Characters

Some time ago I was sitting in a pub, waiting for friends to arrive, and scribbling notes in a Moleskine book. I often do this, it's surprising what you can work on in those little pieces of downtime.

"What are you writing?" asked the first friend to arrive. He loomed over the table, trying to see my notes but my handwriting is barely decipherable by myself.

"Some notes," I replied, and we entered into a tedious exchange wherein he slowly coaxed out of me that I was writing a novel. I'm always embarrassed by this. It feels confessional, as though I'm doing something really weird. Which is probably reasonable as writing a novel is a pretty weird thing to do. Most people don't do it, and of those of us who do, few get many people to actually read them.

My friend takes in this revelation easily. "So," he says, "you're busy making notes on all your friends and putting them in the book with different names, right?"

Wrong. There seems to be a popular misconception that all writers do this. This is probably because a lot of writers do in fact do it for their first novel, but by the time they get to their second they realise it's a bit hack, and besides, they've already done the best ones and nobody wants to read a novel about Dave.* 

The actual process of creating characters happens in a number of different ways:

• Main characters are usually devised along with the plot. They are who they are by necessity and it is the plot that provides their development. 
• Some characters exist to provide conflict with the main characters. These can start as faceless obstacles, but the more you play with their conversation the more individual they become. Sometimes it takes a few goes at them for them to shine.
• Sometimes I start with a name. I like inventing names and am particularly taken with the David Cronenberg school of naming. Videodrome has a character called Barry Convex. What a name! The name often suggests a personality to me, but again the development often takes place during the writing.

Whichever route was taken to arrive at the character, I like to work out little bios for them all. Basic stuff, like personal foibles, and key events in their life. Much of this detail isn't directly used in the writing, but it helps give me a firm grip on who they are and how they got to be where they are. Sometimes I take it a little further, like finding a photo I think looks like them, which makes for a good tether for descriptions for me.

It is even possible to go method with the characters. Why stop with a photo? Apply for a passport for the character and use it to go to where your novel is set. You may have to exercise your imagination more if the novel isn't contemporary, but the exercise is still good. Try not to let the part where your application is rejected put you off. Simply alter your own passport with Tippex and glue. This ruse is especially effective if your novel entails the character being arrested for fraud at Heathrow. The technique can be used for characters involved in other plots of course. Modifying your passport a second time can gain you direct experience of the legal system, and, if things really work out, the prison system. The advantage of the latter is that you will have lots of time to really get that first draft together.

I don't go that far myself, but you may like it as a more exciting alternative to mindlessly scrolling through lists of names.

* Not Dave's real name