies are made, the photographs can be a big help while trying to visualize the characters. They are not needed to complete the biography. Photographs tend to make creating characters easier because it helps the writer stay more focused. 

If a writer chooses to make a character biography, there are many things to consider. This “biography traces your character’s life from birth to the time the story begins” (Field, pg. 64). It can be as detailed as the write wants to make it. However, the ore details there are the better. Each new detail makes the characters more realistic. These biographies can help map out the psyches of each character. Why do they act the way they do towards that even, item, or person?

When a character is first made, “there are three basic rules” (Walter, pg. 69) to follow to create believable characters. The first rule is “no stereotypes” (Walter, pg. 69). The second rule is that “all characters must have some sort of redeeming quality” (Walter, pg. 69). The third rule is “let the characters grow through the story” (Walter, pg. 69).

How the character grows must fit with the plot. No matter what the story is, there will always be one constant – the character (Holden, pg. 7). The relationships of the characters help and alter the outcome of the plot. The reactions of the characters also change the plot’s course. 

The character and the plot must work together (Seger and Whetmore, pg. 27). No matter how great the plot and how wonderful the character’s are, if neither work together than the story will fall short. To Bill Kelley, the character is the heard of the story (Seger and Whetmore, pg. 27).

A novel or visual story, such as a television series or movie, the story would not be the same without the characters that populate the world, or worlds, of the narrative. Nor would be the story be the same without the development of the characters. The story would be dull with no characters. The story would also become dull without some character change.

If Jo March had not settled her temper, she would not have been able to open her boys’ school. Frodo would never have been able to destroy the One Ring is he had not let his bravery shine through. Remus Lupin would never have made such close friends out of James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew if he had not overcome his shyness and let his guard down just enough to let those three friends into his world. Marianne Dashwood would not have realized that there were more important things in the world than having a romantic love if she had not gotten her heart broken and pick herself up. All of those characters went through change. There was a change in their lives. There was change in their personalities. There was even change in their outlook on life. Some of the transformations of personality were visible, while other personality modifications were either too subtle to notice. Or the changes were not even written about; only the aftermath of what happened could be seen in the characters.

From the Iliad to the Harry Potter series, there have been wonderfully crafted characters to enrich the reader’s life. Without the characters, those stories would not be the same. Character development plays a crucial part in it. To create a character is to create a person. This craft is as important as generating the plot. Creating the characters is just as important as writing the novel. Without characters, there would be no story.

           

Works Cited

Walter, Richard. Screenwriting: The Art, Craft, and Business of Film and Television Writing.

New York: Penguin Group, 1988.

Holden, Tom. Film Making. London: Teach Yourself Books, 2002.

Field, Syd. The Screenwriter’s Workbook. New York: Dell, 1984.

Seger, Linda and Whetmore, Edward Jay. From Script to Scvreen: the Collaborative Art of

Filmmaking. New York: An Owl Book, 1994.

            

Note: This essay was original written for a fine arts class.