An article, to accompany this prompt about character design.
Why is it important that characters be distinctive?
Generally as an artist, you want your audience to sympathize with your characters, grow attached to them, and get to know them. Recognizing each character is step number one in that battle. If everyone looks the same, a piece such as a comic can get very dull very fast- readers won’t be emotionally invested if they can’t keep track of who’s who at all. (Even live action movies can make it hard to differentiate the character’s designs, which can be a recipe for apathetic viewers).
When working in visual mediums, audiences will usually be remembering characters based on their faces, and learning names later. A distinctive face is a memorable face- and memorable is good.What makes a character distinctive looking?
When I say distinctive, I mean that if I, within the context of talking about a work, said ‘sideburns guy’, everyone would know exactly who I meant without elaboration. ‘Distinctive looking’ means that their character design does not (or would only intentionally) overlap with the other characters. Within the group they stand out, and if you made a ‘cast on bleachers’ picture, followers of your work could label them all off without too much trouble (if you’ve read or watched Fullmetal Alchemist, take a look at the picture up top, and see who you can name. FMA is a great example of a large, varied, and recognizable cast).
What keeps characters from looking distinctive?
Usually, when someone learns to draw, say, a nose, they learn to draw it one way, and that becomes ‘how to draw a nose’. Additionally, artists often end up drawing characters that look to some degree like themselves. It’s not usually out of vanity- it’s just that your own face is familiar, and easily available whenever a reference is needed, as long as there is a mirror/photobooth/side of a kettle on hand. Sometimes, this can result in all their drawings resembling themselves, which doesn’t make for a very distinctive cast. The best way to remedy this is to study different people’s looks, by looking at varied images, drawing from models, and to practice drawing the different looks. Make yourself some ‘features banks’ that you have down, to draw from when creating new characters. If you notice that two characters are a little similar, make a side-by-side comparison chart, highlighting their differences (and adding some, if you need to).
Purposeful Resemblances:
There are times when you are going to want certain characters to resemble each other. For example, you might want a family to have similar facial structure, or maybe you want a new character to remind someone of a person that they used to know. This is much, much easier if the rest of the cast is varied. Two people with the same eyes are noticeable in real life and in works with varied casts. It will be ignored if one or two eye shapes are the norm throughout the cast. If the resemblance is clearly deliberate, it will be picked up on by the audience.
It’s also possible that you have Important Artistic Motives behind why your cast lacks variation- again, as long as it’s very intentional, you’re fine.Challenges In Distinctive Features
You may want to pick your battles with varied features, based on your media. For example, if you are writing a comic, having leads that are 5’0” and 6’4”, respectively, could pose a problem- they won’t fit in frames together. Therefore, certain similarities are definitely allowable if practicality demands it. Likewise, if you have to draw a character repeatedly, intricate tattoos or very complicated patterns will result in you weeping rivers of tears after four pages. Decide what is best for how you’ll be working.
A few ways in which characters are typically differentiated:
- Hair style or color: While people will naturally categorize things by color, color of hair often isn’t quite enough to differentiate people if they have similar faces (especially if a viewer can’t see the full spectrum). Additionally, there are only a few basic hair colors that humans have without the aid of dye. And if you work grayscale… you have black, white, and tone. Style can help, but you should still have different faces for your characters. Basically, hair has a lot of options for variants- so use that for all it’s worth, but mix up other traits too.
- Eye color: Again, color only gets you so far. Eye shape on the other hand will alter the whole look of the face, and can be seen from a greater distance.
- Accessories: If something is worn perpetually, it can be a big help- glasses, for example. Piercings can set someone apart a bit. As a general rule, though: Don’t rely on it if it comes off.
- Clothing: If someone has a permacoat, or always wears a hat, it can really mark them out, particularly if you work in color. If they will only wear one outfit, go ahead and make those really distinctive. If the clothes will ever change, run the Shaved And Uniformed test.
- Body Type: Why is body type not used more? My guess is the artists haven’t seen enough naked people. Go check out different body types. There are more shapes out there than you might think. ‘Muscly’ does not mean only one look. ‘Curvy’ does not mean only one look. Have some height variation, have some weight variation. Having differing body types will help you so much.
- Facial Structure: I’m talking eye shapes, noses, mouths, the shape of the head and face. There are fourteen kinds of nose, there’s no excuse for everyone in your cast to wear exactly the same one unless it’s An Important Stylistic Decision.
- Expression: Facial expressions can be a big part of character! Try putting a sappily cheerful grin on a habitually grim character- the effect is unsettling, isn’t it? In addition to the ‘resting’ face structure, your characters probably have a few default facial expressions- one is more prone to scowl, one is more prone to smile. People’s faces move differently, based on their structure- someone with a naturally downturned mouth won’t smile the same as someone with one that goes up, and expressions are often colored by the defaults.
- Ethnicity: If you have a large cast, and no reason why they need to be of the same ethnicity, I don’t know why you wouldn’t vary your cast’s ethnicity.
- Body language: Similar to expression and posture- what sorts of gestures are typical of your characters? Maybe one moves their hands a lot when they speak? Maybe they nod a lot. Habitual gestures can be used as markers for particular characters.
- Posture/lines of action: Does your character slouch, or stand up military straight? Are they floppy or rigid in their movements? Are their lines of action angular or curved? Try reducing the character to a stick figure, and check out how they stand and move.
Ways to test your cast’s distinctiveness:
- Draw them with shaved heads and in similar outfits/naked. Can you still tell them apart?
- Draw your cast as silhouettes- can you still tell them apart? Is each character recognizable from a silhouette alone?
- Get other people to review your character designs, and find out how easy it is for them to recognize characters. This will vary based on how good your subjects are with faces (some people aren’t good with them at all), but it will remove the familiarity that you have with your cast.
- If you work in color, put everything in black and white.
- If you work in color or grayscale, I hereby reduce you to outlines. Can you still tell them apart?
-This has been Evvy, at FYCD.
Further reading:
^ (Where I retrieved the image used as an illustration at the top).
Different Body Types- Drawing Reference
Palmistry For Hand Shapes: Weirdly Drawn But You Get The Point
Artist’s Guide to Human Features
Practicing Expressions/The Classic 25 Challenge (each character should have a somewhat different 25!)
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle gave Sherlock Holmes a full panoply of supporting characters. There was Dr. Watson, the quintessential “sidekick,” to act as a sounding board; Scottish landlady Mrs. Hudson, to cook and clean and fuss over Holmes; Scotland Yard Inspector LeStrade, to provide a foil for Holmes’ intuitive brilliance, as well as access to official investigations; the Baker Street Irregulars, to ferret out information; and Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock’s politically powerful older brother, to provide financial and strategic support. Like Doyle’s, your cast of supporting characters should reflect what your protagonist needs.
Balancing Character Traits
An amateur sleuth needs a friend or relative with access to inside information—a police officer, a private investigator or a crime reporter will fit the bill. A character who’s arrogant and full of himself needs a character to keep him from taking himself too seriously, maybe an acerbic coworker or a mother. You might want to show a hardboiled police detective’s softer side by giving him kids or a pregnant wife.
The most important supporting character in many genres, though, is the sidekick. Virtually every mystery protagonist has one. Rex Stout’s obese, lazy, brilliant Nero Wolfe has Archie Goodwin—a slim, wisecracking ladies’ man. Carol O’Connell’s icy, statuesque, blonde Detective Kathy Mallory has garrulous, overweight, aging, alcoholic Detective Riker. Robert B. Parker’s literate, poetry-quoting Spenser has black, street-smart, tough-talking Hawk. Harlan Coben’s former basketball-star-turned-sports-agent, Myron Bolitar, has a rich, blond, preppy friend, Windsor Horne Lockwood, III.
See a pattern? It’s the old opposites attract. Mystery protagonists and their sidekicks are a study in contrasts. Sidekicks are the yin to the protagonists’ yang. The contrast puts the protagonists’ characteristics into relief. For instance, the thickheaded Watson makes Holmes look smarter.
The place to start in creating a sidekick is with the profile you developed of your sleuth, so think about what kind of opposites will work.
Recently I got a message about a person struggling on how to develop their characters, as they normally wrote about already created characters—also about how to make them interesting and make the people reading your story actually want to continue reading it.
I’d say this is one of the main differences between fanfiction and original work. Writing fanfiction you already rely on the fact people know the characters—how they look (or are supposed to look), personalities, and backgrounds… unless you’re writing an AU. There’s people that already like the characters and would (probably) be willing to read your story. Now, you focus on a good plot to interest them.
But then we are back on our original stories, our novels, anything we write. We have to create our characters from scratch—interesting characters that can fit and make our story flow. Because good characters can handle a poor plot, yet a good plot can’t handle poor characters. I guess this is all we do here, right? this is the bane of our existence as writers.
Truth is, there’s no right way to write a story. And there’s no right way to develop a character! I tested this by asking you guys how you do to create and flesh out your characters. Every response was personal and different.
Sometimes it starts with the spark of an word, an archetype, a color, a trait, a flaw, a song lyric, a painting, someone you know in real life—then you go from there.
Here are some basic steps on developing a character, yet, you can do it as you see fit:
- You start with the personality. Once that’s done it’s relatively easier to know how they look like. You sculpt and pick virtues and vices, flaws and qualities—perfect characters are not interesting. When it comes to protagonists and antagonists, they’re neither 100% good nor 100% bad, because there is not fully good or bad people. Get what I’m saying? Round characters are the thing we’re going for. Take details from people in real life, if you want: funny habits, mannerisms, what makes people human.
- Work on the appearance of your character. What’s their body type, their eye color, skin color, hair color, shape of their face/nose, if they have birthmarks or scars somewhere…
- Pick a name as you see fit. This can be the first step depending on how you work. Is there a meaning behind it? does it show somehow their character’s personality? remember sometimes they are relevant to the setting/genre.
- Flesh. ‘Em. Out. Think of hobbies and background. How’s the relationship with their family and friends, how they act around authority, what kinds of clothes they like to wear…
- Always remember: character development is an ongoing thing. You never “finish” developing your character, just like we, as people, don’t stay the same.
That being said, be creative with it! Don’t imitate the way your favorite authors develop their characters- create your own way! your characters are all yours! Make playlists about songs that remind you of your characters, keep a journal for them- sky’s the limit.
Good links for you:
- Fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment: a blog just about character development. Seriously, if you are not following this blog, you are in nothing.
- Our character descriptions and characters tags, along with body and mind and personality.
- Create fictional characters from scratch
- 13 ways to create compelling characters
- Moral Alignments and Jung Personality Theory: both good resources by the same person. They’re a different way to add dimension and understand better your characters. Even if you aren’t using them, they’re still a pretty good read.
- Get to know your characters interesting questions require interesting answers.
-Alex
WriteWorld’s resources on character can be found in our Toolbox. we also tag all of our posts related to character.
-C
- Magic (and other skills—especially physical skills) must be practiced. Yes, your wizard could be the “chosen one,” but remember that even Harry Potter had to practice his patronus charm. In The Matrix, Neo had to learn how to get used to working within the system.
- Knowledge must be studied: Your character probably wasn’t born with world knowledge floating around in her brain. She might have a high IQ, but she still needs to study. Hermione Granger read Hogwarts: A History well before she attended it. NOTE: This also applies to knowledge about science fiction technology.
- Wisdom often comes from making mistakes earlier in life: My dad will often say he learned most of his knowledge about woodworking from “the school of hard knocks.” He usually follows that with a story about how he screwed something up. Your skilled characters probably have a lot of stories. Wisdom can also come from watching others make mistakes and choosing not to go down the same path.
- Wisdom also comes from experience: A legendary general will have seen many ways to fight a war. He knows what works and what doesn’t based on what he has seen.
-by M. B. Weston and continued at mbweston.com
nothingcanbegained asked: I have a character I roleplay, but I feel lately like every time I roleplay him, that I find that he’s just too… perfect? I mean he’s gentle mannered, polite, shy, honest, helpful, eager to please without being overbearing, easily embarrassed, and quite honestly, I’m finding him boring. How do I make a character more exciting without changing who he is? Should I try and add personality faults that can be directly related to his traits?
As writers, it’s easy to let our characters fall into the dreaded Mary Sue trope. But you’ve already realized the problem with too-perfect characters: they’re boring. They offer little conflict, they’re unrealistic, and they tend to drive everyone a little crazy.
Faults and vices are one of the easiest ways to add depth to your character. They make your character seem more like a person, rather than the stock character or flat character we see lining the edges of fiction stories. Here are some steps you can take to round out your character:
Here are some other resources you can check out:
Good luck!
Last night, I was reading a book on Hiroshima (the book is called “Hiroshima: Why America Dropped The Atomic Bomb” by Ronald Takaki if you guys are interested in it) and the author wrote about how Harry Truman didn’t say the same thing to people around him during the decision to drop the bomb. I won’t go into details about this as this isn’t the time and place to talk about it but it did got me thinking about how people have a different attitude towards others.
It’s something that we do every day yet we don’t think about it. It’s as if we have a switch when we talk with people. I don’t speak the same way to my friends as to do with my parents. I don’t call my parents a ‘bitch’ to greet them. I also don’t call them by their first name. What surprises me about this (and it really shouldn’t if you think about it) is that even among my friends, I don’t approach them the same way. Why? I don’t share the same relationship with them.
The same is true for your characters. When you try to connect your character to others, try to put this idea to use. Let’s take one of my characters, Coralline, as an example.
First, you have a general idea of her personality but in order for me to really bring her to life, I’m going to put her into context. Coralline is blunt, stubborn, ruthless and self-confident. She’s going through a divorce with her Olympic golden medalist wife Zeffie and she’s willing to do anything to get the most out of it. This doesn’t thoroughly explain who she is. If I were to write a character biography for her, I’d go further into how she came to be this way. In other words, I’d go into her history. This is when the next point gets into play.
Secondly, you have her attitude towards other characters. Characters don’t develop independently. They’re shaped by their values, experiences, family, friends, environment, surroundings. Your character has an opinion on all of this. Let’s take the family members of Coralline.
She has an older brother, a sister-in-law, two nephews and a niece. Her older brother died a few years ago but to this day, she’s still trying to protect him. She despises her sister in law because she blames her for her brother’s death. She openly makes fun of one her nephews because his wife is almost as old as her. She ignores her second nephew because he’s an adopted child and looks just like his mother who she disliked as a teenager. She thinks her niece if a freak and didn’t hesitate to send her to boarding school to get her away from the house. These are only her family members yet she doesn’t think of them the same way. Along with the general idea of her personality, history and relationships we get a better and deeper idea of who she is.
Finally, you have the attitudes of other characters towards her. Her wife still loves her but can’t stand being around her. When he was alive, her brother was always there for her and they were close. Her sister in law is afraid of her and only half heartedly stands up to her. Her niece enjoys spending time with her and sees her as a mother. Her nephews ignore her and one of them feels sorry for her for being so cold hearted.
Coralline won’t approach people the same way and they won’t either. A lot of people seem to forget this when GIF chatting or replying to another character. It’s just a simple fact that we do not approach people the same way. Relationships are’t easy to define and are different for each and every one of us. Don’t forget that when conversing with other characters.
Anonymous asked: Can you provide a list of uncommon yet meaningful names? For an example, like Halycyon and Vern?
Here, I made you a list of links!
Be sure to check out our Towel on Naming Characters for more links and tips on creating strong character names.
Thank you for your question! If you have any other writing-related questions or any comments about this post, hit us up!
-C
WriteWorld Note: This looks like it’s geared toward names from Great Britain. Still very useful.
Need a quick name in a hurry?
- MongaBay.com’s American Surnames
- BabyNameWizard.com’s Voyager
- NameGenerator.biz’s Surname Generator
- BehindTheName.com’s Name Generator by Type
- Rinkwork.com’s Fantasy Name Generator
- SeventhSanctum.com’s Name Generator Index
- BabyNameGenie.com’s Name Generator
- FakeNameGenerator.com
- 20000-Names.com
- BabyNames.com
- ThinkBabyNames.com
- BabyNamesWorld.com
- Meaning-Of-Names.com
Traditional Names:
- Amethyst-night:
Brittany (m) / Brittany (f)
Cornwall (m) / Cornwall (f)
Isle of Man (m) / Isle of Man (f)
Ireland (m) / Ireland (f)
Scotland (m) / Scotland (f)
Wales(m) / Wales (f)
General Celtic(m) / General Celtic (f)
Irish Surnames
Scottish Surnames
Welsh Surnames
Celtic Gods & Goddesses
Earlier this morning I got an anonymous question asking For some common mistakes people make when writing disabled characters and I invited other people to put their input in before I wrote this, but even in doing so I acknowledge this won’t be a comprehensive list. If anyone has anything to add, please add.
The biggest mistake people make when writing disabled characters is to write them within the two crippled tropes: The Inspirational Cripple and The Bitter Cripple.
Without fail a disabled fictional character will fall within one of these two stereotypes. They will either have embraced their disability, overcome obstacles, and be a saintly creature which opens hearts and changes minds or they will be an angry and self loathing monster.
I will be the first to admit that it is hard to address disability in fiction without inevitably inching upon a stereotype. Obviously you have to address the disability of disabled person and described how they internalize it, so sometimes they might be angry and it begins to look bitter but in an attempt to avoid making your character bitter they can come off as inspirational. The thing to keep in mind is that the disability is an aspect of your character and is not their sole identity; we all have our bitter days as well as our inspirational days, so and as long as you represent that dichotomy you have a good chance at avoiding a stereotype.
(Given that this isn’t the topic to discuss what we call the disabled community “inspirational porn” I recommend for anyone who isn’t aware of why being inspirational is offensive to disabled to read my earlier post: Insporational Porn: How You Can Stop Offending Cripples.)
The second most prevalent issue is the fact that most disabled characters are paralyzed and in wheelchairs permanently. There is something romantic about the story of someone being in an accident and suddenly waking up to realize they can’t move but the story has been done to death. It is still a fine story if that’s what you want to write but there are an innumerous different disabilities, many that even result in wheelchair use if that’s what you want to describe, but at this point it’s starting to seem like paraplegia is the only disability writers are aware of. Worst of all I’ve seen stories in which the author obviously wanted a disabled character in a romantic story but was unwilling to do any research on how the disability can affect sexual practices.
Speaking of lazy writing, another common problem with lack of research is how unrealistic a disabled character’s accessibility, comfort, adaptation, etc. etc. is portrayed. It can be anywhere from a mastery of wheelchair usage within moments of using one, to very unlikely details the only disabled people themselves would recognize.
I once read a book in which a disabled woman in a wheelchair was at rodeo with her date when a bull got loose; the hero scooped her up in his arms and carried her to safety. If the previous sentence doesn’t sound fishy to you, you obviously aren’t a long time wheelchair user. Given that the characters had a lot of bumpy ground to go over that would’ve had dips and holes the woman in the wheelchair would have had her seat belt on and being abruptly scooped up like that would be incredibly painful. I say this from personal experience.
This blog is about physical disabilities so I don’t feel comfortable speaking on much else but someone mentioned something about mental disabilities that I’d like to tentatively approach discuss. Characters with mental disabilities tend to be crafted based solely on their disability, as if no other part of their personality or intellect can be developed within a different context. As subtle and complex physical disabilities are, mental disabilities are even more so. If your character is mentally disabled remember to use the definition of their disability as a guide and not a cage.
