Character Economics

So - you've got a character. What are his motivations? WHY is he doing whatever great things that create a story around him?

In other words, what are this characters economics? What currency really matters to this person? (If your first answer is money, think a little longer - is it really money, or is it what the character can do with the money? That's two different issues). And if you're writing in something other than this world, you may even need to figure out the society's economics. What matters to them? What's their currency?

Writing prompt: Take a character sketch, and figure out this person's currency. If the person wants love, what does that do to the story? What if it's honor? Or sex instead of love? Write a scene where the characters currency shows.

Animal Metaphors

It's a long-standing tradition in fiction to use animal metaphors, both to describe a character and to describe actions of a character.

What does it really mean to say someone's piggy? What if they're cat-footed? Sometimes people even go to the extreme and go all the way to having animals as characters - usually as children's stories, or it gets viewed as a children's story even if it isn't mean to be one (Watership Down?).

Writing prompt: Take one of your character sketches, and think of animal metaphors for that person. Add some. Do they change the view of the character? The story?

Adding to Quirkiness

So you've got a pile of quirks. Well, what do they mean? Who cares?

Think about portraying your character. How are you seeing this done? In film? On paper? In a game? How you're handling your character makes a difference here.

I'm going to use the example of someone that fidgets. If you're doing this on paper, you need to refer to the fidgeting - but you need to do it in a way that doesn't make the reader scream "I know already!" That can be tricky. If you're doing it on film, the person needs to fidget, but not to the point that they're relabeled "the fidgeter" regardless of their character's name. Etc.

Writing prompt: try to write a scene in which the person's quirk is visible but not obnoxious.

Quirks!

We've all got 'em. We do weird things that don't really say anything about our goodness or badness, but still make us individual.

Fiction characters have them too. Less, probably, than real people, because a fictional character chock full of quirks is annoying. But they should have them - even if only the author knows them.

Do your characters play with their hair? Fidget? Chew on pens? Always tip their head when answering a question? Sing in the shower?

Writing prompt: Write up a new character sketch. Pay attention to the quirks while keeping the other things (virtues, flaws, etc) as balanced as possible. Do the quirks make the person more real? Do they fit?

Virtues as story

Sometimes a virtue itself can be a plot point. When virtues collide, plot happens.

A desire to always tell the truth combined with a secret that must never be told puts someone in an awful position. Both are virtues - keeping a secret that must be kept is good. Telling the truth is good. Together is where plot can happen.

Think about conflicting virtues. Where does plot happen between them? What do you think of them?

Writing prompt: Write a short piece about someone caught between conflicting virtues. What happens? Is it resolvable, or does the person have to "fall from grace" to find a resolution? If possible, write it both ways.

Plotting Around Virtues

Flaws are important. But so are virtues.

A character with no virtues is an unbelievable character. No matter how bad the villain, there are still good qualities that have to be evident, or you've got nothing more than a mirage. If a story is to be believed, there has to be something to make us want to know more, something to make us keep reading. Something to make us sympathize with both the hero and the villain.

Virtues can be tricky. It's as easy to overdo them as it is to overdo flaws, but while one major flaw can hold a story, only one virtue makes a character look false.

Write a character sketch including virtues. How do virtues influence the plot? Do they help or hurt? Are you stingy with virtues, or do you spend them like pennies?

Try to write a sketch for people you know. How many virtues do they have? How many flaws? (This is not an attempt to judge, just to write sketches to practice).

Changing Character Flaws

So there's a character sketch. There's a flaw. And there are plot ideas around the flaw.

But what happens when the flaw changes? What happens if your obsessive person becomes a hypochondriac? Or a pyromaniac? What if vain becomes boredom with life?

Take your character and change the flaw to something completely different, and look what that does with the plotline. Do you have a different story? How different?

How do characters make the story?