Character Development Thread

[sirhugs]

The downside of precise physical description is that it can exclude readers, if the type described does not fit their particular range of erotic fantasies. A more general description allows the reader to fill in the blanks.

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

So how do people develop the characters in their stories? Do you know at the outset what your characters are like, or do you learn more about them as you write? Do you brainstorm a description before you start the story?

I have a complete plot outline and character descriptions on paper before I write a word. In technical writing it's known as top-down.

Each sentence in the plot outline is expanded to a paragraph at the next level. Usually one paragraph at this level becomes one chapter in the final story. Then each sentence is again expanded to a paragraph; at this level there are sometimes some words which will appear in the final text.

The expansion process continues until the work is finished. Expansions are not sequential from start to finish, but occur at random places as the mood takes me.

 

[sirhugs]

not being a pro like snoops, I tend to be less formal, though it depends upon the story. Some are based closely on real life people, and those are obviously well known characterizations in my mind before i write. Other stories I work out in my head over time before starting to actually write - again, the chracters have solid form. Many stories though I start with just a theme, a setting or opening line even. In those cases, the characters take on a life of their own and develop as the story is typed.

 

[sunandshadow]

I have a complete plot outline and character descriptions on paper before I write a word. In technical writing it's known as top-down.

Each sentence in the plot outline is expanded to a paragraph at the next level. Usually one paragraph at this level becomes one chapter in the final story. Then each sentence is again expanded to a paragraph; at this level there are sometimes some words which will appear in the final text.

The expansion process continues until the work is finished. Expansions are not sequential from start to finish, but occur at random places as the mood takes me.

Just curious, what motivates you to write the expansion once you have the plot outlined? I love the 'designing the story' part but actually writing it tends to seem pointless and boring if I've already decided how the plot would go. But then again, maybe the problem is that I'm never totally happy with my plot outlines...

 

[KarennaC]

I've tried plot outlines, but I've found that no matter how detailed the outline and no matter how certain I am that that's where I want the story to go, it rarely goes there. My characters tend to be rather disobedient.

 

[DC29]

I do plot outlines as well, but not as detailed. Mine usually consist of a broad outline of where I want the story to go and what I want to happen in each section of the story, but they give me a lot of leeway in what happens. I don't have the patience to go to extreme that snoopercharmbrights does, if I did it that way I'd probably lose interest part way through the story and never finish it.

The one thing I do go into detail with before I start a story is developing my characters. The minimum I use is name, age and gender.

 

[ThinkerLover]

Getting started with a character

I write the synopsis, first, since I can't seem to manage to stay true to a plot outline per se.

I actually like to write what I think will become the tagline of the piece when I publish it and go from there, so that I have a general theme to go by...

For example, one of the three stories that I am working on now starts with this tagline:

"Vivienne did love to live her fantasies out on her mistress's bed. But she never would anticipate what the Duchess had in mind when she found out..."

I like it to be just vague enough that I'm still having fun while I write it, while keeping my eye on the prize and building to a conclusion - nothing gives me worse writer's block than a story that just won't ever end.

Good contribution, everyone.

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

Just curious, what motivates you to write the expansion once you have the plot outlined? ...

Follow my sig link - I write for the money. Hunger is a powerful incentive!

Well only in part - I could live quite happily on my other income, but the novels pay for additional luxuries (usually better wines). I seem to have a compulsion to finish what I have started, and by a deadline (albeit self-imposed).

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

I write the synopsis, first, since I can't seem to manage to stay true to a plot outline per se. ...

Mine change from time to time, mostly because I have written something into the synopsis which is impossible (eg, somebody in two places at once, some chronological silliness).

... I actually like to write what I think will become the tagline of the piece when I publish it and go from there, so that I have a general theme to go by...

That's interesting. I sometimes have sentences in an outline that are preserved intact through to the final text. One example was "An absolute ruler's work is never done," said the Emir. Another one was, discussing the virgin always carried on the Emir's private aircraft, in case he fancied one "And will she be repaired in time for the return flight?" th Emir inquired. "Oh, Master, there is always a virgin on board when the aircraft takes off; we ensure that," replied the ...

 

[KarennaC]

I sometimes think of a phrase or a bit of dialogue that I want in the story, and make a note about it when I'm planning out what will happen. Sometimes my entire plan is one sentence, like "Sam and Jay go to visit Jay's playmate", plus those phrases or dialogue bits. If something like that comes to me before I even start writing the story, I try my hardest to make sure it makes it into the final draft.

Hmm... writing for money... I could use money...

 

[Cleophila]

One thing that I always find interesting is that people write in such completely different ways that it is really hard to give or receive advice on methods and techniques. Clearly here we can see that a method that works very well for one person is impossible for another. I guess the best thing to do is to try lots of things out until you find what works for you. I'm only just starting writing so I'm still very much in this process and have tried various different methods for developing my ideas, those of you who have produced a lot of work or been published have probably found what works for you.

Thus far, I have found that I would have to agree with what Thinkerlover said about needing to know where the story is going as a seemingly endless story results in writer's block, while at the same time leaving things open enough for additional details and developments. Usually, when I first come up with an idea, I spend quite a while just sort of thinking it over in quiet moments at work or in bed before I get to sleep or whenever I get a free moment, just sort of trying it out, seeing if it makes sense, if it has places it could go. Many ideas that sound pretty neat in concept flounder at this stage, but I am constantly thinking things up to such an extent that it is distracting from developing the really good ideas. When I have an idea that I think will work, I sketch out a notion of the main events of the narrative, just sort of the basic list of plot points so I know where I am going, and then I just start to write. A lot of ideas peter out at this stage too as I am not committed enough to them. But some will grow and progress to being real stories if they hold my interest enough. Also, I'm sure I am not alone in having certain individual scenes or characters that I can picture perfectly down to the smallest detail before I begin and others that will require lots of fleshing out as I go. The great thing about writing anything is that even if you know exactly where you want your story to progress, there is always opportunity to add those little incidental details that make it special.

Right now, I have an idea for a story where I have the basic concept, the characters and the opening and closing scenes pretty clear in my head, I'm just trying to figure out a way of getting from A to B in the most compelling fashion.

 

[KarennaC]

Even though there are as many different ways to plan and write a story as there are writers, it can still be valuable to hear how others do it. I've learned a lot from this thread and have found a couple of ideas I'm planning to try next time I write something (a/k/a when my erotica writer's block clears up a bit more and I finish the teen novel on which I'm currently working). I know what works for me, but that doesn't mean that's the only thing that will work.

I've found when I try too hard to figure out where a story is going, or if I've ended up with the climax (no pun intended) and try too hard to figure out how the characters get there, I end up with a story I just plain can't write. When I relax and decide that I'll figure it out eventually, something usually comes to me at an unexpected time, like when I'm commuting to work or when I'm in the shower.

Even though it sounds strange to talk about my characters as though they're real people, since of course they're creations of my slightly warped imagination, sometimes it feels like they are real. Those times are when I do my best writing, I think, because it comes across more as a collaboration than a desperate author trying to get some words on the page. Those are also the times when my characters are most fully developed, since they come to me that way.

 

[CWatson]

Personally, I've got to know where the story is going.

A lot of my stories start with just an idea, an interesting situation that could go somewhere. For instance, I was recently inspired by the safe-haven law kerfuffle in Nebraska. What would it be like to be "surrendered" to the state at the age of 17? What impact would it have on your life? How would it change your ideas of what life is like? (Where could I publish it, since if I included sex in it I wouldn't be able to publish it here?) But, as you can probably imagine, this story could go anywhere. There could be massive changes depending on--well, for instance, what's the gender of the child being surrendered? Is it a he? Is it a she? Either one would have a major effect on the character's behavior and the parents' motivations for surrendering him/her. And that's just gender--we haven't even started on personality! Suffice it to say, the story could go anywhere.

And that's why I have to decide, ahead of time, on a direction. If I don't, then I'll build my characters willy-nilly and the story won't come out right. Ideally, the story should be one long progression from beginning to end--plot twists are fine, but swerves and bumps and direction changes are not. (Keep in mind that a plot twist, no matter how unexpected, should also be thematic. It needs to make sense within the story arc.)

Furthermore, the parts that are always hardest for me to plot out are the middles. If I didn't know what the beginning and end was, the middle would be hopeless.

HND, if you don't think your stories will be well-received here, how about publishing elsewhere? Try SOL or EWP, maybe. Literotica isn't the only story site in existence.

 

[DC29]

Even though it sounds strange to talk about my characters as though they're real people, since of course they're creations of my slightly warped imagination, sometimes it feels like they are real. Those times are when I do my best writing, I think, because it comes across more as a collaboration than a desperate author trying to get some words on the page. Those are also the times when my characters are most fully developed, since they come to me that way.

The more real a character is to you the more believable it is to read.

When I've read or seen interviews with authors they alway seem to talk about their characters as if they are real.

 

[Cleophila]

The more real a character is to you the more believable it is to read.

When I've read or seen interviews with authors they alway seem to talk about their characters as if they are real.

But then you've always got the problem of becoming too attached to your character. Sometimes a writer needs to be detached enough to have no qualms about making bad things happen to their characters, if you become too attached then you can end up acting like they genuinely are your children and trying to create a path through life which is completely lacking in conflict or obstacles, something that would perhaps be less interesting to the reader.

Of course, at the same time it's important to feel a certain affection and concern for your characters, even the morally unappealing ones, in order to make them feel real. I guess it's just another of those things that require a subtle balancing act. It's just like the difficulty in balancing the writer's need to write what they know and ending up with characters who are just cyphers for the writer themselves.

 

[ThinkerLover]

But then you've always got the problem of becoming too attached to your character. Sometimes a writer needs to be detached enough to have no qualms about making bad things happen to their characters, if you become too attached then you can end up acting like they genuinely are your children and trying to create a path through life which is completely lacking in conflict or obstacles, something that would perhaps be less interesting to the reader.

Of course, at the same time it's important to feel a certain affection and concern for your characters, even the morally unappealing ones, in order to make them feel real. I guess it's just another of those things that require a subtle balancing act. It's just like the difficulty in balancing the writer's need to write what they know and ending up with characters who are just cyphers for the writer themselves.

So true, Cleo. I n the past, I have had a complete love/hate relationship with the characters in my stories as at first I simply constantly wanted for them to always be winning to the point that everything was going their way all of the time. Boring.

Then I started to make the worst possible thing happen to them and developed a kind of sadism toward my ccharacter - almost getting more aroused by hurting them than by helping them to win.

That's when i first stumbled upon the conflict concept that I talked about at the beginning of the thread.

For example:
John is in love with Jane but can't be with her because she is married to another man.

What makes us love John and want him to win is the fact that he's loved her for a long time where her husband just showed up one day and treats her with little-to-no-respect. We know John is so much better for Jane but he cannot make a move because he is bound so tightly by the taboos of violating her marriage vows.

Well, obviously, he's got to get over it right? Or does he need to finally give in to his traditional family complex and decide to be with someone else? Then, she cheats on her husband and winds up with another man who treats her right? He could have had exactly who he wanted and how he wanted it to be. But instead he wound up settling for Plan B and playing it safe.

Now kill Jane's new husband - a divorcee widow, she turns to John for comfort. Can he bring himself to cheat on his new love now to be with Jane? If he does - will he still be the man that she would want?

Food for thought.

As always, great posts, everyone.

 

[KarennaC]

Ah, but becoming attached to my characters unfortunately doesn't prevent bad things from happening to them, because in my admittedly warped mind, the characters are telling me their story so I can put it down on paper. Which means the characters tell me if something bad happens. (And yeah, I know the stories come from my own imagination and so do the characters, but I have a very vivid imagination.)

In one of the teen science fiction/fantasy series I've written (30 books, unpublished because I haven't gotten my ass in gear to submit them yet), not one but two of my favorite characters die. Well, one ceases to exist rather than dying, but it amounts to the same thing. In another series, one of the main characters is physically abused by her mother to the point of hospitalization.

So yes, it is possible that an author will get too attached to their characters and try to make everything happy for them, but it's equally possible for an author to become attached to their characters and just let the characters "live" their lives.

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

... When I've read or seen interviews with authors they alway seem to talk about their characters as if they are real.

That is just a combination of the easiest way to refer to a character, and the easiest way to present (ie edit) an interview.

If I were talking about David Ransome, the chief character of my Delights novels, I would not say:

"In the second novel I made David decide to find a Western wife as an antithetic character to all the Arab concubines I had written into the harem."

Instead I would say:

"Later David decides to find a Western wife as he was bored by the Arab concubines in the harem."

I would assume that the audience understood that by the latter I meant the former. If I used the "correct" first version the interview would quickly become dull and repetitive with all those "I wrote" phrases.

 

[DC29]

What I was refering to was What KarennC states in her post. How she feels that the character is telling her the story and she is merely recording it.

 

[KarennaC]

Exactly; sometimes it seems like the characters take over. I like those times; writing seems like so much less work to me then.

In discussing one of my stories, I also would say, "Then Sam decided to visit Jay's friend, even though Sam didn't think she was bi", rather than "Then I wrote about Sam deciding to visit Jay's friend..." But I might also say, "I was going to have Sam turn Jay's friend down, but as I was writing Sam decided she wanted to go for it, and her version won."

 

[snoopercharmbrights]

... In discussing one of my stories, I also would say, "Then Sam decided to visit Jay's friend, even though Sam didn't think she was bi", rather than "Then I wrote about Sam deciding to visit Jay's friend..." But I might also say, "I was going to have Sam turn Jay's friend down, but as I was writing Sam decided she wanted to go for it, and her version won."

Perhaps I'm a control freak, but my characters do not ever tell me what is going to happen. All the routine stuff is strictly to plan and as close to the character's nature as I can make it; any "surprises" are very carefully planned.

 

[ThinkerLover]

Mmmm. I have to agree with KarennaC on this one. Sometimes, I can see the characters' intentions so much more clearly after the fact of creating an event.

In my recent additional chapter to Sisters' Indulgent Secret, I made a complete 180 degree turn in story events - ORiginally, the story was about Jessica leaving George and running to her sister's loving (arguably too loving) arms not realizing that George's apathy toward her is caused by his holding on to a secret - that he knows about his wife and sister-in-law in their amorous relationship.

But as I analyzed the direction that my dialogue and the behavior of the characters began to take shape, I began to realize that what must have brought Jessica and George to this place was if she knew about his secret and felt that she couldn't trust him, anymore, knowing that he wouldn't be up-front about knowing about her indulgences.

It made the new installment take a whole new direction and so i can empathize with Karenna's sentiment, entirely, having recently experienced the same.

 

[MsLinnet]

That is just a combination of the easiest way to refer to a character, and the easiest way to present (ie edit) an interview.

If I were talking about David Ransome, the chief character of my Delights novels, I would not say:

"In the second novel I made David decide to find a Western wife as an antithetic character to all the Arab concubines I had written into the harem."

Instead I would say:

"Later David decides to find a Western wife as he was bored by the Arab concubines in the harem."

I would assume that the audience understood that by the latter I meant the former. If I used the "correct" first version the interview would quickly become dull and repetitive with all those "I wrote" phrases.

Hello snoopercharmbrights, as you know I have read most of your delight stories and you are without a doubt one of the best at creating a character and sticking to it in a rigged form. But the looseness and the length of the short story doesn’t need that much to make it real.

Love always Linnet

 

[KarennaC]

Would anyone be willing to tell us about your favorite character? One you've created, or one you've read? What made them your favorite? How was the character developed?

I'll answer my own question as soon as I decide which of my characters is my favorite...

 

[agedmac]

bump to get this thread going again, i hope