Character Sheets - Planning the Perfect Character Arc

[Erin99]

Lately I've been going back to my world and characters and trying to improve them further. I decided that if I was to have a more action-oriented plot over my series, I needed to see what *really* makes my characters tick. So I planned character sheets. I've settled into something that I think works well, and I wondered how others do the same thing and what they find effective.

Personally, I get an A4 sheet and write the character's name in the middle in a bubble. I'll have three things listed around this - "Loves", "Hates", "Believes In" - from which I write down any corresponding ideas. At each corner of my page I also write these headings and jot some answers:

"His/Her secrets are?"
"Character is:" (which is a list of the character's traits, mostly, like "resourceful", "willing to lie", "emotionally vulnerable", "loyal once trusts", etc.)
"What would make him/her angry?"

...and the final one I write last, because after I've thought on the rest and written tons of answers, this one naturally falls into place and almost writes itself - which in turn just about writes the character's plot arc, which I then have to squeeze into the main plot:

"What's the worst things that could happen to him/her?".


It's great for secondary characters, too. I've found this method SO helpful! I'd never tried character sheets before, but now I can't stop using them. And I can see the advantage of using one after each book in my series, to ensure my characters' plot arcs keep up to date with my characters' growth.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I did this for stuff in Abendau -- mostly for the character I couldn't get. (Still can't, darn it, so it didn't move me forward.)

I read Gumboot's post on your other thread, about having them for secondary characters so that, if needed, he could write a book on them. That happens to me, organically, just by writing them. The book I've just finished - I could take any one of the named characters and write a book on their life/experiences.

The difference, I think, may be in the type of book. Even in Abendau, which sprawls over a trilogy, I only have fourteen main/key secondary characters. In Inish I have seven, in Galaxy nine, and that's generous as some of them are very secondary. But the stuff I write is about the characters before the world building (Gumboot - agriculture! I dunno, there's sheep mentioned the odd time..., and even, possibly, before the plot (although they tend to be pacey things, so the plot is important.)

So, I don't need a sheet on them - they just are there, with their history and their foibles, and I don't really know why that is.

 

[Erin99]

Ah yes, I meant to reply to that part of Gumboot's post. Yes, I like to know what my secondary characters are going through, because even if their problems don't directly affect my protag, they will affect the way the person reacts around others. If we're stressed, we snap at people; if we're down we get very introverted or quiet, or try to hide it with false smiles, etc. All very interesting!


I find it fascinating that you say you think character sheets depend on the type of book, though. I think I'll try to use them with every book and story - even short stories - because it brings new ideas and is easy to reference. We'll see how it goes. That's just my opinion, however (I have a bad memory, so I need things written down!).

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I sort of meant that in an epic you have a lot going on and more characters, and plot and what not, maybe it's harder to get to know everyone?

It was one of the things Teresa pulled out when she edited mine, that my secondary character arcs were weak, and I kicked myself because I knew what lay in the background and hadn't brought it out.

With mine, everything centres in the characters, the whole book is their arc, because there's so few of them, so I sort of know them inside out anyway, which isn't, I am guessing, a luxury you have in an epic series? Plus you have lots more characters, I don't think it woukd be possible for the author to know them all so intimately. Does that make more sense?

If not, it might be down to individual writing styles and nothing to so with the books!

 

[Ursa major]

A technical question.

Given the thread title mentions that tricky word, Arc, how do you document changes in your characters (as they "grow")? For instance, do you provide dates where certain aspects begin to change?

 

[Hex]

I don't do anything as formal as character sheets, but if I need to work out more about a character then I'll start a new file, writing in their voice and see where it takes me.

Most of what matters about them seems to emerge from that.

 

[Erin99]

With mine, everything centres in the characters, the whole book is their arc, because there's so few of them, so I sort of know them inside out anyway, which isn't, I am guessing, a luxury you have in an epic series? Plus you have lots more characters, I don't think it woukd be possible for the author to know them all so intimately. Does that make more sense?

Blimey! That's so the opposite of what my epic is about! I care about my characters more than my world, truthfully. I know them inside and out, and it just happens that their journey makes their tale epic over the series. For me, characters are the most important thing in a novel. If I don't get them right, people will not want to read on no matter how much I've planned their world and plot. It's a mix between characters and plot and the interactions characters have with each other and how they influence the plot.

A technical question.

Given the thread title mentions that tricky word, Arc, how do you document changes in your characters (as they "grow")? For instance, do you provide dates where certain aspects begin to change?

I'm not so rigid as that. I have an overall story arc which is resolved partially at the end of book one but will span the series, and after I've sussed out individual character arcs, it's easy for me to spot where they go in the plot. For example, my characters go on a journey (don't they always?). One of my character's character sheets told me that he would not cope well if thrust into the spotlight and forced to think for himself. So I took that knowledge and found the perfect place within my main story arc that forced said character to combat his worst fears/situations, etc, which, if he overcomes, will make him grow as a person.

As for the main character arc rather than just little bits of one, when I write my sheets I find that they create the full thing - from where the character starts ("what he believes in, loves, and hates"), to what will happen to him ("What's the worst things that could happen?"). By the time you've written loads of answers to what are the worst things for him, you've got the makings of his whole plot arc if you think on the answers you've written. You just have to follow your own answers logically and see what sort of plot it makes and how it fits into your main plot. You can get a very action-packed/full arc this way if you provide lots of answers on your sheet, which is why I don't really keep to specific dates - hopefully my characters keep on growing when confronted by things they'd rather not be*.

Does that answer your question, or was I just waffling?




*Then again, writing's a hard business and there are no secret answers. Sometimes I wonder if I'm on the right path or if I'm lost in the woods.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

This is what I do:
Scrapbook

It'll have to come down in a couple of days once I work out what I'm going to do with my blog. Please don't laugh well OK you can. This one is for my detectives - my fantasy usually includes some Lowry (without the talent) style drawings.

Having actors as the base for a character allows me to stalk them round YouTube. That gives me an idea of how they react physically and what body language they will use in a situation. From that I can fill in the emotion and internal.

A clear view of the setting they interact with is also very useful.

The Bookshelf Muse is also something I find useful for ideas.

With fantasy characters I find it useful to also write short scenes with them doing something mundane on Earth: washing dishes, bowling, ice skating, buying shoes, going for a pint etc When they are out of their element it is easier to see their personalities.

For main characters I get them to keep a diary.

Once I know their movements - I find their arc comes naturally as I write the story.

 

[prizzley]

Cripes! If I did all that that planning, I never start my novels. My characters just evolve. I keep minimal notes, such as speech oddities. Other than that, like almost everything else, except maps and timelines, I wing it.

 

[Venusian Broon]

I've tried using character sheets, but their use just doesn't stick with me. I find them, for want of better words, a bit sterile and unwieldy.

I much prefer developing character off the plot, kinda on the fly. So for me I work out an ever more complex plot/action/scenes, but as I go through it I'm full of questions like: "Wait a minute, X has just had Y happen to him, would he then rush off with Z?" And a million other character driven queries and thoughts.

Thus by dissecting a character through "my" suggested actions to them, an individual emerges, along with an arc, as that's always knocking about in my brain when contemplating characters. (Hopefully ).

 

[allmywires]

I've tried using character sheets, but their use just doesn't stick with me. I find them, for want of better words, a bit sterile and unwieldy.

I much prefer developing character off the plot, kinda on the fly. So for me I work out an ever more complex plot/action/scenes, but as I go through it I'm full of questions like: "Wait a minute, X has just had Y happen to him, would he then rush off with Z?" And a million other character driven queries and thoughts.

Thus by dissecting a character through "my" suggested actions to them, an individual emerges, along with an arc, as that's always knocking about in my brain when contemplating characters. (Hopefully ).

THIS.

I tried doing character bios once but I felt like I was just making it up for the sake of it and it felt so artificial. Now, when I'm writing I'll always make things up on the fly, but it's because it just fits and feels right. I'll write it, let it settle, try and reconcile it with the rest of my character's behaviours, and then just go with it. Like for instance when I was editing my book I gave one of my characters a gluten allergy - might sound stupid and inconsequential but it's that kind of thing that helps me know them and makes them feel a bit more real. Rather than answering standardised questions for each of them.

I'm not bashing the approach, by the way - I wish I was organised enough to do it - but mine is, like everything else in my life, just done all on the fly, and that's what works for me.

Also, my characters have this horrible habit of not doing what I want them to do, especially with regards to romantic feelings. Gah. The minute I decide on one couple it always seems so much more appealing to put them together with another guy/girl...

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Blimey! That's so the opposite of what my epic is about! I care about my characters more than my world, truthfully. I know them inside and out, and it just happens that their journey makes their tale epic over the series. For me, characters are the most important thing in a novel. If I don't get them right, people will not want to read on no matter how much I've planned their world and plot. It's a mix between characters and plot and the interactions characters have with each other and how they influence the plot.

I think I'm not explaining very well. It's not that I mean that epic fantasy isn't about the characters -- most are. It's one of the big strengths of GRRM. What I'm talking about is a cast list. I write really close little stories about a small cast of people in a limited circumstance. The character arcs are usually big, but over a very small number of people. What I'm trying to say is that

a. I suspect it's easier both to keep track of, and also know, intimately, ten characters than forty. Certainly, I find that in Abendau there are a couple I know a little less well and had to do more work on - like writing histories and stuff - that I haven't had to do in my other books.

b. When you have such a small number of characters everything in the book is about them and how they interact with the others. Which means histories and all - they're part of the book, organic to it.

I find the whole thing of writing a character --


By the time you've written loads of answers to what are the worst things for him, you've got the makings of his whole plot arc if you think on the answers you've written. You just have to follow your own answers logically and see what sort of plot it makes and how it fits into your main plot.


-- and then using that to bring about plot points difficult to assimilate. I think it's the idea of realising what they're scared of and then putting that into the plot, which seems opposite to the way I work with them. I have things happen in the plot and then the character reacts, and they do it as them, not me. I grant you it gets very messy, and I don't think I could use that approach over a bigger piece/world as the motivations -- and relationships, especially -- go all odd and awkward.

I think it's a different approach, and I don't know whether it's the type of book or the type of writer. Most of the people I know who write books like I do (I'm looking at you, Mouse ) tend to come from the winging it and let the characters lead on the page as opposed to the planning what the character is and letting that guide it approach, which is what made me wonder if it was the book.

Nor do I think either is right or wrong, just different. Vive!

 

[Brian G Turner]

Leisha, have you read Blake Snyder's "Save the Cat"? I've personally found it the most amazing resource for character development, because it deals with essential aspects of it.

One that comes to mind is that you must show at the start what the character wants, and at the end, if they got it.

The second is that a protagonist undergoes emotional change over the course of the story, and is different at the end than at the beginning. An antagonist is unchanged at the end.

It deals with screenwriting specifically but the principles are equally applicable to any fiction, and especially novels, though some very successful books undoubtedly book the "rules" provided.

But, if you want that real character experience, something to focus on.

2c in case of help.

 

[Brian G Turner]

With mine, everything centres in the characters, the whole book is their arc, because there's so few of them, so I sort of know them inside out anyway, which isn't, I am guessing, a luxury you have in an epic series? Plus you have lots more characters, I don't think it woukd be possible for the author to know them all so intimately. Does that make more sense?

Btw, I do completely agree with this.

I've realised that the story I'm trying to write is about the relationships between the central characters. It's not about the world, it's not about the plot - the characters are the story.

 

[Mouse]

Sorry, not read everything. This thread is long and people talk a lot...

Cripes! If I did all that that planning, I never start my novels. My characters just evolve. I keep minimal notes, such as speech oddities. Other than that, like almost everything else, except maps and timelines, I wing it.

This is me exactly. Apart from the maps and timelines thing. Ok, so not exactly then, but close enough. (I write real-world stuff, all my maps are on Google.)

(I'm looking at you, Mouse )

As long as I'm looking good.

 

[EloiseA]

Intensity works for me at the beginning to help me get under the skin of the character. I sometimes start with what the character wants very badly, some kind of hunger or suppressed need or thwarted desire. What they want is usually unavailable but that matters less when I start out than 'feeling' how hungry and deprived and envious the character is without this object of desire.

That 'lack' shapes them and I find a 'tell' to the character in this deprivation or cracked ambition. They can't sleep or talk in their sleep, they are spying on someone, they are driven by an unresolved childhood issue, they keep blurting things out at the wrong moment, they starve themselves or pig out on junk food, they can't read those around them well because their perceptions are askew with longing. All very human and plenty of myself to work with there!

 

[prizzley]

(I write real-world stuff, all my maps are on Google.)

As long as I'm looking good.

I'm green with envy and you always look good, Mouse.

(I have a 'review the timeline' message on my Sticky Notes. I keep putting it off, but it won't go away!)

 

[TheDustyZebra]

Anya, your scrapbook is awesome! ...and I agree with prizzley, if I tried to do that, I'd never get any writing (or anything else) done!

Oh wait, that's me now, without the scrapbook.

Hmm.

 

[Erin99]

I find the whole thing of writing a character and then using that to bring about plot points difficult to assimilate. I think it's the idea of realising what they're scared of and then putting that into the plot, which seems opposite to the way I work with them. I have things happen in the plot and then the character reacts, and they do it as them, not me. I grant you it gets very messy, and I don't think I could use that approach over a bigger piece/world as the motivations -- and relationships, especially -- go all odd and awkward.

You have to think in broader terms, Springs. You don't limit yourself to only action-specific obstacles to overcome. Once you know your character's traits, the way they interact with others, you can add human obstacles to overcome. And my view is that characters grow when faced with hard decisions and trials, whether emotional or physical.

The character arc fits in with the broader story, too, the story that starts with your protag and his inciting incident, and end after he's tried to resolve his troubles and either won or lost, or a bit of both. You make it fit.

Also, when people say that planning a character using a character sheet is too restrictive, that they prefer letting the characters take off and grow organically, it's like saying that the whole story is not crafted by an author. But stories are crafted, and that's what I think some forget. I step into my character's shoes as much as organic writers do - I just do it beforehand, combined with seeing them really come to life on the page. I'm doing the same as organic writers, but instead of my character coming alive on the page, he's coming alive in my plans before I write him. I imagine what he's like, what he loves, what drives him - and how it fits into the plot - and therefore what obstacles he must overcome to make an interesting plot that tests him.

Think about it this way: taking characters out of their comfort zone is what forces them to grow.

I think I'm not explaining very well. It's not that I mean that epic fantasy isn't about the characters -- most are. It's one of the big strengths of GRRM. What I'm talking about is a cast list. I write really close little stories about a small cast of people in a limited circumstance. The character arcs are usually big, but over a very small number of people.

I did understand you, Springs )), but I don't think I made myself clear, tbh. I still say that epic fantasy is no different to other fantasy, unless the author makes it so deliberately. Stories are about characters, no matter whether ten or forty in a cast list. When we write them, we have to understand them to make them believable. I'd bet you that I know my characters as much as you know yours, it's just that mine don't get as much screen time unless it's totalled up over all the books in the series.

b. When you have such a small number of characters everything in the book is about them and how they interact with the others. Which means histories and all - they're part of the book, organic to it.

Ditto. Think about it - my characters interact just like yours. It's just they their interactions have larger impacts on the wider world. The series is all about them and their lives; it's just that their lives are shaped by outside forces, too, and they're thrust in big events. And I've got character history. In fact, for my main character I've got three backstory scenes that are vital to include in book one.

Leisha, have you read Blake Snyder's "Save the Cat"? I've personally found it the most amazing resource for character development, because it deals with essential aspects of it.

One that comes to mind is that you must show at the start what the character wants, and at the end, if they got it.

The second is that a protagonist undergoes emotional change over the course of the story, and is different at the end than at the beginning. An antagonist is unchanged at the end.

It deals with screenwriting specifically but the principles are equally applicable to any fiction, and especially novels, though some very successful books undoubtedly book the "rules" provided.

I've not read that particular book. Years ago I'd read loads of how-to books, which I'm glad for because I don't have the money to buy any now! But I've always started my characters from inciting incidents. Some of my POV characters don't come in until it's naturally time to meet them later on, because I wouldn't want irrelevant story that has no connection to the main plot just for the sake of upping word count. The whole point of a story is showing how your characters fight for what they need/want/don't want, etc., and I like to tie that in to my wider plot.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Ok, this will be my last post in this thread:

I think the comment of me having to think in broader terms is a little difficult for you to make without having read anything I have written. Suffice to say, my characters face plenty of human obstacles as well as action -- as I think most who have read my books would attest.

In terms of whether your way of working is restrictive, I didn't say or imply this - quite the opposite, I was clear to recognise what works for one author doesn't for another.

In terms of outside forces shaping my characters, again I don't think it's a judgement you can make, nor if yours have larger impacts on a wider world. A different world, yes, perhaps with a different range of focus. Ditto, character history - that, too, is in my work, very much so, and I think some of what you imply here is that smaller scale equates to a simplcity in terms of impact, character experience, and perhaps, depth of the character presented. I don't see it that way - i look at To Kill a Mocking Bird and think it has more character exposition than most books, of whatever size, you could pick up.

I was posting about applying a different approach and musing on how that would work, but I think the thread is getting too personal for my liking, particularly when you refer to one particular way of working as crafting and another as not. i can assure you there is nothing slap dash about not writing characters in advance - that's the role of multiple edits for me.

Anyway, I think I've said my piece and so will bow out now with a horses for courses view. Cheers.