Tuesday, July 19, 2011

An Exercise for Character Study


I am sure, every writer desires, yearns and craves  to create believable, rounded,  and three dimensional characters that readers not just believe in, but also identify and follow through the pages of the book. Any exercise that helps us to develop characters is embraced by us.

I came across this exercise for Character Study in Writing Fiction. When we are trying to introduce depth into a character, we can use the following exercise.


1. Write a sketch of the characters as you see them: their physical attributes, their mental make up, their emotional needs and how they handle relationships and other problems.

2. Write a sketch of the characters as they would see themselves. What is the character’s opinion of himself/herself? How does he/she see themselves?

3. Describe a character that is opposite of the one you described in point 1.

4. Describe a character that is the opposite of the one you described in point 2.

5. Look at the four descriptions and underline the parts you find interesting. Amalgamate
    them.


This exercise is a wonderful way to analyze how our characters see themselves.  It made me realize that the way I perceived my character/s is different from the way they see themselves. It’s so true of life and people. We seldom see people as the way they see themselves. Once we know how our characters really see themselves, it makes it easy for us to tackle their core beliefs and  target their insecurities. We can add inner tension with more ease as we are privy to all the inner demons our character faces and tackles.

This exercise is also a wonderful way to give our characters plenty of  traits that can  make them more rounded, unique and individualistic at the same time.

Do you  write a sketch of your characters, about  their physical, mental and emotional  traits? Have you ever tried any technique to get to know your characters better. Please share your methods with us.

16 comments:

  1. This is a great and informative post! Thanks for the tips, Rachna. I'm sure to use them for my own character study. :)

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  2. That's a really interesting exercise, thank you. How characters see themselves isn't something I always think about.But I will do now.

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  3. No doubt about it, a good book is known for its characters, especially for series fiction. I've always thought that if you make a character slightly flawed too then they are more realistic. After all, no one's perfect.

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  4. This is an exercise I will have to try and share with others.

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  5. This is another good one! Will have to give it a try. :)

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  6. I'll usually write something up like this halfway through my book because I always belately remember that I need to keep my characters distinct from each other. lol. great post.

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  7. Very interesting idea here for getting to know your characters better. I like the idea of describing them as we see them, and then as they see themselves. This will really bring out their own ideas of self worth.

    Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse

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  8. I shall definitely be trying this exercise. Thank you!

    Ellie Garratt

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  9. Useful tips for the writer and fascinating for the reader.

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  10. These are some great techniques to round out characters. It really is true that characters see themselves differently than others see them. That actually is a big deal in my current book, and it has created some interesting inner tension. Thanks for sharing these!

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  11. Three dimensional is good, but there are places for more two-dimensional characters, i.e. the minor character which is so important in Tolstoy and Nemirovsky. Just a thought:)

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  12. My characters walk into my thoughts as fully formed people. My job is just to get to know them inside and out.

    :-)

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  13. I love exercises like this! I do character lists, just brief ones with physical and emotional traits. However, I've considered doing some of the really in-depth ones that are like 5 pages long, just for the main characters.

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  14. Great exercise. Thanks for sharing. Will try to do it for my next book.

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  15. Often I develop my characters as I go along. The story often dictates features and traits of the charcaters. I used to write these down but stopped. I should probably catalog these as I can see how useful it can be.

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  16. Thanks for sharing this wonderful exercise. Glad I landed at your blog.

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