The Characters In Your Book
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The Characters In Your Book
Russell Celyn Jones (Published writer. Professor of Creative Writing and Director of the MA Programme at Birkbeck College (University of London).) gives expert video advice on: How do I build a character?; Do some characters write themselves?; How can I make a character believable? and more...
Do some characters write themselves?
Characters write themselves, is a statement about streaming consciousness in writing. Shakespeare seemed to have characters written themselves. They speak in the way only they could. An office was in control of an enterprise, but good writing will locus if all those characters are free from the author and that is the whole it fetch you.
Can I have too many or too few characters?
You can have as many characters as you like in fiction. Sometimes you need at least two but it´s not essential. I can´t think of many good examples of fiction in which there is only one. You tend to need two because you need a conflict. What you do need to do is make sure that each character that you have introduced is fully developed, even the minor ones. Probably Dickens is a very good example of a writer who is very democratic to all the characters that he creates, and he creates many.
Should I base characters on people I know?
Basing characters on people is tricky, because you're usually too timid about making those characters do terrible things. Sometimes you have to base characters on people you know, but those characters in your fiction will change and will alter to such an extent that by the end of it they probably will not resemble the people they were originally formed upon.
I've based a character on someone I know will this get me into trouble?
If you base a character on someone you know, it could get you into trouble if the portrait you created is very similar to the real life character. The character may want to sue you. It is unlikely, but it does happen, of course. It is probably good practice to create fictional characters that do not resemble anyone you know in the end.
Should I base characters on myself?
I don't think you should base any character upon yourself. however, what you can do is create fictional characters and imbue them with certain of your characteristics. That is how you get close to someone who may be very foreign to you in life. And it's a way of personalizing a character in fiction. To write about your own life is not really what fiction does.