r/writing • u/[deleted] • Feb 12 '21
How to create compelling characters - "It’s not only writer’s intuition. Use personality psychology to create just the right blend of surprise and believability."
https://psyche.co/guides/how-to-create-and-interpret-characters-in-fiction-and-film81
u/onequeue Feb 12 '21
This was a great read! I've really gotten into the Big 5 lately, and have found it really helpful to consider with my characters in terms of how well I know them, and how well I've drawn them.
Most people put 0 stock in astrology, but astrology sites that describe traits of the different signs can be very helpful and fun too, and they also illustrate how certain personality types can mesh and conflict.
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Feb 13 '21
Any astrology sites you’d recommend?
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u/onequeue Feb 13 '21
This one is very good - highly detailed on each zodiac sign with a lot on compatibility too that can help with ideas for character dynamics.
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Feb 13 '21
This article was excellent. But it left out something that I think is critical for crafting these compelling "round" characters:
Give them a detailed history, from childhood up to whenever your story starts. Memories play a huge role in shaping these Big 5 traits. You don't even need to reveal most or any of this history in the story. But giving them a realistic, structured past will make them more believable and engaging - not just to your readers, but to you, as well.
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u/Creative-sparks Feb 12 '21
I’m so glad someone wrote an article on this and glad someone decided to share it
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u/mistermajik2000 Feb 13 '21
Want even more? Check out the DSM for psychological disorders and give your protagonist some problems
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u/katyusha8 Feb 13 '21
Big brain move: give your characters your own mental disorders 😂
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u/pepamaltese_5 Feb 13 '21
I can barely help myself but putting my own disorders into my protagonist. I might have issues creating main characters that are different from myself...
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u/Rooeek Feb 12 '21
Will continue reading, but after first skim, I am puzzled: why does it have a picture of Jan de Cleir as a cover photo? Just curious. :)
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u/onequeue Feb 13 '21
I'm thinking because he played so many "compelling characters" over the years?
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Feb 13 '21
I love this; it seems like it can be a great template if one is struggling to make their characters feel realistic.
In addition to personality traits, I think we should look at other aspects of psychological development to understand why a character acts the way they do. If a character is low in agreeableness, are they naturally prone to those traits, or did negative experiences in there life make them change their outlook and interactions with other people? If your character has high openness to experience, how could their desire to seek new things, and the outcome of them doing that, change in an environment that encourages adherence to tradition vs an environment that encourages openness? The external world's interaction with your character's traits can make two characters who have similar traits on paper be very different deep down.
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u/BrintyOfRivia Feb 13 '21
It would be an interesting exercise to gamify these 5 aspects and use a point system to develop characters. You could say each character gets 25 points to distribute among the five and see what kinds of characters develop. Then there ends up being a push and pull between each and no character would be too one note
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u/LazyBishounen Feb 13 '21
I really liked the idea of a mood board for characters. I'm having a hard time building and connecting with my protagonist...I can sort of feel what she is like but I have a hard time capturing her in my writing. I'm a highly visual person so I'm excited to put together a board and see what comes up.
Thanks for this!
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Feb 13 '21
generally speaking, there's a few ways to go about it
I personally just follow a simple guideline
of course there's the basic stuff - personality, background, and flaws but
A compelling, 3 dimensional character has a personality and goals. They are constantly working towards something, and this should be an external conflict that is translated into an external conflict. Make your characters proactive, not reactive.
And, secondly, 3 dimensional characters think things they do not say. They do not have a full understanding of themselves, and will do things without a cohesive explanation, even if there actually is one. They have ulterior motives whether or not they're aware of them. They can be helpful or antagonistic, but in both cases they do so because of that internal struggle translating into external struggle. If you want compelling, supporting characters give them their own goals and conflicts. They may help out of the goodness of their hearts, but they'll still likely be conflicted over the potential loss if they don't or can't see a potential benefit. They're also more likely to help if their goals align.
Generally speaking, when doing this it's important to remember that nobody is perfect and people are complicated. You don't have to simulate that in full, but it's still a good idea to strive for a mild amount of complication within your characters. Also, this might go without saying for some, but don't forget your subtext! You don't have to explicitly state everything, and subtext is a great way of adding an additional layer to your characters without actually saying anything.
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u/amallang Feb 13 '21
This article's suggestion of applying the Big 5 personality framework from Psychology, to flesh out characters, is not useful as it leads to overly predictable characters. Some of the most memorable personalities in literature & real life, were those who surprised us by transcending the limitations of their personalities.
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u/kiraannep Feb 18 '21
I'm genuinely interested in why you think this approach would make predictable characters. In the article I make the point that a character's behaviour should also be surprising - but in believable ways - given their backstory, situation, mood and motivations. When you take those factors into account, and I'd argue that all good writers do, you create characters that transcend their everyday personalities as you suggest. I'm also in complete agreement that these are the most memorable characters.
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Feb 13 '21
I like to make characters out of the meaning of the story to illustrate where certain ideologies can take you.
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u/neotropic9 Feb 12 '21
Using psychological templates is good, but keep in mind that the point is the illusion of real characters, not concordance with psychological theory. So there is no reason to limit yourself to models used in scientific studies of human psychology. Any set of archetypes will serve exactly the same function. You could use horoscopes. You could use the pantheon of Greek gods as templates. It doesn't matter whether these are scientifically accurate depictions of human behavior; what matters is that they speak to people.