Winging It: A Falcon's Thoughts On Discovery Writing

1: Some thoughts on character creation

So, as I'm sure most of you in my target audience know, one of the joys to discovery writing is that process of exploring your story and seeing it unfold before you. It's almost like you're on the quest with your crew of characters! (Except, of course, you're like the godly chosen one who could solve the whole plot yourself but choose not to for...reasons. Writers are evil. 😂)

Anyway, for me at least, a HUGE part of that joy is getting to know my characters as we go along. Not to toot my own horn, but I think writing characters is my greatest strength as a writer, followed closely by having them butt heads/cross swords/scream inwardly and outwardly/etc. ANYHOW, maybe some of you have a harder time or just happen to be stuck. So here I'll share my process in hopes it can help in some respect.

So, one of the very first things I'll do when cooking up a new troublemaker to go in my story is give them something very important. Most writing gurus will call it a need, want, desire, something like that. Well, the way I like to convey the same concept is OBSESSION.

Now, isn't that just a dramatization of the same thing?

Well, sorta. But it also conveys something I think makes my characters stand out. To pretentiously use some examples from my own work, Baird Amergin from the Iron Hallway doesn't just simply look out for himself above all, he's OBSESSED with himself. Keira Korynn from the same book isn't just a lonely girl looking for love, she's OBSESSED with filling that void in her heart. Her brother Aaron Korynn by the time of the Iron Skeleton, he doesn't just like Wendy Archer, he's OBSESSED.

Now, why do I stress this?

This bull-headed pursuit of one specific thing just gives me as a writer a really good handle that informs everything else about their character. Baird is obsessed with himself, so from that, we get his flaw: selfishness, along with his vexing trait of whininess (seriously Baird, just shut up sometimes!). Keira NEEDS her desires fulfilled, so that informs most of her actions and attitudes toward the opposite gender. Aaron 's obsession with Wendy is indicative of his trait of being protective of the women in his life. Cross them, you get his fist.

What I'm saying is that one seed gives so much information to work from for building the rest of their character, and it's versatile too. Someone's obsession can be perfectly healthy, their greatest strength. Or it can be someone's fatal flaw. It can even be a neutral quirk that makes them really pop off the page, like Dr. Swedo Ulrigo from Hidden Things Revealed and his obsession with his status of being a doctor. It's neither a good or bad thing, but he will shove it in your face.

And this whole thing with obsession also helps create interpersonal conflicts for your cast, as you can easily choose to give different characters opposing fixations that will inevitably come to blows...verbally at least. This can be most obvious when you give two characters exactly opposite motivations (character A is a pacifist while character B is a warmonger), but it can be a good bit more subtle, too. Say character A (let's call her Aurora) is a nationalist and is very proud of her culture, while character B (Timothy) is obsessed with wealth and the success of his business. At first, the two seem totally unrelated, but make Timothy Aurora's boss and have him start implementing shady business practices that hurt her people, and there you have a conflict that may not have seemed readily apparent at first.

If I'm being honest, a lot of the remainder of character creation for me is just expanding on this foundation and discovering new facets of their personality as the journey continues. Again, I think the advantage of this approach is its versatility. Instead of being locked in with this want/need being one specific function in the story, it can be many things. Like I said, it can be a strength, a flaw or a quirk. For goodness' sake, it can be all three!

(In fact, one character can have many different obsessions, and that could be make for some interesting dynamics. You could theoretically create some gut-wrenching internal conflicts by having someone or something put two of those desires at odds with each other. Internal war for the win! 😂)

Well, that's my method for laying character seeds in the soil, but what about you? Do you have any character creation techniques of your own to share, any questions to pose, suggestions for future topics, or anything at all? Let's make this a discussion, not a lecture! I can't wait to hear from you. 😁