Characters - Do You Know Yours?

Every story has a named or unnamed character; you'll always find one. But how do writers go about writing them?

I have a character in my novel that may be very recognisable to my work colleagues. The first time I met this person, I felt they could be a character in my book. It took some time to write them in, but they are, and they will have an interesting time. There are also a couple of other colleagues in the novel, although in more subtle ways. Often, writers will take someone they either know or have scribbled down a description into their notebook whilst sitting somewhere observing and having a coffee.

After reading the book and watching the film Black Hawk Down, I was intrigued by how the scriptwriters wrote the characters. It is the story of an American operation against Somali warlords in Mogadishu in 1992. Black Hawk and MH-6 Little Bird helicopters flew US Rangers and Delta Force Operators into the city's centre. The resulting crash and rescue of the Super Six Four crew form the book's story. 

There was a lot of criticism from those who were there about the character Staff Sargent Matthew Eversham in the film, portrayed by actor Josh Harnett. The screenwriter had condensed several participants down into this one character. They even had to change the name of another character because the original one went on to commit a rather unsavoury crime. In all, the screenwriter condensed 100 critical participants in the book down to just 39 characters in the film, which kept it to a manageable length.

Two characters kept in the film were Delta Operators, Sargent First Class Randy Shugart and Master Sargent Gary Gordon. Shugart and Gordon are credited with saving the life of Super Six Fours pilot Chief Warrant Officer Mike Durrant. Both posthumously received the Medal of Honor and, at the time, were the first recipients since the Vietnam War.

You can tell I liked that film.

After reading the book, the characters are not just a name but a living person. That is a skill needed by creative writers. A lot of background work has to be put into characters by writers.

I have character sheets for every character in my book, or at least I should have. ( I need to catch up on those, they will come in very useful for the rewrite in a few months, if not now) and I also have a sheet with twenty questions about each character.

My novel has several characters, and the main character may change as I write further. Is it where the story has got to that is causing this slight problem? I still expect my intended main character to ride in and metaphorically save the day.

The bottom line with writing and describing your characters is that you've got to live with them and know their every move and emotion. How tall are they, their weight, their shoe size? You might only use some of them, but you will have a rounded character for your story.

Next week: I have been writing Morning Pages this week and will aim to do the same this coming week. A journalling technique that could benefit you too.