A. O. Henderson

You’re crafting a new main character–protagonist, antagonist, what-have-you–and you know everything about them. Age, hair color, favorite food, least favorite weather, song they can’t stand, two quirks, everything. You go to put pen to page, or fingers to keyboard, or voice to recording, and…

Yeah.

You know your checklist. You don’t know your character.

Checklists

In the aviation world, checklists keep us honest. Preflighting an aircraft, starting it, post takeoff–a checklist is referenced, generally on one’s knee, to ensure nothing is missed. But a checklist doesn’t fly the bird.

Filling out a character sheet and knowing every detail of that character’s life is great, but a list doesn’t make a character. It can be helpful as reference. It can be used to keep yourself honest (what color were this character’s eyes? Didn’t they hate sunshine three chapters ago but now they love it?), but a blunt list of facts does not create consistent personality.

So, how do you create personality?

Reasons

Behind every checklist, there is a reason. Why do we flip this switch before checking that number? Why do we ensure x is turned off when doing y? Why does your character hate sunshine? Why does your character order a pepperoni pizza but then pick the pepperoni off the pizza and throw the pepperoni away?

There are stories behind the items of your character checklist. Especially if you’re coming in from a tabletop roleplaying game-esque ‘two quirks makes a character’ approach, there will be a reason for that quirk. It could be as simple as ‘they did it once as a child, and they’ve now carried it into adulthood,’ or something far more complex, such as, ‘their grandmother used to set aside the pepperoni as a sacrifice to the fairies. Character B has never been told about the fairies, but they loved their grandmother dearly, and want to honor her memory.’

Seek the why behind your checklist items. And if there isn’t a story there, ask yourself: is it something you actually need to know about your character, or have you just given yourself busy work?

Note: some obvious exceptions to needing a reason are anything which you intend to use to visualize your character. My immutable traits checklist is usually limited to: general age, general appearance, gender, sexual preference, manner of speech, and whether their hands are always warm or always cold. Find the base list that works for you.

Systems

A fundamental knowledge of how the aircraft works grounds all checklist items. That is, the reasons for the checklist all stem from the type of engine, or how the transmission works, etc. The reasons for your character should therefore stem from how your character works.

What is your character’s engine?

By this, I mean: what is your character’s fuel, what is causing them pressure, what happens when they reach that pressure point, and what steps do they take in the aftermath?

To take it even simpler–and bear in mind, simpler can often be stronger when initially creating a character–what is your character’s story-wide goal, why do they want it, and what is keeping them from already having it?

Note: Is whatever is stopping your character an external affair, or is it the character who is hindering themself? The answer to this can greatly influence whether you’re telling a more character-focused story, or a plot-focused one.

When that is answered, then consider: is that goal really what the character needs to become a better version of themself? How stubborn are they going to be about reaching that goal? With what attitude do they set about reaching for their goal?

It’s normally in this range of base character creation that I like roughing out three core personality traits for my main characters. Two positive, one negative, or vice-versa. Both types can be strengths and weaknesses in their own right. To take an example from my own writing: Madison’s (Reverberate) base three traits are lonely, single-minded, and clever. Keep it simple and easy to work with.

Procedures

A procedure is how something is executed. For flying purposes, it can be boiled down to: we’re going to do this in this manner so we don’t become a smoking hole in the ground. For characterization purposes, it’s a little less firey, and more along the lines of: I’m going to take these traits, and then I’m going to write them like this, so the character appears to be like that.

Madison’s story-wide goal is to capture the person who destroyed her family. She wants this for revenge, because she thinks it would make her feel better for surviving. Initially stopping her is that she doesn’t know the location of the person she’s after. Add in the engine of lonely, single-minded, and clever, and my procedure for writing this character became: let her be ruthless, terminator-like in her pursuit, skilled at what she does, but willing to do anything for family and close friends.

Note: this was how I ended up with a torture scene in chapter one and a romance scene in chapter two.

Knowing your character’s reasons, and knowing the systems underlying them, gives a strong basis for consistent characterization.

Chair Fly

Nothing’s great on a first go, and if it is, it’s probably not going to be consistently repeatable. Make it consistent.

The best way to ensure consistency?

Practice.

In aviation terms, this means sitting down in a chair of choice and miming out an entire flight event, to include motions, call-outs, and radio calls.

Note: would not recommend in public.

In writing terms? Get to know your character! Interview them, write a short story with them, scribble out a snippet of what they’d do in whatever situation, notice what they’d observe in a room then describe it like them, etc.

Do great, and fail!

And when at last you reach the stage of, ‘I know this character,’ or even, ‘I just need to write this darned thing,’ then go on and write.

It won’t be perfect. Sometimes, it might not be better than any of the practices. That’s okay. It’s another step towards consistency.

Consistency in characterization is the character.

You’re flying.

TL;DR

A checklist of traits is useful for reference, but does not create a consistent character. Consistent characterization is created through asking the ‘why’ behind the checklist items, and then the ‘how’ those whys are shown.

Answering several base character questions, and then choosing a very small handful (no more than three) of personality traits to provide a framework for those questions, will assist in short-handing a consistent character. From there, practice, and do not fear failure.

Remember: character = goal + motivation + conflict.

Exercises

1. Sketch a character. Take a pre-existing character (from external media or your own work), list their goal, why they want it, and what’s stopping them, then assign up to three personality traits to flavor how they will achieve their goal. Write a one-page short with this character, being sure to emphasize those personality traits.
   
   Does this character feel believable? Would you follow them through an entire manuscript, and why or why not? What will you try to improve upon next time?
   
2. Observations. Your character has reached the top of a mountain, and there is a building. Describe the first things the character notices as they themself would describe them.
   
   Why does your character notice those things first (do they see the architectural style of building because they love art history? Do they notice the type of mountain they’re on because they took a geology course? Do they see places they could hide because they’re on the run?). How can you write their observations to better show their character traits?

Questions, experiences, thoughts, or examples? Maybe you’d like to share excerpts from either exercise? Leave a note below!