What are some tips to use for character building?

[vadadagon]

Your suggestions are excelllent, vada. I'd say that although some folks become a bit too immersed in their character constructs such that they will spend time actually writing full biographies of them, and maybe become fixated on this, rather than advancing the story line in the novel itself. For most characters, just a brief sketch, a sentence or two, like you provided, normally even much less, works fine.

I agree with you moderntimes and I've been subject to that (although that could also work if you want to develop another book based on those characters). For example in one of the books that I'm writing I came up with a very detailed story for a character that plays no part on my current story simply because that particular character invented a way to navigate on land and sea (I'll eventually work on a book or series for that character since I like him so much).

I do have a couple of recurring characters without names (just henchmen) for which I have no background not even a quick bio and they don't really need any since they don't have any speaking parts and they are very stereotypical (not very bright, good with a knife or strong and not much good at anything other than beating people up or killing them).

[moderntimes]

I've done exactly the same for bad guys in my new private detective novel, 3rd in the series. The principal baddie is of course a strong antagonist and therefore fully realized (he "starred" in the 2nd novel as well). But when confronted by a Colombian gang, I've just named some of the baddies (I did this by searching for Hispanic gang members online wanted by police, then mixing their names and tweaking the spelling a bit). These are low level gang members and so I gave them nondescript identities, mid-30s, one of them tall and thin, the other short. Otherwise nothing else. Because that just wasn't needed.

Your idea about "saving" an interesting character for another story is a good one, and I've done this too. I've got a few of those brief bios tucked away on my laptop for later reference.

[vadadagon]

Your idea about "saving" an interesting character for another story is a good one, and I've done this too. I've got a few of those brief bios tucked away on my laptop for later reference.

Yes sometimes characters who you never even planned for become integral to the story. I have one such character (a boy) who latched onto the main protagonist (my hero) and it was something entirely unexpected from my part. This kid was only supposed to be part of one small scene and someone he becomes sort of the sidekick of the hero.

That was something I hadn't planned, I didn't have a name for the kid (although being a child his background wasn't hard to guess since he was homeless) or anything about his origins.

-- 18 Nov 2014, 12:12 --

It occurs to me that I talk about these characters as if they are alive. That is because to me they are alive and breathing living, growing and full of emotions. Their lives live on regardless of whether I tell their stories or not I am simply the conduit thru with their story is told.

I can't explain it I don't really create the characters its more like they come to me and they tell me their story and it is my job to put their story into a something comprehensible on paper.

[moderntimes]

vada, you are echoing exactly the same aspects of developing a good character as I believe is essential.

Imagining the characters as "alive" and real people is critical. As I've said often, good dialogue is the heartbeat of any novel, and only if you consider your main characters as "real" can you create realistic dialogue for them.

And again, I want to caution you writers of fantasy and SF... just because you character is, say, a sorcerer or a witch or a sword-wielding hero or space traveler, don't imagine these as one-dimensional. Because if you do that your writing will be as flat as your characters. The great SF writer, such as Ursula LeGuin or Heinlein or Larry Niven or whomever, all of them, created believable and real people who populated their stories. For example, read "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula LeGuin, or "Triton" by Sam (Chip) Delaney. The Darkness character is ambi-sexual and changes sex with the seasons. And Delaney (maybe the only gay African-American famous SF writer out there) has sexually diffident but very real characters.

Try to imagine the characters (at least the major ones) as actual people. Try to imagine them having lunch or going home to either a family or an empty apartment. Or whatever. Most important, think of them as actual human beings and you will then be able to create a character that resonates with the reader.