What makes a Ted Kaczynski? How did a young girl become Malala? Why does Ryan Hreljac want to build wells whereas Trump wants to build walls. Why did Sue Rodriguez make one choice and Stephen Hawking another? How did all these individuals become who they are?
As a writer’s group we’ve been exploring character development. I’ll admit Netflix and all its character driven stories had a lot to do with the need to delve into the topic. Consider Walter White and his cancer diagnosis or Lorelai Gilmore and an unplanned pregnancy. And it’s not just streaming services, television, books and the movies are full of wonderful characters as well. Don Tillman in the Rosie Project, Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne, Montgomery’s Anne Shirley, and more. Look at what Holden Caufield did for Young Adult literature.
But how do we, as novice writers, write a Ted Kaczynski or Malala and make them believable? How do we give them depth? A life? Make them people we root for? Characters we want to read about or watch?
I know I stick to the same type of protagonist. A relatively intelligent, albeit scattered female, with a few socialization issues. If I write the same character each and every time I won’t grow as a writer. Our character project will hopefully help with that. We began with a character assignment, a person we wouldn’t necessarily choose ourselves. I was given a female prison guard. For our first assignment we wrote 500 words introducing this individual with the caveat that this person would stay true to the original. A single mother of three couldn’t become a happily married woman with no kids and instead a well-behaved dog in a subsequent assignment. We play the cards we deal and are dealt.
The second month we wrote about an event—funerals, dinner parties, graduations, baptisms, etc.—as a means to further develop basic traits. Next meeting the assignment was to incorporate a small defect, think gout or asthma. Something that plays on a person but doesn’t railroad their life.
As we throw more challenges at our creations it will be interesting to see who becomes a criminal mastermind, a comedian, or corporate mogul. Who lets life beat them down and who will triumph? Will we go dark or light? Comedy or dramedy?
Thoughtful consideration of the challenge of creating a believable and multi-layered character.