I feel the need to explain a few things when it comes to the current work I’ve been posting.
When I develop a character, I fully develop a character. Most people believe that just knowing everything about the person makes a character complete; their personality, their likes and dislikes, what drives them, and major life events. Yes, those are all important, but the character isn’t yet fully realized. Who were his or her parents? What are their names? Where did they come from? What do they think about their child? What about brothers and sisters? Names aren’t the only things you need there too. How do they feel about themselves? How do they feel about the character? What about the character’s best friends? Or the first person they fell in love with? They would know every detail about that person, from the way they looked to their favorite food.
That is how I create a character.
Yes, sometimes I discover new things as the character comes to life, as the character becomes a person. I don’t have all the answers all the time. That’s okay! It’s even okay if you don’t ask all the questions to begin with. Even my characters start with an idea, an incomplete atom waiting to combine and coalesce into this complete person.
So, with that in mind, it’s nearly impossible to incorporate every detail when introducing the character. Usually you only introduce things pertinent to the topic at hand. This means there are so many facets that will never be discovered by writing about them. They will never come up, especially if it is something the character doesn’t think is important.
I have to reign myself back from writing an itemized history, especially now when there’s so much I want to say about someone who is the main character of my current writing.
This also applies to the environment they are inhabiting. In this case, and most others' on this blog, the environment has already been developed. I rarely go over the history of the land, and only mention certain current events that deeply affect the character. The worlds that each of these stories come from are extremely in-depth, shaping the general consensus of thoughts and beliefs. And unfortunately, most of that will never be explained.
I wish I could. I honestly do. But when it comes down to it, it just doesn’t fit into the way I write, or the way I see a story going. Just know that there is more, much more than I can reveal.
When I develop a character, I fully develop a character. Most people believe that just knowing everything about the person makes a character complete; their personality, their likes and dislikes, what drives them, and major life events. Yes, those are all important, but the character isn’t yet fully realized. Who were his or her parents? What are their names? Where did they come from? What do they think about their child? What about brothers and sisters? Names aren’t the only things you need there too. How do they feel about themselves? How do they feel about the character? What about the character’s best friends? Or the first person they fell in love with? They would know every detail about that person, from the way they looked to their favorite food.
That is how I create a character.
Yes, sometimes I discover new things as the character comes to life, as the character becomes a person. I don’t have all the answers all the time. That’s okay! It’s even okay if you don’t ask all the questions to begin with. Even my characters start with an idea, an incomplete atom waiting to combine and coalesce into this complete person.
So, with that in mind, it’s nearly impossible to incorporate every detail when introducing the character. Usually you only introduce things pertinent to the topic at hand. This means there are so many facets that will never be discovered by writing about them. They will never come up, especially if it is something the character doesn’t think is important.
I have to reign myself back from writing an itemized history, especially now when there’s so much I want to say about someone who is the main character of my current writing.
This also applies to the environment they are inhabiting. In this case, and most others' on this blog, the environment has already been developed. I rarely go over the history of the land, and only mention certain current events that deeply affect the character. The worlds that each of these stories come from are extremely in-depth, shaping the general consensus of thoughts and beliefs. And unfortunately, most of that will never be explained.
I wish I could. I honestly do. But when it comes down to it, it just doesn’t fit into the way I write, or the way I see a story going. Just know that there is more, much more than I can reveal.
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