Crafting a character, part 1

Okay, I've broken this up into two pieces because it was getting quite long.

There are a lot of different approaches to creating characters. There's the figure it out as you go along method, by which you more or less just write and the character unfolds and flourishes along with the story. There are the character sheets I've seen (in several different incarnations) with which you go through and give your character eye color, hair color, complexion, favorite book, most prized possession, education, profession, etc. Then there's a narrative approach, whereby you write as if doing a short bio of your character and see what you come up with. I'm sure there are more that I haven't heard of, other ways people use or combinations of the above. But for argument's sake ...

I've tried all three. I, personally, hate the first one because I like to have an understanding of my character before I jump in and this doesn't give me one. I feel lost, like I'm not developing my characters enough. Granted, by the time revision rolls around, I'm much more familiar and able to work in characterization better on the second time through. But still... it makes me feel lost.

The second one bores me. It's a good idea, in a way, because it gets you picturing your character, trying to come up with things about them to help you answer those questions. But usually when I'm doing that I don't have a clue what Mary's favorite book might be or what Chris's hobby is. And so I get bored and it's a sort of "green eyes--check. high cheekbones--check. skip that, skip that, I dunno, skip that too" list and then I give up and resume the seat-of-my-pants approach, so I'm back to step one.

I like the narrative bit. If you point to my favorite characters in a TV show or movie or book series, chances are that it won't take me long to tell you why I like them and chances are that it has to do with the fact that they are incredibly damaged. For instance:

Trent Malloy from Sons of Thunder and Walker, Texas Ranger. He's an ex-Army Special Forces hand-to-hand instructor. Dropped out of seminary to join the Army, fought with his father, never made up with his dad before his dad died, and then has to apply for a hardship discharge to help his mother pay the bills. Not only that, but when he was a kid, he was holding the gun that accidentally killed his younger brother/buddy (not quite clear). As a result, he refuses to touch a gun again, despite the fact that there's not a whole lot other than law enforcement that he's qualified to do. Becomes a PI but still will not arm himself and almost dies because of it.

Very interesting, very damaged, very lovable boy. And cute, too! Fangirlish moments aside... you can see throughout the series the ways in which is problems with his father impact him. And the unwillingness to carry a gun and all that goes along with that -- stubbornness, an almost death-wish mentality at times -- is ever-present and is just a huge part of the character.

Here's another.

Wedge Antilles from Star Wars. He was a family kid, really, helped his parents in their family-owned business. That was all he ever dreamed of. And then they were killed by space pirates. And this kid, this 15-year-old (I think he was 15; age escapes me at the moment), went off after the pirates and killed them. Cold-blooded revenge. And I wouldn't blame him a bit. He went on to become a galaxy-renowned hero but still a relatively simple man who wanted nothing more than to fly his fighter. He didn't want glory and recognition and public appearances. He wanted to make things right in the universe and if he stepped on a few toes on the way, so what. All owing to his roots.

Same thing. Wedge's case is particularly interesting to me because we have two very explicit characteristics almost juxtaposed against each other. Here is a man who will go out of his way, sacrifice everything he has to do the right thing. And yet he's a cold-blooded murderer. And you can see that his willingness to sacrifice everything comes from what he's experienced. He has a need for justice that drives him to the ends of the galaxy. It dictates everything he does and it paints his actions, for the reader (this is all explored more in the Star Wars books than in the movie) in a very different light. And it makes him a very, very 3-dimensional character.

Tomorrow's post will tell y'all where I was going with this...