Character generation

[Mickie]

Something I notice a lot when reading amateur work is the lack of true character definition in the story. Especially erotic work, where the focus is on the sex rather than the story. Tell me, how do you, as a writer, generate a good, solid, memorable character? Does it make a difference in a sex story? Do you mainly use yourself as the main character or do you try to write about someone different from yourself?

Ahhhh, I'm back. Can ya tell?

Mickie

 

[Ray Dario]

From the feedback I've recieved lately, I'm not really the right one to talk about this, but I do try to build my characters so I'm going to put in my two cents worth.

I limit my character building to one or a few characters first off and admittedly don't develop "accessory" characters much at all. But the main character(s) I try to think about who they are. Why they are that way, and who they become by the end of the story. But I do plot first. Maybe this is why my stories get hammered about my characters, I don't know.

This means that I think long and hard about the plot of the story and then I think about what kind of person would be in that position. Before I start writing I either write down, or at least think about, things like "Why does she want children so badly?", "Why does he need to be a controlling asshole?", "Why does she cheat?", "Why does it turn him on to see her with another man?", "What was this person's childhood like?", "What were his parents like?"

Those kinds of questions define who the character is and then I write about that person. Hopefully, I'm getting better with each story that I write and maybe I am because I was told about a recent story that the reader wanted to take my main character out for a beer. That is what I want. I want my reader to identify with the character, feel like they know what he is going through and have feelings about him.

As far as writing about myself, well there is some of me in every character I write, but none of them are me. Baring my soul in that manner would scare the shit out of me and probably terrify the reader.

Does it make a difference in a sex story? Of course! Would you want to read a story with no developed characters? I don't think so. In fact, to be a good story of any kind the characters must be developed to the point that the reader is interested in them. Otherwise the reader will never really get into the story.

Ray

 

[Sabledrake]

I write in a character-driven style. I've got to have a good handle on who these people are before I even consider putting them in a situation. When it comes to sex scenes, that strikes me as even more important because I want to know what's going on emotionally as much as physically.

As for writing from the POV of persons different from myself, I enjoy the challenge. Can I, as a straitght human female with a rather mundane personal history, write convincingly and movingly from the POV of a male, an elf, a gargoyle? Or, LOL, my greatest challenge ever -- a gay male gargoyle? That was a fun one ...

It's more about the people for me, what they're feeling and experiencing. Not only in what I write, but what I like to read also. If I can't find something to empathize with in the character, I don't bother reading.

Sabledrake

 

[karmadog]

I don't have a concrete-always do it that way-sort of system. sometimes the story (or the germ of it) comes first. Sometimes the characters come first, and sometimes it's simultaneous.

I find the difficulty is not coming up with an interesting character, but how to portray him/her on the page. No one wants the character explained to them. The reader wants to discover them. I can give no advice on how to let a reader find the character. I think that is an individual style question. However, I recommend reading some plays by Tennessee Williams. Obviously, he mainly uses dialogue, but he does it beautifully (even though his plays sometimes annoy me).

 

[MysteryWriter]

humm who are my characters

Well for one thing I try not to base the female characters on myself. I usually pick them up in chatrooms. The males are probably my alter ego at different ages. I write mostly action adventure novels these days but in short stories of any kind characters are hard to define. You just dont have enough time to get the quirks that make them seem real worked into the story.

I think it is not all that important in a short story that you do more than create enough character to let the read have a feeling about the people in the story. It can be like dislike empathy or hate as long as you make them feel.

Now I have added my two cents worth. Character development in short stories reminds me of a joke. A boy came home to his mother with a new jack knife. His mother asked where he got it. the boy said some boys at school bet on who had the biggest penis.. his mother said Johnny you didn't show them your penis did you. Don't worry mom just showed them enough to win.... Just show them enough to win.

 

[KillerMuffin]

I write heavily character driven stories as opposed to plot-driven. The characters are the meat of the story rather than the action. In erotica plot-driven is far more common and far easier to do badly that character driven.

None of my characters are "me." The all have elements of me, some of them even "look" amazingly like each other, but they aren't me. I generally don't have fantasies about the sex that I write about. Well, with the complete exception of Three Foot No Cock Zone, but we won't get into that one.

I began all characters with the primary emotion of the story. One person is stricken with guilt, the other is stricken with hatred and so on. By the end of the story at least one of them has changed in some way. Once I have the primary emotion, I move onto motivation. Why is the character changing and what motivates him or her to do so? After that I build the personality around that character with a few "watchwords." Sarcastic, sweet, happy, cynical, optimistic, those kinds of things. Just enough to guide me at any crucial point in the story to keep characters cohesive and consistent. Once I pick the personality I pick the name at a baby name site and then I'm off and running. Usually I have about three pages before I realize that I am in dire need of a plot of some sort. Then I write a quick flow chart of how I want things to happen emotionally for the characters, the list of motivations for what they're going to do, and then I craft something to put it all together.

It sounds awfully drawn out but most of this is done off the cuff and in my head a few moments before I begin writing. This is only applicable to my short stories.

 

[MysteryWriter]

plot driven short stories

Since the killer gave you a character driven approach and I gave you a flip answer I thought I should give you the plot driven writers thinking. Not that I am an expert on anything, mind you. Just on me, but I do write ‘plot driven’ stories.

‘Plot driven’ stories are probably better suited for mystery, action adventure, and hard core porn as opposed to drama or erotica. That is not to say that all mystery is ‘plot driven’ by any means. Almost all action pieces are all my mysteries are and when I resurrect my old porn pieces for this site they are.

I have been told my characters’ ring true even in the short story. It is most due to the fact that inside our head we carry hundreds of characters. If I can give you just enough to allow you to add your own knowledge to the character then you define who the character is.

Unlike Killer my characters do not usually change during the story. They create the change around them. My characters usually interact with the plot more than they do each other. That is a little vague but the perfect example of what I am saying is to be found in Dr. Dementia and the jewel. I hope there is enough character information for the reader to think subconsciously my god I know a woman like that then slip her into Dr. Dementia or I know a woman who is the submissive type. You are probably finding this hard to follow.

As I said in my last post, you should show enough of the character to accomplish what you want to accomplish. In some styles it is everything that you can think of to write about him or her, in others it might be a name and nothing more until the plot reveals the rest of his or her nature.

And of course there are all kinds of spots in between our two very different approaches. The one thing I can tell you is how I write. I get, what I hope, is an interesting character. I put them into and interesting situation then let them work their own way out. If they can manage it, I call it a story. If they can’t, I call it trash. It doesn't matter to me how much they reveal about them selves along the way.

I hope this is an adequate explanation of ‘plot driven’ stories. I not maybe someone can explain it better.

 

[Axeltheswede]

Interesting thread. I have a character development technique I enjoy using. I live in Las Vegas. My wife works in the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace until midnight four nights a week. I go to pick her up at 11. Watching people fascinates me. I like to sit by one of the fountains and casually watch couples, groups and some of the best looking single women on the planet.

Many times I have seen, for example, a threesome. Say it is two men and a woman. Most of the time it is easy to figure out which is the couple by gestures and body language. Sometimes they present a puzzle. Imagining the solution sometimes leads to interesting characters for a story.

Putting a physical form to a character is helpful. I try consciously not to offer trite descriptions in my stories. Let the reader picture them the way they want. But I have a mental picture and observed situation to work from.

Many times I get to find out if I have guessed right. Most people at Caesar's are tourists. Stand around and they will ask you to take their picture. In the brief conversation that follows I can usually find out who is who.

Try my little exercise in a restaurant or a mall. I am interested to know if this idea works for someone else.

 

[MysteryWriter]

real life

I don’t know about everyone else but once I get past the physical description of a character from that point on I can use anyone. I try to stay with people I know in real life or ones I have met here. Unless you do have someone in mind, it is hard to imagine how a character would react to a given stimulus.

 

[alltherage]

In longer forms, and when characters are going to be involved for lengthy parts of the story I seem to create them from experience and often they are based on real people.

There have been times when I am not certain who or what the character is based on and yet I feel as though I know them. I can go back and read what I have written and I often find that these characters are based on me in a very specific sense. They may be experiencing the world in ways I never did but I feel their reactions and emotions as I write them and I am certain they are based on a large part of me.

 

[Mickie]

Does anyone use traits to identify certain characteristics? Such as -- a woman who chews her hair when she's nervous, or a man who smacks his fist on the table for emphasis?

Small things that are consistent can help the reader identify with the character, or get that 'I know that person' feeling. Also, using slang or speech patterns that are different will distinguish a character, especially if it contrasts with another character's speech patterns.

Mickie

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Does anyone use traits to identify certain characteristics?

Just all the time, Mickie. In addition to the items you mentioned, characters can be made unique by the products they use (beer, cigarettes, food, cars), taste in music (a character who's into grand opera as opposed to one into Grand Ole Opre), and their hobbies or interests. There are many others, but these alone can produce two opposite characters. (Our hero, a Busch guzzling, pork rind crunching, GMC pick-up driving, sports nut can't understand his neighbor, a Chablis sipping, brie nibbling, Toyota owner who's an avid stamp collector.)

The more important the character, the longer the piece, the more detail.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[karmadog]

Earlier MW mentioned that you can't really write a character in a short story. I completely disagree. It's incredibly hard, but I know it can be done.


This is an excerpt describing the title character in Charles Baxter's short story "Fenstad's Mother":

"I want to meet him," she said quickly. She scowled at the moonlit snow. "A man with ideas. People like that have gone out of my life." She looked over at her son. "What I hate about being my age is how nice everyone tries to be. I was never nice, but now everybody is pelting me with sugar cubes." She opened her window an inch and let the cold air blow over her, ruffling her stiff gray hair.

Nice, huh? That one short paragraph gives you a many layered woman. Of course, none of us here has the skill level of Baxter (no one I've run across anyway), but we should all aspire to that level of compression.