Writing Exercise: Fleshing Out Characters

[Jae]

Quite a while back I went on a short sabbatical in Edinburgh to reacquaint myself with screenwriting, and one of the major takeaways I got was how to flesh out characters. We had a couple of writing exercises about characters; I’m condensing them all into a single template that I hope would be useful for all of us to learn more about our characters and delve deeper into their psyche. The full template is available at the end of this post, but for now I’m breaking it up into sections so I can go through them briefly.

PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES
Physical Description:
Speech/Mannerisms:

This section is fairly straightforward, and probably the shortest and quickest section to complete. Because this is an exercise about fleshing out characters, feel free to gloss over certain details such as the exact height and weight, hair and eye colours and so on, as they may not be that relevant to a character’s personality and story. There are exceptions of course.

PERSONALITY
Dominant Attitude:
Character Traits (3 to 4):
Personal Philosophy:
Perceived Best Quality:
Perceived Worst Quality:
Weakness/Flaw/Ghost:

This is where things start to get a bit harder. A character’s dominant attitude is their most obvious characteristic, something that stands out most strongly to those around them, and what complete strangers will notice about them after getting to know them for a couple of minutes. The other character traits will eventually surface, and these will help round out the character. Just an extra note: traits that are more interesting and ‘active’ will lead to a more engaging and proactive character. There’s nothing wrong with a character who’s more detached and reserved, but just be aware that such a character would tend to fade into the background and be less involved in the story.

A character’s personal philosophy is their primary guiding principle, one that will determine what they do in a certain situation. If done well, your character will practically ‘write themselves’ so to speak: you will know instinctively how they will act in various situations and what they will say.

For a character’s perceived best and worst qualities, bear in mind that these are not objectively your character’s best and worst aspects, but what they think are their best and worst aspects. Some characters aren’t aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, and the mismatch between their beliefs and reality could be something worth exploring further.

Finally, we come to one of the most important parts of a character: their weakness, flaw, or ghost (i.e. a past event that haunts them). Not every character has a ghost, but one that is well thought out can be a very powerful source of motivation for a character, and perhaps even reveal something unknown about them. For instance, we might have a mother who is overly strict with a child, but we discover subsequently that her overbearing nature was due to how much she loved the child, and how worried she is that the child might come to harm if she ever drops her guard. Maybe she slipped up once and almost lost her child as a result? This incident would haunt her for the rest of her life, and creates a compelling reason why she is so controlling and reluctant to let her child do whatever they want.

WANTS AND NEEDS
Short Term Goal and Why:
Long Term Goal and Why:
Need:

And now the home stretch: the character’s wants and needs. What a character wants can differ from what they need, and it’s also perfectly okay if a character doesn’t quite know what they want.

Short term goals are more immediate and pressing, and odds are your character is currently aiming to achieve these goals actively. On the other hand, long term goals would manifest as an underlying source of motivation. Short term goals can change (e.g. when they accomplish a goal and move on to the next one, or if they realise that the goal is unattainable and change their course of action), but usually the character will stick to their long term goal (with each short term goal being a step along this path) unless something major happens and turns their lives upside down.

The character’s need, on the other hand, is something that they may or may not be aware of, but ultimately as a writer this is something we should steer our characters towards (or away from, if you want to have a tragic character). If this need differs from a character’s wants, this could result in a character who feels perpetually unfulfilled, and this source of inner tension can be useful in developing storylines to help the character grow as a person.



I’d be doing this for my characters, starting with Kyle. If you’re interested, feel free to join me in this little writing exercise. This is the full template:

Code: Select all

[b][u]PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES[/u][/b]
[b]Physical Description:[/b]
[b]Speech/Mannerisms:[/b] 

[b][u]PERSONALITY[/u][/b]
[b]Dominant Attitude:[/b]
[b]Character Traits (3 to 4):[/b] 
[b]Personal Philosophy:[/b]
[b]Perceived Best Quality:[/b]
[b]Perceived Worst Quality:[/b]
[b]Weakness/Flaw/Ghost:[/b]

[b][u]WANTS AND NEEDS[/u][/b]
[b]Short Term Goal and Why:[/b]
[b]Long Term Goal and Why:[/b]
[b]Need:[/b]

[Jae]

KYLE
Before I go into the writing exercise proper, I’d like to start off with how this character came to be. I felt it might be interesting to create a character who subverts stereotypes: he’s a Slytherin but also a Muggle-born, and while he’s a jock but he’s neither a jerk nor the popular and charming sort. Since then the concept has grown into a full-fledged character, with his own wants and goals, and various topics to explore through his story.

PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES
Physical Description: Tall and athletic. His right leg is amputated below the knee: this is one of the many subversive traits that Kyle has. In this case, he's supposed to be an athlete, but he also has a disability. This is linked to the most significant part of his character’s backstory, and colours much of his personality.
Speech/Mannerisms: Kyle doesn’t have any particularly unusual mannerisms, although his accent has some South Asian influences due to his interactions with his late best friend, Rohaan, and Rohaan’s uncle and aunt. While his time at Hogwarts has also somewhat tamed his native accent, he still uses some slang from his hometown that gives away his background.

PERSONALITY
Dominant Attitude: Sweet natured. He’s generally nice to most people around him, and protective of those who are being bullied or looked down upon by others. This is what most people know about Kyle, and how he usually presents himself.
Character Traits #1: Determined. I know I have a bunch of hardworking characters like Nigel and Louis, but Kyle lacks Nigel’s academic inclination and Louis’ broad knowledge and bouts of genius. All Kyle has is his dogged determination to press on despite the odds. He’s done fairly well thus far considering what life has thrown at him, particularly the loss of his dear friend, his amputation, and his family problems.
Character Traits #2: Open-minded. He wasn’t that open-minded to begin with, but his friendship with Rohaan sparked a change in him and helped him become aware that everyone is different, and that it’s alright to hold different beliefs as long as people respect each other. Oddly one of the few things Kyle can’t tolerate is intolerant people.
Character Traits #3: Low self-esteem. He’s very insecure about himself: his background, his condition, his grades, and so on. He’s also worried about inconveniencing or troubling other people; this is partly why he can be quite conflict avoidant, and tends to keep his worries to himself. He also has a habit of disregarding his welfare in favour of helping others, because deep down inside he feels that others are more deserving of success and happiness than him.
Character Traits #4: Impulsive. Occasionally Kyle lets his emotions get the better of him, and he doesn’t hesitate to lash out at others as a result. He’ll boldly confront any bullies and stand up for others, and he’s even unafraid to get physical if need be. When he’s nervous, he just says whatever comes to mind and ends up making the situation even more awkward.
Personal Philosophy: “Nobody owes you anything. But kindness is in short supply, so be nice to those around you.” Kyle is blessed to be surrounded by kind and helpful people, and he wants to pay it forward and help others around him who are in need. But he’s not so naive as to believe that people would be grateful for his help and return the favour. Still, that hasn’t stopped him from helping others when he’s able to.
Perceived Best Quality: Determined. (Congrats, Kyle, you got that right.) He has had quite a hard life thus far (more so than my other characters, with the exception of Integra), and it hadn't been easy for him to get to where he is today.
Perceived Worst Quality: Not as smart and capable as others. If life is a race, Kyle thinks that he has already lost at the starting line. Coming from a disadvantaged background, he feels that he has missed out on a lot of opportunities, and all these missed opportunities have snowballed to the extent where he believes that he can no longer close the gap between him and his peers. For instance, he doesn’t have the connections to secure internships over the school holidays, so it would be harder for him to find a job when he graduates. (Not that he has the time to do so, since he spends his holidays working at Rohaan’s uncle’s restaurant.) He'll also likely be behind his fellow new hires when he does get a job, because he lacks the relevant work experience.
Weakness/Flaw/Ghost: And now we come to arguably the most important part of the writing exercise for Kyle: the life-changing event that still haunts him to this day. During the 2001 Bradford riots, Rohaan’s uncle’s restaurant was attacked by an angry mob. Kyle tried to save Rohaan from the burning restaurant, but was knocked unconscious when a beam fell onto him. He was unable to save Rohaan, he lost his leg, and his relationship with his right-wing extremist father fell apart completely. As a result, Kyle is extremely protective of his loved ones, very harsh on himself for any failures or perceived shortcomings, and easily angered by those who discriminate against or do not respect others.

WANTS AND NEEDS
Short Term Goal and Why: Right now, Kyle just wants to graduate, find a job that pays decently, and move out of Bradford with his mother to start life anew somewhere else.
Long Term Goal and Why: Truth be told, Kyle has no idea what he really wants. He thinks that he should become an Auror to protect people and right the wrongs that plague society, and while he has given the matter some serious thought, he’s still not too sure if it’s the right decision, and whether he’d be able to achieve his aims that way.
Need: Kyle needs to find a way to move on from his trauma, learn to accept himself and his flaws, and find his own calling in life.