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| Your Character Has a History |
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| Just like �real� people, characters have a history. Knowing your character�s history will enable you to know what motivates her. Motive is defined: �An emotion or desire or need that incites a person to act.� Motive is what gives characters flesh and blood rather than being a mere description of hair color, dress, mannerisms, and occupation. More about motive later.
First, we�re going to create your character�s history. You may not reveal in your story or novel all that appears in your history, but you may provide hints to your character�s past through flashbacks, dialogue, interior monologues, and actions. How a person reacts in different situations is defined by their histories. For instance, a woman may be unable to form real attachments, friendships, and relationships, because of what happened in her childhood. She may have been abused. Or maybe her number one goal in life is to have a stable family, to break the pattern of neglect and abuse because of what happened in her childhood. Perhaps a parent wasn�t able to fulfill a lifelong dream, so the child�s main goal is to attain that goal. Then there�s the corollary to that one. A mother was not able to become a successful dancer, so she pushes her daughter in that direction so at least indirectly she can realize that goal. The character�s history also includes vital statistics like where she has lived, attended school, siblings, pets, and so on. These may or may not be contributing factors to her motive. Did your character live in a small town, suburbia, a city? Did she move around a lot, or did she live in the same place until adulthood? Did she move away from home, or did she stay in the same town? Did she move away because she wanted to detach from her family, or did she move to where she thought she�d find more opportunities�whatever those might be? Did she remain in the same town by choice, or was it economic factors, or did she have to remain to take care of an ailing parent or sibling? Did she live in a �normal� or dysfunctional family? Did she own or want pets? I met a woman who told me she always cut her own hair. She never went to a beauty parlor to have it cut. When she was five years old, she had ringworm. Her mother put tar in her hair to get rid of it. Then she took her to a beautician who shaved off her long blonde locks. After that it never grew back to its golden glory. Her mother told her she was no longer pretty. Throughout her childhood, her mother subjected her to harsh home perms, which were supposed to make her hair prettier, but instead made it more brittle and fine. When this woman left home, she let her hair grow out. Never again did she visit a beautician. Now she cuts her own hair. I could create a character who develops a fear of beauty parlors. Maybe because of the ringworm incident, she never sets foot in a salon. Maybe she never cuts her hair herself and instead has let her hair grow past her hips. Or because of the ringworm incident, she decides to open her own salon so she can make others beautiful. Last week I had you do a character sketch. Refer to that to uncover more of your character�s history. For instance, is her occupation of her own choosing, or does she aspire to be something else? Is she single because she hasn�t found a man who doesn�t measure up to Daddy, or is she afraid of making attachments? If she�s married, is it a good, solid marriage, or is it dysfunctional? What hobbies or forms of recreation does your character choose? Are they associated with any childhood memories? What is her favorite place? Why? If your character has a nickname, how did she acquire it? Is there a backstory associated with that? Think about your character�s first memories. Go back as far as you can. If it helps, freewrite about your earliest memory to get some ideas. Make a list of your character�s possessions. Peek into her closet, her drawers. What things does she keep and why? What is the story behind the smudged movie ticket, note scrawled on the back of a receipt, or dried rose? Why does she still keep her prom dress in her closet? Or size 5 jeans when she�s a size 12? Why does she own only two pairs of shoes? Where did she get the doll that sits on her bed? Likely your story will only cover a small section of time, and there won�t be room to reveal all or any of your character�s history. The objective of knowing your character�s history is to discover more about her, to give her real traits that will make her a three dimensional character for the current story. There are exceptions to this (as always in literature). In cozy mysteries (Agatha Christie, Elizabeth Peters) the main character (Miss Marple or Amelia Peabody) does not change, so her history is not really relevant. On the other hand in series fiction the main character is revealed slowly through each sequel. So what you don�t reveal in the first story might be essential in another. And you�ll likely discover more details through your writing process. Copyright 2002-2007 Rita Marie Keller |
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