Series Craft 101 Read Free Page A

etc.)?
     
    Character Traits on a Scale
     
    The extreme ends of these scales can be numbered 0-10, and you can rate your character anywhere in between.  A character might be extreme in certain areas, and keep in mind interesting combinations of the traits:
     
    Warm/Cold
    Outgoing/Shy
    Spender/Saver
    Optimist/Pessimist
    Easily Provoked/Easy-Going
    Tough-minded/Tender-hearted
    Leader/Follower
    Arrogant/Humble
    Happy/Discontent
    Impulsive/Thoughtful
    Conventional/Radical Thinker
    E motional/Rarely shows emotion
    Perfectionist/Slo ppy
    Risk-taker/Cautious
    Charismatic/Aggravates People
    Late/O n Time/Early for Appointments
    Efficient/Inefficient
    Team-oriented/Prefers to work alone
    Quiet/Loud
    Subtle/Direct
    Selfish/Selfless
    Go-getter/Lazy
    Heroic/Cowardly
    Takes things at face-value/Reads between the lines
    Tries to Please People/D oesn’t Care What Others Think
    Responsible/Irresponsible
    Enthusiastic/Unexcitable
    Systematic/Scatter-brained
    Happy-Go-Lucky/Serious
     

Additional Tips
     
    If you’re dealing with a different historic period, you may want to look into how that time’s culture will impact your character’s behavior.  With my genre being sci-fi, I had to adapt and project a lot of the general ideas into future terms.
    If you’re planning to have your character do something “out of character,” be prepared to have a reason or reasons why. Readers tend to not like spontaneous shifts in character without motivation.
    For your own reference, it doesn’t hurt to create a biographical summary for each of your characters—including information that happens before and after your first book.  These can be long descriptions—you just wouldn’t want to present them in that format to your readers.  In the situation of creating a series, this can give you potential ideas for future books.  It also gives you an idea of how your character changes (or doesn’t change) over the course of a story.
    All characters—even supporting characters—need a main motivation or drive.  Aimless characters are a potential cause of a plot going flat.  Conflict and suspense occur when the goals of multiple characters interfere with each other.  You also need a “why” behind each of your character’s motives.
     
    Supporting characters give you the opportunity to learn more about your main character’s traits without directly telling your reader.  Keep in mind that secondary characters can add interest when they have opposing personalities to your main characters.  This can even be a subtle difference among allies and can provide humor/banter.
     
    Realize that your characters and setting are going to become more complex over time.  Prepare as well as you can, but don’t let the pressure of creating the “perfect” set of characters cause you to procrastinate and not get started.  Part of the interest and fun is allowing a set of characters to grow with you.  As you gain experience through practice, they’re going to become more developed and realistic.
     
    As you write your book or books, details are going to emerge about your characters that didn’t originate from your initial research.  As you find time (at the end of each book project is fine if you’re working on a series), update your reference files to keep yourself consistent.  As you progress, there’s a give and take relationship between your actual books and your background material.
     

Books and Resources for Developing Characters
     
    Stein on Writing by Sol Stein—great overview guide for not only character but also story structure and other major elements.
     
    Psychology websites and old textbooks—anything related to the Myers-Briggs personality test has great material on actual personality types and combinations.  Personality Plus by Florence Littauer was helpful as well.
     
    TV Tropes (tvtropes.org) is a wiki site featuring character types and typical expectations related around them.  By understanding common base character