[...] Exercise #1 – Isaak. 12 11 2009 Nabbed from: http://menwithpens.ca/how-to-create-a-character [...]

[...] to ask about your character, how to create distinct characters like a daring archeologist, how to build and more importantly, talk to your character with some solid advice about the setting you place them in. ? And lapsing back into the [...]

[...] One: How to create a believable character Day Two: How to create a setting for your story. Day Three: How to create plot Day Four: How to get [...]

[...] series began with tips on how to create a believable character, and the next installment discussed how to create a setting for your fiction [...]

[...] post began the series with tips and tricks on how to create a believable character. We also established that it’s easier to create a setting than it is to create a good [...]

@ Nightsong – I always say to people not to force a character to stick to that original idea. Eventually, the more we write them, characters take on a life and breath of their own. If I look back on characters I have now, and what they were like when they first began their life… wildly different sometimes.

@ FitJerk – Yes! Finding that REAL person and sitting down with them can be revealing in many ways. Want a biker? Have a beer with one and see what that person is really like!

@ Mary – I like to think that my life is a story and I’m writing it each and every day. And in my story, I can be whoever I want to be.

@ Lori – Bingo. Cut the task right in half and bring it home to make it personal.

@ Mrs. Micah – I’d say ALL my characters began as a cliché – and I also have to say that even now, fully developed as they are, they *still* fit in a cliché… only they’re way better.

@ Robert – I do things a little differently – I never write anything down, but visualize the character in my mind. Then I get to know that person through writing. S’interesting, definitely.

And, yeah – NEVER force a character into your definition if that character wants to break free!

@ Michelle – Ahh, you’re getting the NaNo discussion flowing, good job!

I think I’ll be trying this exercise on my lunch break. Character conversations are fun!

How many others are doing NaNo this year? And what genre are you tackling?

Being a writer and watching your characters develop from this foundation almost as if automosly from your input is very rewarding. When I sit and write, I love to read over my session and see what my characters have written… I know how that sounds, but I feel like they do the writting and I’m just blessed to be their instrument for expressing thier story.

Just remember – don’t force your characters into your idea of what they should be! Otherwise, they will revote and you will walk away with a disjointed story with paper-depth characters! The Book is the Boss, a cliche all writers should subscribe to.