Character

I’ve always been the kind of writer that allows my characters to develop on their own. When I start writing something new, I do very little planning. More often than not I don’t even know what my main character’s name is when I start to write their story. But as the story unfolds they begin to develop independently of me and I get to know them well through this process.

However, I am in the process of writing my creative writing dissertation and when my supervisor discovered that I didn’t know the name of my main character she set me some homework. She asked me to carry out the standard tasks of writing character profiles for every person in my story and drawing family trees. But she also asked me to do something a little more interesting.

She told me to start writing my characters. Not to start writing my dissertation but instead to write ‘a day in the life’ of each of my characters, to write letters and diary entries and even just short stories about my characters, none of which will appear in the final draft of my dissertation.

This may seem a tad unproductive. But, in fact, just as my supervisor intended, it has helped me to know my characters inside and out. Writing from your character’s perspective helps you to get to know them far better than writing lists of character traits and character profiles could ever do. And the fact that I’m not limited to scenes that I want to appear in my final story means that I get to know what my characters are like in all aspects of their lives. And because of this I can write them much better than I could have if I started writing before I really knew them.

I appreciate that not everybody has time to write pointless stories and diary entries and letters that don’t contribute to their final story, especially if you’re writing for a close deadline. But if you do have the time, I’d highly recommend doing this. If you do, it can feel like you’re not making any progress towards your final project but the reality is that you are and that you’re creating characters so real in your own mind that your readers won’t be able to help believing in them too.

This will also help your story to be more subtle. Rather than forcing your point across, you’ll know your characters so well that your point will come across on its own.

Don’t feel limited by what you want your story to be. Just write anything that pops into your head without giving a thought to whether or not it would fit in with your story. Anything you write will contribute to the final story, even if it doesn’t directly end up appearing in it.

Good luck and thanks for reading.

Planning vs. Spontaneous Writing

I have always been more of a spontaneous writer than a planner. I tend to just start writing and see how my characters and plot develop as I go. Quite often this gets me into trouble and I end up writing a story that doesn’t go anywhere or doesn’t quite make sense. But, in my opinion, planning can get you into just as much trouble as spontaneous writing can.

I am going into my final year of university and am starting to think about my creative writing dissertation. Before the summer holidays, my supervisor told me not to write any of my dissertation until I got back to university and instead to just think and plan and do a lot of reading.

So I took her advice and spent the whole of the summer thinking about my intended story idea. And the more I thought about it, the more confused I became. As I dwelt on my characters and the situation they’re in, I realised how much depth there is to my story idea. I realised that there are a thousand ways I could broach the subject I’m planning to write about and I have no idea which one to choose.

I have thought of thousands of possibilities for my characters, a thousand different endings and a thousand different ways I could begin. I only have 6,500 words in which to write this story and there’s no way I will be able to include everything I’ve planned out over this summer.

So the question is: how do you find a balance between spontaneous writing and planning?

Obviously, the answer to this question depends on the kind of writer you are. Some writers need meticulous planning whereas other writers thrive with none. But whichever kind of writer you are, we are all in danger of, one the one hand, not thinking our story through properly and getting lost on the way or, on the other, over thinking it and becoming confused.

I think part of the reason I have become so confused about my dissertation is that I’m trying to plan out what my characters will do without knowing them properly. In my opinion, you don’t really get to know your characters until you start writing their story. I am sure that when I start writing, my characters will tell me what they want to do and they will take control of the story as characters so often do. Fictional characters are so organic and unpredictable, there’s no way you can plan out their entire existence before you start writing.

So here is my advice. When you think of an idea for a story, jot down the basics and then instantly start writing it. You can still plan the story as you go along. But, in my opinion, you can’t know your characters well enough to decide what they would be likely to do until you have started writing about them.

Let me know if you disagree with this advice in the comments. I’m interested on your thoughts on the matter. Thanks for reading.