Methods of Character Design - Merchants of the Void

To get very far as an author, some time needs to be spent on character design. Flat and unrealistic characters have the ability to shatter the illusion that the reader is an invisible observer in a fictional universe. One of the cardinal rules of film making is to not break the fourth wall by looking directly into the camera; it’s the same concept with writing.

So, how can you write really good, deep characters that will charm the pants off your readers? Developing character notes before you start will allow you to get to know them and make them pop in your story.

Note Card Method

Think Written breaks notes into three main categories which I believe covers the topic very well.

The first category is basic facts. For this category you include characteristics such as age, birthplace, hair and eye color, weight, height, shoe size, circumference of their head for some reason, job, etc.

Pretend you work at the DMV and you’re filling out forms for your character and you should be fine.

Next, you may want to document your characters’ personality. In this section, you want to look at how your character reacts to various situations and events.

For example, imagine how they would act while attending a frat party, speaking in front of a large audience, on a date, in the middle of a breakup, etc.

Finally, take a look at what motivates your character. These are the hard hitting questions that are going to greatly define the decisions and actions of you character.

Notes for this section would include your character’s religion, greatest fears, hopes, aspirations, regrets, etc. Now that we know what to write, how do we organize and store it?.

Note Card Method

This method I recently discovered is rather ingenious in its simplicity. The concept is simple: Take a stack of blank note cards and write a character’s name on the first card.

Next, write something about your character that you want to remember. Stack your traits under the character’s name card, and then repeat for other characters. To store, use a paperclip, binder clip, or rubber band depending on the volume of cards.

The upside of this system is that you can arrange and rearrange your traits and/or characters in any arrangement that makes sense for what you need to accomplish.

With a notecard box (a whopping investment of a couple dollars) it’s easily portable and not dependant on the internet and/or electricity.

The downside for this method is detailed notes require many cards. When you’re dealing with multiple characters this system can get unruly fast.

Secondly, needing to look at how two or three characters related to one another will require a significant amount of flat space. Cards spread out everywhere can also lead to having them scatter everywhere resulting in a nightmare.

Worksheet Method

If you type “character development worksheet” into a search engine you will find a variety of free downloadable and printable worksheets that have predefined questions so you can get to know your characters. It’s easy, quick, and free which are three of my favorite things.

The upside of this method is the level of detail and quality of your notes are going to be as good as your worksheet. With a quick once-over, the quality of a worksheet can be determined and with so many to choose from you should be able to locate one that meets your needs.

The downside of this method is it can feed into overplanning. If you are someone who is prone to endlessly preparing but never doing, finding the most detailed worksheet and filling out volumes for each question is going to be something you need to avoid.

Secondly, you may need varying levels of details for different characters. You can always customize the worksheets or create your own, but that takes more time and energy.

Semi-Panster Method

If you are not familiar with the term “panster,” it refers to those who like to fly by the seat of their pants. A true pantser takes zero notes and sees what comes out.

The semi-panster method would be to take a minimal amount of notes before starting (or as you write) and letting the deeper character traits evolve on their own.

The upside of this method is the high degree of flexibility. You may use this in tandem with a typed up worksheet or note cards or a system of cocktail napkins written on with a marker if you want.

The other big benefit is the low time and energy cost in writing notes. Hit the highlights and get to work.

The downside is the lack of predictability. This method uses less actual planning than the others which means you could end up putting in the work but still having poorly written characters.

Some writers can use this method and reliably end up with great characters while others will see results ranging all over the map.

Software

There are some tailor-made software solutions out there as well. I’m not going to get into a full comparison because they vary widely in their capabilities and it’s outside the scope of this post.

I plan on doing some in-depth reviews for some specific programs later. If you would like to look deeper into this method now, a good starting place would be looking into the following:

Scrivner
Aeon timeline
Persona
Character writer
Charahub
Writeitnow
Keepnote

The upside of this method lies in the design process. Software has been designed by a professional who has hopefully done some deep research. The end result should be a product that is going to do its job well

The downside is you may find your program of choice does everything really well, except for one important thing. One such issue with many software solutions is handling relationships between characters.

Secondly, if a program gets abandoned you may find yourself in the unpleasant position of having to migrate data to a new system that doesn’t play well with your previous program.