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February 2009 
Novel writing tip #1: resolve to deepen your characters
Posted on Aug 15th, 2008
by 
Kaius Maximus
Kaius Maximus
I always feel disappointed when I encounter two dimensional characters in fiction. I can see the writer's lack of awareness immediately. A character, when fully formed, simply resonates. Like a fine wine, the more layers, the more intricacies of interacting subtleties, the better. That's not to say every character should be complex, yet even the most simple characters will benefit from the following technique.
Whenever I encounter a new character, I immediately switch to writing a character history. If the character appears at age 14, this takes a little less time than if the character appears at age 65 (or 425 if you write about immortals.) I literally put my book on hold and pull out a spiral notebook.
The technique:
Step one: Write the character's full name at the top. You can add relatives if you like.
Step two: establish his/her zodiac sign. This is important. Even if you don't speak astrology, learning this for your writing will be something you lean on time and time again. A character that is a fire sign has different traits than a water sign. A scorpio is not a leo. Not even remotely. To know that scorpios are extremely private people is different than your center stage leo who craves the spotlight. If you get into it, you can give your character a rising, sun, and moon sign.
Step three: the wound. Villains and heroes both have wounds, they simply handle them differently. In my first book I have a strong supporting hero whose first wife had died. He was madly in love with her. He was twenty five at the time, but in my novel we meet him at age 72. If I didn't do his history, I would never have known this about him. Villains often act out on their wounds, but it is imperative to know them nonetheless. Then they become human, and you start to feel for them in a many layered way, like say, for Hannibal Lecter, a very well-formed villain.
Step four: Write the history, and start with birth.
What will begin to appear is the psychology of each character in depth. You will understand who they are on levels that far exceed your work. And then you can pepper in this back story in your work in ways that give the reader the sense of your character's fullness.
I almost never use more than 5% of a character's history in the novel. My first novel has 8 major players, and a number of minors. I need each character to be as resonant as possible. Even my cook, Jamir, has a history that matters, knowing that he was born in Antioch and sold as a slave gives him deep emotional connection to an incidence that happens in the city of Alexandria years later. The reader can feel it without knowing why.
Currently, I am re-writing the history of my character Alizar, the Gnostic alchemist of my first book, for the second. I actually wrote his history 7 years ago, but the book is missing. I saw it a few weeks ago, but now I can't find where. I suppose the shelf elves have stolen it. No matter. I can discover more detail by doing it again. Today I learned his mother was a midwife, and so as a boy brought him to all the births she attended, and so later in life, he always had a profound respect for women, and never could bring himself to visit the brothels like his fellows. I cannot think to write the next novel until his thorough history is complete.
And let me warn you, I can spot an undeveloped character a mile off. Undeveloped characters wreak of amateurism. If you rush ahead with your characters, you will disappoint your reader without knowing it. They will seek another book to read without even knowing why yours let them down.
Character is fate. Once you have character, you have story. But character first and foremost. Story is actually second. If you have a great plot, but readers don't care who it's happening to...... uh oh. But if you have no plot and an amazing character everyone is in love with, well, just look at half of Cary Grant's enduring movies.
I wish you luck with this technique. Be patient and willing to discover. Go slowly. Even if you don't write novels, it's a fun exercise to create a character.
Good luck!
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