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Writing Characters: Getting from a ✨vibe✨ to something concrete.

Writing characters is my favorite part of writing, so I figured I’d chat about one of my methods. As far as I know, I came up with it on my own, but I don't doubt a lot of other people use a similar or even the same method.

If you have a vibe you probably know their sense of humor. Their voice. Bits and pieces of their personality, etc. I start from here a lot when I’m writing fanfic especially, since the character is preexisting. Problems I tend to run into from here can be struggling to make them a driving force in the plot, developing a clear and executable character arc, and other… tangibles.

Word Bank. Write down every descriptive word for their personality/who they are. Brave. Reckless. Sarcastic. Loyal. Whatever you’d use to describe them. Then cull the words, think critically about them. Eliminate unnecessary synonyms, or replace with better/more exact words.

Sorting. Draw connections between these traits based on your understanding of the character. There isn’t right or wrong answers, as long as you can explain or justify your reasoning. Are they brave because they’re reckless? Reckless because they’re brave? My primary goal with this step is to be able to isolate a few core tenets of their character by seeing which ones I keep circling back to as influencing or causing others. Usually I end up with 2-5 tenets, 3 tends to be the sweet spot. You want these traits to be distinct from each other. For example you probably wouldn’t want both ‘brave’ and ‘reckless’ to be two of your tenets, or ‘kind’ and ‘encouraging’.

(Note that actually drawing this out isn’t necessarily necessary, and if you do you can do it to whatever level of detail helps. Here I added behaviors resulting from/affirming the personality traits as an example of how you can evolve from this/do whatever you want to with it. It’s a tool, not a template)

So, you got a flowchart, now what? Well, it can be a handy rubric to refer to when writing your character. In its most extreme usage, every decision your character makes should be derived from one of your primary tenets. I generally use it to a less rigid degree than that, but you do you.

In my opinion, it gets fun when you think about the dynamic between your primary tenets. Can the tenets be in conflict with each other? IE, what type of situation could you put the character in where the individual tenets indicate different actions? (In my example sheet: Is he distrustful about a job offer, or is he not taking it seriously enough to even be distrustful? Maybe different tenets predominate different parts of his life?) How do these tenets reinforce or contradict each other? Maybe use internal contradiction to show character complexity, or use internal conflict to drive character growth. Maybe a behavior that is reinforced by 2+ tenets (ex: recklessness) can be a dominating character trait or flaw due to how ingrained it is. What different belief system or coping skill is the scaffolding for each tenet? Could two different tenets erupt from the same belief system and/or coping mechanism? What happens to their traits and behaviors if one of these belief systems is challenged or reinforced? Sometimes just having a new lens to look at characterization through brings up new questions and ideas.

Finally, use whatever method or lack thereof works best for you personally, and have fun writing :)