Inspiration for writing characters Archives

Creating characters is the theme for JPC Allen Writes this month. As a character writer, I have to have a good grasp on my main characters before starting a story. But what about starting a story with a setting and see what characters it suggests? So that’s the prompt I have today: create characters for this setting.

This is a photo of Coney Island in New York, but imagine any amusement park next to a beach. Who would you find there? Families with young children, teens on a day trip, a young couple on a first date, an elderly couple celebrating their first date. What about the people working in such a place? Lifeguards, teens working a summer job in the park, managers overseeing the summer workers.

Once you have some ideas of who would inhabit a setting, then you can begin creating characters. Since my mind turns to crime, what if the mother of the young family sees her father, who left her as a child, working at the park? Or a couple of teen workers, who don’t like each other, going forces to investigate some mysterious accidents that have occurred on a couple of rides? Maybe it could the overworked manager who starts an amateur investigation into the accdodents and finds unexpected help with two of the teen employees he’s had the most trouble with.

From the list above, create characters for this setting and tell me how they interact with each other.

For more character prompts, click here.

After tabulating the votes, we have a tie for which one of the photos from last week will be our YA protagonist. To break the tie, I selected … the young man below. I like his thoughtful look. This week, choose an antagonist for a YA story from the other photos I provide. An antagonist doest not have to be a villain. It is just someone, or sometimes, something, that stands in the way of the protagonist from reaching his goal. That antagonist could be someone the main character loves, but for some reason, they are on opposite sides of an issue.

Here’s our protagonist.

Now here are the antagonists. Please let me know in the comments which person you think would be a great one.

For more writing prompts for YA stories, click here.

Protagonist is just an English major way of saying main character. My prompt today is for you to choose a protagonist for a YA story based on the photos below. In the comments, name the one you think would make a good protagonist. I’ll pick the one that gets the most comments, and then next week, we’ll pick an antagonist. By the end of the month, we’ll have the building block for a YA story.

For more writing prompts for YA stories, click here.

I’d say the majority of writers like to start a story with a character, and I’m one of them. Usually a face I’ve seen somewhere takes hold of my imagination and I begin to build a character behind it. Before I list tips on how to start a story with a character, I want to emphasize two dangers when developing characters.

Too Much Backstory and Not Enough Real Story

One problem with creating characters is that a writer will get so caught up in characters charts, personality quizzes, and history that he or she neglects to actually move on to writing a story. Playing with our characters is fun, like playing with our kids. But at some point, playtime is over, and it’s time to do homework.

You probably know some writers who are always in the planning stages of writing a novel, who talk all the time about the fascinating characters they’re developing. But they never graduate to plotting a story.

When you first discover an intriguing character, by all means, have fun. Enjoy the discovery process as the character reveals different aspects of her personality and history. But keep in the back of your mind all this fun is pointless unless you actual settle down to writing a story about this great character.

Take Off the Rose-Colored Glasses

Characters are like our children. We often overlook their flaws and only see their virtues. This can be deadly in a story. If I’m reading a story in which one of the main characters is consistently praised by every other character, I begin to dislike him or her. If you have a likable character, let readers come to that realization on their own. Those kind of discoveries are a joy for readers. You don’t have to prime the reader’s pump by having the other characters constantly point out a main character’s sterling qualities. Yes, friends or family would complement each other, but keep it to a realistic minimum.

One of the things I enjoyed about writing my mystery short story, “Bovine”, was describing my fictional Marlin County, Ohio, in a negative way. The main character is a New York novelist who comes to the county to enact his perfect crime. Not being used to country life, or country people, and being entirely self-absorbed and nasty, he views the area through his snobby perception. He considers all locals “bovine.” Not only was this character a change of pace for me but it helped me see my fictional world in a new way.

Make Your Character Fit Your Genre

If your hero has weathered more trials than Job, he probably won’t work in a rom-com. If he’s a comedian, he might not fit in a gritty police procedural. Once you have a decent grasp on your main character, determine which genre will work best for him.

Road Test Your Character

If you have no idea what kind of plot to drop your character into, write a few scenes as road tests to see how she operates under different conditions.

A scene in which she is kind
A scene in which she is angry
A scene in which she has a victory
A scene in which she has a defeat
A scene with her best friend
A scene with her closest relative
A scene with an enemy
A scene with a difficult person

After you’ve seen how your character behaves, hopefully, you will start generating ideas for plot in which he can get to work.

For another view on creating characters, click here for a ten-part series on The Write Conversation.

For character prompts, click here.

How do you start a story with a character?

As you work on your first draft for NaNoWriMo, you might run into writer’s block or at least a snag. If that problem concerns creating a character, check out these portraits for NaNoWriMo that I’ve selected. When I’m looking for a new character, I need a face that captures my attention and makes me wonder about a personality that might fit with it. If one of these portraits inspires a character, let me know!

I like the expression on the girl’s face. She’s either watching something or daydreaming. Either way, the portrait gives you a sense of the mind behind the face.