I’ve recognized for a
while now that I have infinitely more talent inventing names and words than I have
actually developing a character’s personality traits. I hope by teaching, I’ll
learn myself.
Amateur writers will base
the protagonist on themselves – “I’m scared of spiders, so Portiana is scared
of spiders.” This can help in the beginning, as you acknowledge different
facets of your personality and recognize the character needs these as well.
Also, your reader does not know you, so “Portiana” is unique in their eyes. The
problem comes when you have multiple stories and all your protagonists are the
same. This was my disease.
Any professor of writing
will tell you to “go out and observe people” to get ideas for characters’
personalities. Well, that can backfire. Unfortunately, many individuals behave
similarly in public – keeping to themselves or their social group, making the
same repeated jokes with the clerks, buying the same food. (Although it is
interesting to see what the person in front of you is buying. Sure, s/he might have
run out of all that stuff at the same time, but speculation is the writer’s
game. Using someone’s purchases can be a good exercise for a character’s likes
/ habits.)
One trait you likely won’t
get from observing others is fear. The likelihood of someone being in a
situation that makes him afraid is low – people normally avoid their fears.
However, knowing the things your characters fear can help you shape their behavior,
even affect the places they tend to frequent and the people they associate
with.
A list of phobias will
get you started. There are hundreds of irrational fears out there, usually
stemming from a traumatic childhood experience (ah, there’s backstory as well!).
Well-known phobias include arachnophobia (fear of spiders), claustrophobia (fear
of enclosed spaces), and agoraphobia (fear of being humiliated or helpless in
public). A large number of people have a fear of heights, or rather, the fear
of falling from heights (acrophobia).
It’s better not to go too
mainstream with the fear, because you don’t want to rehash the same old clichés,
but don’t go too off-kilter either unless your story centers on the fear. If
your character wants to learn how to fly a plane, his/her lutraphobia (fear of
otters) is irrelevant. If your character wants to work at the aquarium and one
of her duties is to feed the mammals, then lutraphobia will affect her ability
to do so.
My current short story
centers on my character’s phobia. It’s gotten to the point that she requires counseling.
I’ve set it up so that the story vacillates between her current mindset and
flashbacks to the sessions and to her childhood. Her fear is osmophobia (fear
of smell) of vanilla, an ordinarily comforting smell. I loved the irony, and
the metaphors practically wrote themselves from there.
The phobia does not need
to be the focus of your story like it is in mine, but if you’re going to
include one, it must help explain your character in the necessary context. It
will not work if it is just an extraneous, “by the way” detail.
Short article on phobias:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-507472/Scared--You-lutraphobic.html
Today's deviant ditty:
"Gathering Storm" by Eleine
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