L.Y. Levand's Blog, page 6
October 24, 2015
Featured Villain #3
Our third villain comes to you from Panem, home of Katniss Everdeen. The final movie in the series comes out soon, so you can see him in theaters.
Warning, spoilers!
Name: Coriolanus Snow, President Snow
Book/movie: The Hunger Games Trilogy (Quartet if you're talking movies)
What makes him a villain: He took over the governance of Panem, and doesn't seem to have any checks on his authority. He's poisoned people in the past, but took the poison himself to remove suspicion. He's not afraid of manipulating people by threatening their loved ones, and repeatedly uses his power and authority to squelch rebellion, freedom, or anything that could be taken as such.
Snow dies, either from choking on his own blood or being crushed by a crowd, at what was supposed to be his own execution, but instead turned out to be the assassination of President Coin.
Warning, spoilers!
Name: Coriolanus Snow, President SnowBook/movie: The Hunger Games Trilogy (Quartet if you're talking movies)
What makes him a villain: He took over the governance of Panem, and doesn't seem to have any checks on his authority. He's poisoned people in the past, but took the poison himself to remove suspicion. He's not afraid of manipulating people by threatening their loved ones, and repeatedly uses his power and authority to squelch rebellion, freedom, or anything that could be taken as such.
Snow dies, either from choking on his own blood or being crushed by a crowd, at what was supposed to be his own execution, but instead turned out to be the assassination of President Coin.
The Anatomy of a Villain for Authors, Part Five: As an Adult
Your villain is now an adult, with all the challenges and backstory that comes with it. It is during adulthood that your villain will (if they haven't already) finish their journey from normal to villainy. So at some point in adulthood, before you need them to be the antagonist (or play some other part) in your story, you need to make sure that they've fully switched over. Unless, of course, you want that switch to be part of your story.
Generally, there's one moment that causes them to make that change. A circumstance or event that pushes them over the edge. So for our final post on villain development, we're going to cover that defining event, and, as a bonus, we'll also be looking at what their goals and mode of operations are as a fully-fledged villain.
Defining Moment:
The moment your villain actually becomes a villain is usually the culmination of many different factors. Their upbringing, their parents or parentage, any difficulties they had in school or with relationships, all of that. The defining moment is the last straw, I guess you could say. The final thing that pushes them over the edge.
You have to choose that moment carefully, especially if it's an important part of the plot. If it doesn't come into the story itself, at the least it will give you the motivations and insight for their behavior. This moment needs to be an extension of their difficulties so far, otherwise it won't be the final thing to push them over that edge. It doesn't have to be more of the exact same things they've been dealing with this whole time, but it does need to play on the same emotions in some way.
Perhaps this character developed a negative view of charity due to his/her father's refusal to accept it. Maybe they think charity is for the weak when they get this far. Their defining moment could be an opportunity to offer charity to someone, and they refuse. As a result, that someone dies, cementing their ideas that only weak people need it. It's a very small step, then, for them to believe that charities are really a plague of society, fostering the weak rather than weeding them out to produce the strong.
Goals:
Your villain will have goals in their lives, just as your heroes do. But, unlike your heroes, these goals will have negative consequences. Take the anti-charity villain above. His/her goal might be to eliminate all charity organizations. They might also make it their goal to eliminate all the people that need charity, since in their mind they're weak, and shouldn't be a burden on society.
The goals of a villain are almost always (every time I've seen that I can recall, anyway) connected to the event that turned them to villainy in the first place. Again, it's not the events that make the villain, it's the reaction of the character to those events. If they are very sensitive to criticism, perhaps they received unneeded and unnecessarily harsh criticism on something that they'd worked long and hard on. This is likely to knock anyone down a notch. But a hero would rally and recover. A villain, however, may choose to exact revenge for that criticism. If that criticism is what turned them into a villain, then getting more criticism in newspapers after their vengeance will only make it worse, since there's bound to be a lot and it's more public. Their goal might then be to shut up everyone that ever questioned them.
Mode of Operations:
The way your villain goes about their nefarious plots is another thing that's going to have bearing on your story. Do they meticulously plan everything out, down to the last detail? Or do they just show up with a weapon of mass destruction and hope all goes well?
Maybe they've been planning the achievement of their ultimate goal for years, and have a plan for (almost) everything that could go wrong. Or maybe they've only been planning it for a few days or weeks, and the thought of failure hasn't even occurred to them. Do they prefer emotional attacks and manipulation, or physical? Do they like taking hostages or making threats? Are they the kind of person to leave puzzles for their enemies to find just to mess with their heads?
If their tendencies lean toward physical violence, then what form does it take? Do they use bunt instruments, or sharp? Guns? Knives? Their fists? If they prefer more mental tools, such as manipulation, how do they do it? Typically, manipulation requires a knowledge of the person being manipulated. How did they acquire that information? And then, how do they use it? Does their enemy have a pet they love dearly? Does their chosen form of emotional or mental torture/manipulation involve taking away things their enemies love?
Now that you know what their goals are, you need to know how they're planning on reaching them. This will most likely have direct bearing on how your story goes, since a villain is also usually an antagonist, and an antagonist exists to make life difficult for the protagonist. How your villain plans to go about their business will affect how your hero will have to react to stop them. There's a lot of stuff that you can use to enhance your villain's presence in your story. An important thing to remember, however, is that if you write an enormously detailed backstory, there's a good chance most of it won't get to readers. Unless the backstory is relevant to the current story and plot, it shouldn't appear in the finished book.
But, if you're planning a series, having that kind of detailed knowledge can be important - even if it doesn't appear until much later in the series. Keeping it consistent is a big reason to know more about your characters than the average reader will ever discover. Over a series, it's much easier to lose track of details like what kind of family life or friends a character had. If you know the answers to these questions before you write, it can lessen the chance you'll change it to match the story and then forget you did it.
This concludes our series on villain development! Next week we'll be taking a break from the tutorials. For those of you who have been following Villain Month on Facebook, the surprise will be announced here a week from today. For those of you who haven't, I'd encourage you to head over and like the page. We've been posting lots of creepy Halloween quotes over there, and would love to have you join us. :)
Generally, there's one moment that causes them to make that change. A circumstance or event that pushes them over the edge. So for our final post on villain development, we're going to cover that defining event, and, as a bonus, we'll also be looking at what their goals and mode of operations are as a fully-fledged villain.
Defining Moment:
The moment your villain actually becomes a villain is usually the culmination of many different factors. Their upbringing, their parents or parentage, any difficulties they had in school or with relationships, all of that. The defining moment is the last straw, I guess you could say. The final thing that pushes them over the edge.
You have to choose that moment carefully, especially if it's an important part of the plot. If it doesn't come into the story itself, at the least it will give you the motivations and insight for their behavior. This moment needs to be an extension of their difficulties so far, otherwise it won't be the final thing to push them over that edge. It doesn't have to be more of the exact same things they've been dealing with this whole time, but it does need to play on the same emotions in some way.
Perhaps this character developed a negative view of charity due to his/her father's refusal to accept it. Maybe they think charity is for the weak when they get this far. Their defining moment could be an opportunity to offer charity to someone, and they refuse. As a result, that someone dies, cementing their ideas that only weak people need it. It's a very small step, then, for them to believe that charities are really a plague of society, fostering the weak rather than weeding them out to produce the strong.
Goals:
Your villain will have goals in their lives, just as your heroes do. But, unlike your heroes, these goals will have negative consequences. Take the anti-charity villain above. His/her goal might be to eliminate all charity organizations. They might also make it their goal to eliminate all the people that need charity, since in their mind they're weak, and shouldn't be a burden on society.
The goals of a villain are almost always (every time I've seen that I can recall, anyway) connected to the event that turned them to villainy in the first place. Again, it's not the events that make the villain, it's the reaction of the character to those events. If they are very sensitive to criticism, perhaps they received unneeded and unnecessarily harsh criticism on something that they'd worked long and hard on. This is likely to knock anyone down a notch. But a hero would rally and recover. A villain, however, may choose to exact revenge for that criticism. If that criticism is what turned them into a villain, then getting more criticism in newspapers after their vengeance will only make it worse, since there's bound to be a lot and it's more public. Their goal might then be to shut up everyone that ever questioned them.
Mode of Operations:
The way your villain goes about their nefarious plots is another thing that's going to have bearing on your story. Do they meticulously plan everything out, down to the last detail? Or do they just show up with a weapon of mass destruction and hope all goes well?
Maybe they've been planning the achievement of their ultimate goal for years, and have a plan for (almost) everything that could go wrong. Or maybe they've only been planning it for a few days or weeks, and the thought of failure hasn't even occurred to them. Do they prefer emotional attacks and manipulation, or physical? Do they like taking hostages or making threats? Are they the kind of person to leave puzzles for their enemies to find just to mess with their heads?
If their tendencies lean toward physical violence, then what form does it take? Do they use bunt instruments, or sharp? Guns? Knives? Their fists? If they prefer more mental tools, such as manipulation, how do they do it? Typically, manipulation requires a knowledge of the person being manipulated. How did they acquire that information? And then, how do they use it? Does their enemy have a pet they love dearly? Does their chosen form of emotional or mental torture/manipulation involve taking away things their enemies love?
Now that you know what their goals are, you need to know how they're planning on reaching them. This will most likely have direct bearing on how your story goes, since a villain is also usually an antagonist, and an antagonist exists to make life difficult for the protagonist. How your villain plans to go about their business will affect how your hero will have to react to stop them. There's a lot of stuff that you can use to enhance your villain's presence in your story. An important thing to remember, however, is that if you write an enormously detailed backstory, there's a good chance most of it won't get to readers. Unless the backstory is relevant to the current story and plot, it shouldn't appear in the finished book.
But, if you're planning a series, having that kind of detailed knowledge can be important - even if it doesn't appear until much later in the series. Keeping it consistent is a big reason to know more about your characters than the average reader will ever discover. Over a series, it's much easier to lose track of details like what kind of family life or friends a character had. If you know the answers to these questions before you write, it can lessen the chance you'll change it to match the story and then forget you did it.
This concludes our series on villain development! Next week we'll be taking a break from the tutorials. For those of you who have been following Villain Month on Facebook, the surprise will be announced here a week from today. For those of you who haven't, I'd encourage you to head over and like the page. We've been posting lots of creepy Halloween quotes over there, and would love to have you join us. :)
October 17, 2015
Featured Villain #2
Villain number two comes to us from a movie that people have a hard time classifying; is it a Christmas move or a Halloween movie? Maybe it's easier to just call it a holiday film.
Name: Oogie Boogie, Boogeyman
Book/movie: The Nightmare Before Christmas
What makes him a villain: Oogie Boogie lives in Halloweentown, the home of Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King. When Jack decides he wants to make Christmas, he employs three of the residents to kidnap Santa Claus. When they capture Santa, they give him to Oogie Boogie, who plans to eat him.
When Jack's friend Sally discovers what's happened, she tries to rescue Santa, only to get captured herself. Oogie Boogie plans to eat them both, as well as Jack when he comes back to save them. Luckily, Oogie fails, due to his desire to have fun with them first, and the seam holding him together falls apart.
Name: Oogie Boogie, BoogeymanBook/movie: The Nightmare Before Christmas
What makes him a villain: Oogie Boogie lives in Halloweentown, the home of Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King. When Jack decides he wants to make Christmas, he employs three of the residents to kidnap Santa Claus. When they capture Santa, they give him to Oogie Boogie, who plans to eat him.
When Jack's friend Sally discovers what's happened, she tries to rescue Santa, only to get captured herself. Oogie Boogie plans to eat them both, as well as Jack when he comes back to save them. Luckily, Oogie fails, due to his desire to have fun with them first, and the seam holding him together falls apart.
The Anatomy of a Villain for Authors, Part Four: As a Teen
After being a tween, your villain hits the teen years.
Known as the rebellious years, teens are now old enough to start exercising a large amount of control over their lives. While not yet fully mature, they have minds of their own, and finally have a certain amount of freedom - given or taken - to make their own choices.
At this point, your villain's environment is taking a backseat. It's still important, in that it can influence them, but you're primarily dealing with the emotional differences that crop up during adolescence, and that new level of independence. You also have the conclusions that they've drawn based on their lives so far, and how they think.
Environment:
While not as large of a factor now that your villain is older, the environment will still have some kind of bearing on their development. If they are not quite where you need them to be for your story yet, choosing an environment to support the necessary changes in them is one simple way of accomplishing your goal.
Emotions:
Puberty is the time that hormones go a little crazy. A good example of this is girls who have hit their teen years. They're known for being moodswingy and dramatic for a reason. It wouldn't be a stereotype if it wasn't true to some extent.
How is puberty and hormonal change manifesting in your teenage villain? Does his voice crack? Does she feel impatient because she's not as physically developed as her peers? Does he feel self-conscious because he has a problem with acne?
This is also about the time that most kids discover that the opposite sex isn't, as might have previously been believed, infested with cooties. The discovery that they find other people physically attractive results in the budding of young romance. Does your villain have a crush on someone? If yes, what do they do about it? If no, why not?
How first loves and the awkwardness of being stuck between child and adult interact with the emotional instability of an adolescent can give you an infinite number of choices for manipulating their circumstances. If your villain is still teetering between good and bad choices, this is a prime opportunity to make what you need happen.
Independence:
Your teenage villain may have varying levels of independence. If they have loving, protective parents, then they may have less freedom to do as they please, or more, depending on how responsible said parents deem them to be. If they don't have parents, they may have far more freedom than is good for them.
But it's not the amount of freedom that necessarily makes a difference. It's what they do with what they have that really matters. If you have a character that spends their free time volunteering at an animal shelter because they love animals, great. Is that something your villain needs? This can either help or hinder you in your journey to make a believable villain. If that's something they do, then perhaps it's the humanizing element to them - but that depends on the character and what you need from them. If, for example, you need them to be cruel to animals, that's probably not going to serve your purpose except possibly as contrast, if you're using it as backstory for before their motives turned dark.
If your villain chooses to take drugs in their free time, shoplift, steal cars, vandalize, or other such things, then it's pretty obvious that they're not making the best of this freedom. Their use of freedom needs to tie in with their personality (if they hate the thought of mind-altering anything, drugs or alcohol are likely not a good choice) their background (if they come from a rich family and develop an alcohol habit or addiction they'll probably have a taste for the spendy stuff) and what they believe (if they don't think that stealing is wrong or they've rationalized it into being okay, chances are they'll engage in it).
How They Think:
In my experience this is the most important section this far. Your teen villain is old enough to start drawing their own conclusions based on their lives. These conclusions are shaped by their experiences and their personalities, and is where the first real difference between a hero and a villain crops up.
Circumstances won't turn your character into a villain. The same circumstances you've written for them can be used to shape a hero. What makes your character a villain is how they react to it. How they think of it. What they choose to do. All of these things start in the mind.
How does your character think? How do they see the world? What mental habits do they have that separate them from the heroes?
Bad stuff happens to everyone. Bad stuff happens to heroes. That's part of what makes them heroes. They have the ability to choose badly, and in a lot of cases those bad choices are tempting. But they don't choose them. So why does your villain choose their path? They likely wouldn't realize, as a teen, the end result of their path. It may just be a misguided attempt to get attention in their own minds - at least at first.
What do they need, what do they want, and how do they plan to get it? What do they fear, and how do they avoid or eliminate it?
Known as the rebellious years, teens are now old enough to start exercising a large amount of control over their lives. While not yet fully mature, they have minds of their own, and finally have a certain amount of freedom - given or taken - to make their own choices.
At this point, your villain's environment is taking a backseat. It's still important, in that it can influence them, but you're primarily dealing with the emotional differences that crop up during adolescence, and that new level of independence. You also have the conclusions that they've drawn based on their lives so far, and how they think.
Environment:
While not as large of a factor now that your villain is older, the environment will still have some kind of bearing on their development. If they are not quite where you need them to be for your story yet, choosing an environment to support the necessary changes in them is one simple way of accomplishing your goal.
Emotions:
Puberty is the time that hormones go a little crazy. A good example of this is girls who have hit their teen years. They're known for being moodswingy and dramatic for a reason. It wouldn't be a stereotype if it wasn't true to some extent.
How is puberty and hormonal change manifesting in your teenage villain? Does his voice crack? Does she feel impatient because she's not as physically developed as her peers? Does he feel self-conscious because he has a problem with acne?
This is also about the time that most kids discover that the opposite sex isn't, as might have previously been believed, infested with cooties. The discovery that they find other people physically attractive results in the budding of young romance. Does your villain have a crush on someone? If yes, what do they do about it? If no, why not?
How first loves and the awkwardness of being stuck between child and adult interact with the emotional instability of an adolescent can give you an infinite number of choices for manipulating their circumstances. If your villain is still teetering between good and bad choices, this is a prime opportunity to make what you need happen.
Independence:
Your teenage villain may have varying levels of independence. If they have loving, protective parents, then they may have less freedom to do as they please, or more, depending on how responsible said parents deem them to be. If they don't have parents, they may have far more freedom than is good for them.
But it's not the amount of freedom that necessarily makes a difference. It's what they do with what they have that really matters. If you have a character that spends their free time volunteering at an animal shelter because they love animals, great. Is that something your villain needs? This can either help or hinder you in your journey to make a believable villain. If that's something they do, then perhaps it's the humanizing element to them - but that depends on the character and what you need from them. If, for example, you need them to be cruel to animals, that's probably not going to serve your purpose except possibly as contrast, if you're using it as backstory for before their motives turned dark.
If your villain chooses to take drugs in their free time, shoplift, steal cars, vandalize, or other such things, then it's pretty obvious that they're not making the best of this freedom. Their use of freedom needs to tie in with their personality (if they hate the thought of mind-altering anything, drugs or alcohol are likely not a good choice) their background (if they come from a rich family and develop an alcohol habit or addiction they'll probably have a taste for the spendy stuff) and what they believe (if they don't think that stealing is wrong or they've rationalized it into being okay, chances are they'll engage in it).
How They Think:
In my experience this is the most important section this far. Your teen villain is old enough to start drawing their own conclusions based on their lives. These conclusions are shaped by their experiences and their personalities, and is where the first real difference between a hero and a villain crops up.
Circumstances won't turn your character into a villain. The same circumstances you've written for them can be used to shape a hero. What makes your character a villain is how they react to it. How they think of it. What they choose to do. All of these things start in the mind.
How does your character think? How do they see the world? What mental habits do they have that separate them from the heroes?
Bad stuff happens to everyone. Bad stuff happens to heroes. That's part of what makes them heroes. They have the ability to choose badly, and in a lot of cases those bad choices are tempting. But they don't choose them. So why does your villain choose their path? They likely wouldn't realize, as a teen, the end result of their path. It may just be a misguided attempt to get attention in their own minds - at least at first.
What do they need, what do they want, and how do they plan to get it? What do they fear, and how do they avoid or eliminate it?
October 10, 2015
Featured Villain #1
It's Villain Month here at L. Y. Levand, and to kick off our featured villains (of which there will be four) here is some info on the old wizard - Saruman the White.
Warning - spoilers ahead!
Name: Saruman
Book/movie: Lord of the Rings Trilogy
What makes him a villain: Saruman didn't start out as a villain. He was originally a powerful fighter for good, along with Gandalf the Grey. But during his studies on magic rings, he started to desire the Ring of power, crafted by Sauron before his defeat by Isildur. In some of the more recent published works on the history of Middle Earth, it's said that Saruman had relics of Gondor that belonged to Isildur when he was killed, indicating that he had searched for the Ring for quite some time.
He was corrupted by his desire for the ring, and ultimately lost his powerful place in Isengard to the Ents and Gandalf. He couldn't even keep a foothold in The Shire, once the Hobbits roused.
Warning - spoilers ahead!
Name: SarumanBook/movie: Lord of the Rings Trilogy
What makes him a villain: Saruman didn't start out as a villain. He was originally a powerful fighter for good, along with Gandalf the Grey. But during his studies on magic rings, he started to desire the Ring of power, crafted by Sauron before his defeat by Isildur. In some of the more recent published works on the history of Middle Earth, it's said that Saruman had relics of Gondor that belonged to Isildur when he was killed, indicating that he had searched for the Ring for quite some time.
He was corrupted by his desire for the ring, and ultimately lost his powerful place in Isengard to the Ents and Gandalf. He couldn't even keep a foothold in The Shire, once the Hobbits roused.
The Anatomy of a Villain for Authors, Part Three: As a Tween
The years before a child becomes a teenager are called the tween years, ages nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Once your villain grows past being a small child, the next stage is as a tween.
Now that your villain is getting older, there's a lot more that can be done with them. They're no longer simple victims of circumstance. They're at an age where they can take action and start making their own decisions, and are old enough to start drawing conclusions independent of what their elders tell them. At this point, what we want to look at is how their environment affects them, as well as what they think about it, and if they've developed any defense mechanisms.
Environment:
Last week we looked at your villain as a child, and their environment. As a tween their circumstances may change. While their early history may be incompatible with what you need from them (they may have had a stable home, for instance), you can still work with the circumstances that happen afterward. For instance, a child that had a stable, safe environment from birth to the age of eight may, at the age of nine, lose parents, have to move to a new place, or something equally traumatic or difficult that can put them on the path to villainy.
Many times this kind of change takes the form of a large change in circumstance, one that's met with negativity or difficulty by the character. As noted before, this is much the same as development for a hero. A change in their lives, usually one outside their control, takes place. This change makes life difficult. It's up to you to decide if this change is necessary, and if so, what it is.This large change may not be necessary if, for example, you've chosen a more nuanced or gradual approach. This would work if your villain is an adult, but maybe not so much if you need a teenager or child villain. With an adult villain, you have more "years" in which to slowly push them to where they need to be for your story. With a younger villain, you don't have that so much, so you may need that large, negative event, or to up the ante of their childhood.
Changes in environment can affect the character, but an unchanging environment can accomplish the same. If the first years of your villain's life were difficult or painful, and they continue without a break, this can accomplish the same thing. Which you choose depends on what would best accomplish your goals for the character, and what way the character him/herself will need to get them there.
What They Think Of Their Environment:
Your villain is now old enough to start thinking more independently than before. They're old enough to start comparisons between themselves and others, and old enough to experience things like jealousy, envy, peer pressure, depression, social exclusion, and vindictiveness. What they think of this is important. It's not the circumstances that make a villain. It is what the villain thinks, feels, and decides that turns them into a villain. You, as the author, know what buttons to push to make those thoughts and feelings the ones that form a villain.
The weaknesses that they may have developed as young children are (usually) just cracks. As the author who needs a villain, you have to use those cracks. The way your character thinks will dictate what events are needed to push them toward full villainy.
Defense Mechanisms:
One way to start your villain on that path is to give them defense mechanisms. If their environment is not conducive for a child, or is difficult in some way, your character will have to have ways of dealing with that. For a villain, you'll want ways that have negative aspects to them. As an example, perhaps a child in an unstable home rejects the possibility of new friends. They do this because they don't trust people to be there for them, and are afraid of putting in the effort to make friends. This defense mechanism is to protect themselves from the pain of being let down. The negative aspects of this are that they don't have a support system, and may never learn to interact with people in a healthy way.
Every person will have self-defense mechanisms. Every person has things they fear or want to avoid. These are usually tied with past experiences. You can review the environment your character had in the past, and decide on defense mechanisms appropriately. Just remember that in order for these to produce a villain, there needs to be some negative result to it, even if it's only in the way your character views the world.
Again, you know what circumstances or events will push your character toward evil motivations. If they are social characters, you may want to deprive them of the ability to socialize. If they like privacy, you may want to have that forcibly removed from their lives. When that happens, they need a way to deal with it.
Now that your villain is getting older, there's a lot more that can be done with them. They're no longer simple victims of circumstance. They're at an age where they can take action and start making their own decisions, and are old enough to start drawing conclusions independent of what their elders tell them. At this point, what we want to look at is how their environment affects them, as well as what they think about it, and if they've developed any defense mechanisms.
Environment:
Last week we looked at your villain as a child, and their environment. As a tween their circumstances may change. While their early history may be incompatible with what you need from them (they may have had a stable home, for instance), you can still work with the circumstances that happen afterward. For instance, a child that had a stable, safe environment from birth to the age of eight may, at the age of nine, lose parents, have to move to a new place, or something equally traumatic or difficult that can put them on the path to villainy.
Many times this kind of change takes the form of a large change in circumstance, one that's met with negativity or difficulty by the character. As noted before, this is much the same as development for a hero. A change in their lives, usually one outside their control, takes place. This change makes life difficult. It's up to you to decide if this change is necessary, and if so, what it is.This large change may not be necessary if, for example, you've chosen a more nuanced or gradual approach. This would work if your villain is an adult, but maybe not so much if you need a teenager or child villain. With an adult villain, you have more "years" in which to slowly push them to where they need to be for your story. With a younger villain, you don't have that so much, so you may need that large, negative event, or to up the ante of their childhood.
Changes in environment can affect the character, but an unchanging environment can accomplish the same. If the first years of your villain's life were difficult or painful, and they continue without a break, this can accomplish the same thing. Which you choose depends on what would best accomplish your goals for the character, and what way the character him/herself will need to get them there.
What They Think Of Their Environment:
Your villain is now old enough to start thinking more independently than before. They're old enough to start comparisons between themselves and others, and old enough to experience things like jealousy, envy, peer pressure, depression, social exclusion, and vindictiveness. What they think of this is important. It's not the circumstances that make a villain. It is what the villain thinks, feels, and decides that turns them into a villain. You, as the author, know what buttons to push to make those thoughts and feelings the ones that form a villain.
The weaknesses that they may have developed as young children are (usually) just cracks. As the author who needs a villain, you have to use those cracks. The way your character thinks will dictate what events are needed to push them toward full villainy.
Defense Mechanisms:
One way to start your villain on that path is to give them defense mechanisms. If their environment is not conducive for a child, or is difficult in some way, your character will have to have ways of dealing with that. For a villain, you'll want ways that have negative aspects to them. As an example, perhaps a child in an unstable home rejects the possibility of new friends. They do this because they don't trust people to be there for them, and are afraid of putting in the effort to make friends. This defense mechanism is to protect themselves from the pain of being let down. The negative aspects of this are that they don't have a support system, and may never learn to interact with people in a healthy way.
Every person will have self-defense mechanisms. Every person has things they fear or want to avoid. These are usually tied with past experiences. You can review the environment your character had in the past, and decide on defense mechanisms appropriately. Just remember that in order for these to produce a villain, there needs to be some negative result to it, even if it's only in the way your character views the world.
Again, you know what circumstances or events will push your character toward evil motivations. If they are social characters, you may want to deprive them of the ability to socialize. If they like privacy, you may want to have that forcibly removed from their lives. When that happens, they need a way to deal with it.
October 4, 2015
The Anatomy of a Villain for Authors, Part Two: As a Small Child
If you follow me on Facebook you'll be aware that on October first we started Villain Month! For those of you who haven't liked us on Facebook, for the month of October we'll be posting spooky, creepy, and horror-themed quotes every day, counting down to Halloween - and a special surprise. Each week there will be a featured villain on the blog as well.
Last week we went over the birth of your villain. At birth, there are very few differences between a budding villain and a hero. The differences between them and a "normal" child can send them down either path, and as the author, it's your job to make sure they go the way you choose. If you're crafting a villain, it's pretty obvious which way you need them to go.
Your baby villain has done some growing up in the last week, and now they're a toddler or small child. The things we need to look at now are parental and sibling influences, and environment. They still have very little control over their lives and the things that happen in them, so we have to shape the circumstances around them to shift them to where we need them to go.
Parental influences:
This can be adoptive parents, birth parents, or foster parents. With a child as young as a toddler, there still has to be someone caring for them in some way. They're still too small and too young to be able to care for themselves. So take a look at their caregivers. Are they kind? Are they mean? How do they take care of this child? Does this little kid get what they need or not?
Sibling influences:
They may or may not have siblings. If they do, what kind of siblings? Are they older or younger? Are they blood relatives or adopted siblings?
Environment:
Where do they live? What is their home like? Is it loud from fighting, or quiet from fear? Do they live in a dangerous place or a safe one? Is it cramped? Is there too much empty space?
How they react:
The most important part of this section is how your young villain reacts to the things going on around them. Again, they don't have a lot of control over this situation; they are mostly reactive. The way they handle these things is how they're going to handle most things when they get older.
If your character is going to be a villain, then they're going to have to react badly in some way. In a way that's at least mildly self-destructive. They might react by withdrawing if they're not given the love they need. This cuts them off from people they could trust. They might act out with temper tantrums if they don't get what they want because they've seen adults use such a method successfully.
You need to know what kind of villain you need. If you need one that's clever, smart, genius, and acts with subtlety, you're going to want to give them an environment and reactions to it that support that kind of behavior. If you want a villain that gets angry and just smashes everything in their path, you need to give them an environment that encourages that.
A clever, subtle villain could have grown up in a house with two rich parents. Two parents that are highly intelligent, but manipulative. In order to survive such an environment, a child would have to develop defenses. To produce a villain, it could be as simple as having the child grow adept at manipulation, and learning to be subtle and clever so they don't get caught and punished by their parents.
For a more overt villain, one that perhaps can't hide their dastardly nature in polite company, perhaps a more volatile environment would suffice. A father abusive to the mother could cause a male child to grow up believing that women are lesser creatures and should be crushed underfoot. Or could cause a female child to want to reduce men to slaves as revenge for what they've done to her gender.
At this point, your villain isn't necessarily on a path to self-destruction. They may simply be developing bad habits, or unhelpful emotional reactions to the things over which they have no control. They could also just be developing negative or hurtful beliefs about the way things are or should be. The differences between them and the average child are a little more pronounced at this stage, but possibly not obvious to the observer. They're still developing. They're not villains yet.
Last week we went over the birth of your villain. At birth, there are very few differences between a budding villain and a hero. The differences between them and a "normal" child can send them down either path, and as the author, it's your job to make sure they go the way you choose. If you're crafting a villain, it's pretty obvious which way you need them to go.
Your baby villain has done some growing up in the last week, and now they're a toddler or small child. The things we need to look at now are parental and sibling influences, and environment. They still have very little control over their lives and the things that happen in them, so we have to shape the circumstances around them to shift them to where we need them to go.
Parental influences:
This can be adoptive parents, birth parents, or foster parents. With a child as young as a toddler, there still has to be someone caring for them in some way. They're still too small and too young to be able to care for themselves. So take a look at their caregivers. Are they kind? Are they mean? How do they take care of this child? Does this little kid get what they need or not?
Sibling influences:
They may or may not have siblings. If they do, what kind of siblings? Are they older or younger? Are they blood relatives or adopted siblings?
Environment:
Where do they live? What is their home like? Is it loud from fighting, or quiet from fear? Do they live in a dangerous place or a safe one? Is it cramped? Is there too much empty space?
How they react:
The most important part of this section is how your young villain reacts to the things going on around them. Again, they don't have a lot of control over this situation; they are mostly reactive. The way they handle these things is how they're going to handle most things when they get older.
If your character is going to be a villain, then they're going to have to react badly in some way. In a way that's at least mildly self-destructive. They might react by withdrawing if they're not given the love they need. This cuts them off from people they could trust. They might act out with temper tantrums if they don't get what they want because they've seen adults use such a method successfully.
You need to know what kind of villain you need. If you need one that's clever, smart, genius, and acts with subtlety, you're going to want to give them an environment and reactions to it that support that kind of behavior. If you want a villain that gets angry and just smashes everything in their path, you need to give them an environment that encourages that.
A clever, subtle villain could have grown up in a house with two rich parents. Two parents that are highly intelligent, but manipulative. In order to survive such an environment, a child would have to develop defenses. To produce a villain, it could be as simple as having the child grow adept at manipulation, and learning to be subtle and clever so they don't get caught and punished by their parents.
For a more overt villain, one that perhaps can't hide their dastardly nature in polite company, perhaps a more volatile environment would suffice. A father abusive to the mother could cause a male child to grow up believing that women are lesser creatures and should be crushed underfoot. Or could cause a female child to want to reduce men to slaves as revenge for what they've done to her gender.
At this point, your villain isn't necessarily on a path to self-destruction. They may simply be developing bad habits, or unhelpful emotional reactions to the things over which they have no control. They could also just be developing negative or hurtful beliefs about the way things are or should be. The differences between them and the average child are a little more pronounced at this stage, but possibly not obvious to the observer. They're still developing. They're not villains yet.
September 26, 2015
The Anatomy of a Villain for Authors, Part One: Beginnings
As promised, we're starting a new series this week. As you may have guessed from the title, we're going to be talking about character development for villains. Not antagonists, villains. An antagonist can be a villain, yes, but not all antagonists are villains. An antagonist is a character that puts roadblocks in front of a protagonist. A villain is a character whose motives are evil.
This particular subject (villains) is geared toward fantasy writers specifically, primarily because that's my own preferred genre both for reading and writing, and I see a need for fantasy writers to do a little more with their villains. However, due to my approach, this series can also be applied to other genres - in which I have seen the same problem crop up.
How many books have you read where there's a terrible bad guy, who's just totally evil, not a redeeming quality at all? If you're like me, you can name several without really having to think about it. It's not that the stories themselves are bad, or that the authors are bad writers. Just that the villains are often one-dimensional. There's no real conflict in the reader over who to root for, there's no hope for redemption for the villain, there's just the hope that the protagonist will win. And, usually, there's no explanation for how the villain became a villain to start with. They are "pure evil" and that's all they exist to do - evil.
I hope to combat that tendency in this series.
In order to do that, I'm going to go on several assumptions. First of all, that your villain is, or was at one time, human. Second, that your villain started out their life, more or less, the same as the average human. I'm doing it this way because, in the realm of fantasy, anything goes. But all fantasy writers draw on the human experience, so even if your villain is not technically human, they're going to have some relatable human characteristics. Even if the fantasy world you have is very, very different from our own, you should find something applicable to it.
I am also going to approach the subject of villains rather differently than the character development series. We're not going to start with a basic character outline. Instead, we're going to start from the moment your villain was normal, and trace the departure from normalcy to villainy. To do this, I'm going to start from the point that all living creatures have in common: birth.
Birth
At this point, your villain is the same as everyone else, as far as experiences go. While the things that happen to them shortly after birth might affect them at a subconscious level for years to come, it's unlikely that they will remember much at all.
So at this point, there are two major things you need to look at. First, the circumstances surrounding their birth. And second, if there are any physical differences or problems that they were born with.
It's tempting, when going "back in time" to try and improve your villain's lives somewhat. It can be hard to give a character a difficult life just because you need a villain for something. But most people who live nearly perfect lives with no emotional or psychological issues don't turn into villains. They can, certainly, but that's not usually the case. So if that's one of your tendencies, then consider setting it aside while working on your villain.
Circumstances of Birth:
The circumstances surrounding a birth can affect a child for years to come, whether they remember it or not. Usually they will not, but those circumstances will still have a ripple effect, good or bad. Who was present for the birth? Why? Was it an easy labor for the mother? Why or why not? Where did the mother go into labor? Why was she there? In a fantasy world, was there magic at play? Were they born in a significant place? Did something strange happen?
In a fantasy world, the timing and placement of a birth can have great significance. If you've already built this world and know what kind of things will be taken as omens, this would be the time to decide whether to include them in the birth of your villain.
Physical Differences or Problems:
When a child is born there's the possibility of physical differences or problems. These differences or problems can cause issues later in life, and drive a wedge between them and everyone else. For example, a child born without one hand. This isn't something that has to be a negative, but it could be. This difference could cause the child to be made fun of by other children. Do they have differences, physically, from average children?
Maybe the type of birth caused brain damage of some kind. Maybe there was some form of magic involved that affected the child's mind, or would affect their development in the future. Maybe they have a purely physical defect that won't cause them any real issues (having two eyes of different colors, perhaps) but there's a superstition against them.
I think it's important to note that many (if not all) of the differences you could give this soon-to-be-villain could also be used to create a hero. At this point, your villain is simply a child that has differences from the "normal" child. They have only the potential to become bad. This same potential applies equally to becoming a hero.
Next week we'll move on to the next stage of development in your villain, so keep an eye out!
This particular subject (villains) is geared toward fantasy writers specifically, primarily because that's my own preferred genre both for reading and writing, and I see a need for fantasy writers to do a little more with their villains. However, due to my approach, this series can also be applied to other genres - in which I have seen the same problem crop up.
How many books have you read where there's a terrible bad guy, who's just totally evil, not a redeeming quality at all? If you're like me, you can name several without really having to think about it. It's not that the stories themselves are bad, or that the authors are bad writers. Just that the villains are often one-dimensional. There's no real conflict in the reader over who to root for, there's no hope for redemption for the villain, there's just the hope that the protagonist will win. And, usually, there's no explanation for how the villain became a villain to start with. They are "pure evil" and that's all they exist to do - evil.
I hope to combat that tendency in this series.
In order to do that, I'm going to go on several assumptions. First of all, that your villain is, or was at one time, human. Second, that your villain started out their life, more or less, the same as the average human. I'm doing it this way because, in the realm of fantasy, anything goes. But all fantasy writers draw on the human experience, so even if your villain is not technically human, they're going to have some relatable human characteristics. Even if the fantasy world you have is very, very different from our own, you should find something applicable to it.
I am also going to approach the subject of villains rather differently than the character development series. We're not going to start with a basic character outline. Instead, we're going to start from the moment your villain was normal, and trace the departure from normalcy to villainy. To do this, I'm going to start from the point that all living creatures have in common: birth.
Birth
At this point, your villain is the same as everyone else, as far as experiences go. While the things that happen to them shortly after birth might affect them at a subconscious level for years to come, it's unlikely that they will remember much at all.
So at this point, there are two major things you need to look at. First, the circumstances surrounding their birth. And second, if there are any physical differences or problems that they were born with.
It's tempting, when going "back in time" to try and improve your villain's lives somewhat. It can be hard to give a character a difficult life just because you need a villain for something. But most people who live nearly perfect lives with no emotional or psychological issues don't turn into villains. They can, certainly, but that's not usually the case. So if that's one of your tendencies, then consider setting it aside while working on your villain.
Circumstances of Birth:
The circumstances surrounding a birth can affect a child for years to come, whether they remember it or not. Usually they will not, but those circumstances will still have a ripple effect, good or bad. Who was present for the birth? Why? Was it an easy labor for the mother? Why or why not? Where did the mother go into labor? Why was she there? In a fantasy world, was there magic at play? Were they born in a significant place? Did something strange happen?
In a fantasy world, the timing and placement of a birth can have great significance. If you've already built this world and know what kind of things will be taken as omens, this would be the time to decide whether to include them in the birth of your villain.
Physical Differences or Problems:
When a child is born there's the possibility of physical differences or problems. These differences or problems can cause issues later in life, and drive a wedge between them and everyone else. For example, a child born without one hand. This isn't something that has to be a negative, but it could be. This difference could cause the child to be made fun of by other children. Do they have differences, physically, from average children?
Maybe the type of birth caused brain damage of some kind. Maybe there was some form of magic involved that affected the child's mind, or would affect their development in the future. Maybe they have a purely physical defect that won't cause them any real issues (having two eyes of different colors, perhaps) but there's a superstition against them.
I think it's important to note that many (if not all) of the differences you could give this soon-to-be-villain could also be used to create a hero. At this point, your villain is simply a child that has differences from the "normal" child. They have only the potential to become bad. This same potential applies equally to becoming a hero.
Next week we'll move on to the next stage of development in your villain, so keep an eye out!
September 19, 2015
Character Development For Authors Part Six: Character Emotions
I'm back, finally. It's been a few weeks longer than I intended, due to sickness and other factors, but I am back! And now we're moving on to your character's emotions. To give us a guide to go by, I looked up the most universally recognized emotions, and they turned out to be anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise. (I found that info here.)
To use these to help develop your character, you're going to decide what ways your character expresses and handles these emotions. Like everything else we've covered, there's a wide array of choices before you. And, like most things pertaining to personality and character, it's connected to virtually every other aspect of your character.
You've probably already got some idea of how this is going to work for your character based on the work you've already done with their history and the Big Five personality traits, but now's the time to really focus in on it. For each emotion we're going to cover how easily they're influenced by it, the most common triggers, and how they express it.
Anger
Amount of influence: How angry do they have to be before anger starts coloring their actions? Before they act on it? How much influence does that anger have when it does start affecting them? If you have a character that doesn't let anger influence them, what does it look like? If they let anger influence their every decision, what does that look like?
Common triggers:
What makes your character angry? Is it an insult to their intelligence? A slight to their mother? Why does it make them angry? Because they were told they were stupid when they were young and they never quite believed it? Do they get angry when something doesn't turn out the way they expected it to?
Expression:
When angry, how does your character express it? Do they hit things? Do they yell? Scream? Cry? Do they get very quiet or leave the situation? Why? What in their history causes them to react this way? These can be either voluntary or involuntary. A voluntary habit, or one that they choose to do, could involve slamming doors so people are aware of how upset they are. An involuntary habit could be something like picking at the hem of a garment, picking a spot on their chin, or tugging at the ends of their hair.
Disgust
Amount of influence:
How much do they allow a feeling of disgust to influence their choices? When faced with something smelly, for instance, would that cause them to abandon a goal, or would they wince and deal with it? How disgusted would they have to be to be persuaded to give up on an important goal? And what level of disgust would affect their interactions with people? Someone with a low tolerance for gross things, for example, might wrinkle their nose or cough in the presence of someone who is rather more...pungent...than ordinarily expected. Someone with a high level of tolerance might not be swayed at all by the prospect of working manure into the ground with their hands.
Common triggers:
What things make your character gag? The scent of rotting plant matter is a safe bet, usually, as is the smell of rotting meat or feces. But I've met people who are physically sickened by the smell and taste of tomatoes You don't have to stick with what's generally considered gross here; you could pick something that's normally considered good. Most people like mashed potatoes; it's considered a comfort food. But my best friend doesn't like the texture. Most people like the smell of flowers. Perhaps your character thinks it's gross. Perhaps feelings of disgust are provoked by a specific person, or the idea of walking barefoot through a house.
Expression:
Disgust is usually expressed with a combination of noise, ("Ewwwww!") expression (wrinkled nose) and action (stepping backward). Your character might do one of these things, they might do all three. Or, you can take the more creative route, and pick something else - or even a different reaction for every sense that's being offended. A bad smell might manifest as a runny nose. Something that looks gross might be a reflexive turning of the head. Something that sounds bad might cause a verbal reaction. Something that feels gross might result in shuddering.
Fear
Amount of influence:
Many people have fear as a driving motivation for most of the things they do or don't do. They don't take chances because of the fear of what could go wrong. The fear of loss, of pain, in some cases, even a fear of success. Fear is very prevalent, and also a potent motivator. The question is, how much does fear affect your character? Do they allow fear to get the better of them regularly? Does it influence them a lot? Maybe it doesn't influence them much at all. Maybe its influence is small, but everywhere.
Common triggers:
What does your character fear? Spiders? People? Heights? Something more complex, like abandonment? Make sure you reference your history notes; chances are, you included a number of things that could translate into believable fears. How potent is this fear? A fear of spiders, for example, might be a small fear, one that's easy to overcome, for one character. But for another it might be full arachnophobia. How much of a trigger are these things?
Expression:
When afraid, what does your character do? Do they shake? Do their palms get cold? Do they sweat? Fear can produce lots of different physiological symptoms, none of them controlled. It's important to think about what effects fear has that aren't conscious, as well as the ones that are. How do they handle their fears? Do they avoid them? Do they face them one by one in an attempt to conquer them? When afraid, maybe their jaw clenches. Maybe they ball their hands into fists, or pace.
Joy
Amount of influence:
Is your character the kind of person that jumps up and down for joy, or do they just smile and go on with their daily business? Would they need something as simple as blowing bubbles to make them happy, or something much, much bigger? How much does joy influence their actions? When they are joyful, do they completely freak out, or do they just quietly savor it?
Common triggers:
What makes your character happy? The aforementioned bubbles? A love letter from their significant other? A good movie or book? If you want your character to be happy in any part of your story, then you'll have to know what will make it so. If your character is a child, usually something as simple as a new stuffed animal, or getting to go to the park will suffice. For an adult, maybe a promotion at work, flowers from a loved one, a long-anticipated vacation. For day-today joy, perhaps just everything going right as they get ready for work in the morning. A beautiful day, a good night of sleep...it all depends on how easy it is to make your character happy.
Expression:
Do they like to dance in circles when they're joyful? Sing? Maybe they squeal, or clap their hands. Perhaps it's just a big smile. But your character has to express joy somehow, unless, for some reason, they hold it all in or just don't feel any. With children characters, they usually express joy in a more obvious, carefree way, whereas adults are more restrained. This isn't always the case (I know of an adult that still squeals loudly over cute kitten pictures) and an adult or child that is different can be an intriguing part of a story. Again, the history of your character may present you with ways that you can show joy and the reasons behind it.
Sadness
Amount of influence:
Is your character one that cries watching kid's movies? Or can they watch a tragedy and not bat an eye? Can they experience something very sad, and still go about their normal business, or does it incapacitate them for days? Maybe they're between the two extremes - their work is affected, but not overly so; they break down only at home. How much is their life affected when they're sad? Does their work suffer? Do their choices suddenly turn sour? Are their relationships changed?
Common triggers:
What makes them sad or depressed? A rainy day? A fight with a friend? Maybe a sad movie. Perhaps they have an emotional crisis over the dropping and breaking of cookies, because it makes them sad that all the work someone put into those cookies was wasted. Maybe the idea of starving children, lost families, wasted time or effort, get to them. You can pick almost anything and turn it into a sadness trigger if you want or need to. Even a sunny day, if your character associates sunny days with bad things, can make them sad.
Expression:
Is your character a crier? Do they cry to show sadness? Maybe they don't; maybe they prefer to go into some form of seclusion and avoid people. Maybe when they get sad, they get angry because they hate being sad, and therefore express sadness by being angry. Some people when they get sad turn to substance abuse. Some want to talk about their feelings, some just want to be left alone. In what way does your character express feelings of sadness?
Surprise
Amount of influence:
How does surprise influence your character's behavior? When surprised, do they gape at people and things? Do they stop processing information in the same way? If they're surprised, maybe by someone's behavior, are they then distracted at work, trying to make sense of it? How much does a feeling surprise affect your character's daily life? Maybe it doesn't affect them at all. Maybe it affects them so much they don't get hardly anything done.
Common triggers:
Surprise is almost always caused by things being different when we expect them to be the same. In other words, by expectations being thwarted. But what surprises your character the most in those situations? Is it when a person's actions are incompatible with past experiences of them? When there's a spider in their cabinet?
Expression:
Surprise is often expressed with gasps, or jerking (jumping), but surprise isn't just limited to things like surprise parties. Surprise can also include a friend acting out in a way never seen before, and in those cases, what will your character do? Will they talk to their friend? Will they watch and see what happens? Does this strange phenomena draw their attention? Some people withdraw when surprised; some people lash out. Some people laugh it off, and some get embarrassed. How does your character show feelings of surprise?
We've gone over a lot of stuff the last few weeks; a lot of little things. So here, I'd just like to let you know that you don't have to do every single one of them. Pick the ones you need, and tweak it to fit. That's part of the fun of being an author, you know? And remember to have fun with it, too. ;)
Guess what?
This concludes my series on character development! Yay!
The entire series, plus some extra content I'll be working on over the next few weeks, will be available as an ebook soon, and I'll be starting a new blog series next week, so keep an eye out!
To use these to help develop your character, you're going to decide what ways your character expresses and handles these emotions. Like everything else we've covered, there's a wide array of choices before you. And, like most things pertaining to personality and character, it's connected to virtually every other aspect of your character.
You've probably already got some idea of how this is going to work for your character based on the work you've already done with their history and the Big Five personality traits, but now's the time to really focus in on it. For each emotion we're going to cover how easily they're influenced by it, the most common triggers, and how they express it.
Anger
Amount of influence: How angry do they have to be before anger starts coloring their actions? Before they act on it? How much influence does that anger have when it does start affecting them? If you have a character that doesn't let anger influence them, what does it look like? If they let anger influence their every decision, what does that look like?
Common triggers:
What makes your character angry? Is it an insult to their intelligence? A slight to their mother? Why does it make them angry? Because they were told they were stupid when they were young and they never quite believed it? Do they get angry when something doesn't turn out the way they expected it to?
Expression:
When angry, how does your character express it? Do they hit things? Do they yell? Scream? Cry? Do they get very quiet or leave the situation? Why? What in their history causes them to react this way? These can be either voluntary or involuntary. A voluntary habit, or one that they choose to do, could involve slamming doors so people are aware of how upset they are. An involuntary habit could be something like picking at the hem of a garment, picking a spot on their chin, or tugging at the ends of their hair.
Disgust
Amount of influence:
How much do they allow a feeling of disgust to influence their choices? When faced with something smelly, for instance, would that cause them to abandon a goal, or would they wince and deal with it? How disgusted would they have to be to be persuaded to give up on an important goal? And what level of disgust would affect their interactions with people? Someone with a low tolerance for gross things, for example, might wrinkle their nose or cough in the presence of someone who is rather more...pungent...than ordinarily expected. Someone with a high level of tolerance might not be swayed at all by the prospect of working manure into the ground with their hands.
Common triggers:
What things make your character gag? The scent of rotting plant matter is a safe bet, usually, as is the smell of rotting meat or feces. But I've met people who are physically sickened by the smell and taste of tomatoes You don't have to stick with what's generally considered gross here; you could pick something that's normally considered good. Most people like mashed potatoes; it's considered a comfort food. But my best friend doesn't like the texture. Most people like the smell of flowers. Perhaps your character thinks it's gross. Perhaps feelings of disgust are provoked by a specific person, or the idea of walking barefoot through a house.
Expression:
Disgust is usually expressed with a combination of noise, ("Ewwwww!") expression (wrinkled nose) and action (stepping backward). Your character might do one of these things, they might do all three. Or, you can take the more creative route, and pick something else - or even a different reaction for every sense that's being offended. A bad smell might manifest as a runny nose. Something that looks gross might be a reflexive turning of the head. Something that sounds bad might cause a verbal reaction. Something that feels gross might result in shuddering.
Fear
Amount of influence:
Many people have fear as a driving motivation for most of the things they do or don't do. They don't take chances because of the fear of what could go wrong. The fear of loss, of pain, in some cases, even a fear of success. Fear is very prevalent, and also a potent motivator. The question is, how much does fear affect your character? Do they allow fear to get the better of them regularly? Does it influence them a lot? Maybe it doesn't influence them much at all. Maybe its influence is small, but everywhere.
Common triggers:
What does your character fear? Spiders? People? Heights? Something more complex, like abandonment? Make sure you reference your history notes; chances are, you included a number of things that could translate into believable fears. How potent is this fear? A fear of spiders, for example, might be a small fear, one that's easy to overcome, for one character. But for another it might be full arachnophobia. How much of a trigger are these things?
Expression:
When afraid, what does your character do? Do they shake? Do their palms get cold? Do they sweat? Fear can produce lots of different physiological symptoms, none of them controlled. It's important to think about what effects fear has that aren't conscious, as well as the ones that are. How do they handle their fears? Do they avoid them? Do they face them one by one in an attempt to conquer them? When afraid, maybe their jaw clenches. Maybe they ball their hands into fists, or pace.
Joy
Amount of influence:
Is your character the kind of person that jumps up and down for joy, or do they just smile and go on with their daily business? Would they need something as simple as blowing bubbles to make them happy, or something much, much bigger? How much does joy influence their actions? When they are joyful, do they completely freak out, or do they just quietly savor it?
Common triggers:
What makes your character happy? The aforementioned bubbles? A love letter from their significant other? A good movie or book? If you want your character to be happy in any part of your story, then you'll have to know what will make it so. If your character is a child, usually something as simple as a new stuffed animal, or getting to go to the park will suffice. For an adult, maybe a promotion at work, flowers from a loved one, a long-anticipated vacation. For day-today joy, perhaps just everything going right as they get ready for work in the morning. A beautiful day, a good night of sleep...it all depends on how easy it is to make your character happy.
Expression:
Do they like to dance in circles when they're joyful? Sing? Maybe they squeal, or clap their hands. Perhaps it's just a big smile. But your character has to express joy somehow, unless, for some reason, they hold it all in or just don't feel any. With children characters, they usually express joy in a more obvious, carefree way, whereas adults are more restrained. This isn't always the case (I know of an adult that still squeals loudly over cute kitten pictures) and an adult or child that is different can be an intriguing part of a story. Again, the history of your character may present you with ways that you can show joy and the reasons behind it.
Sadness
Amount of influence:
Is your character one that cries watching kid's movies? Or can they watch a tragedy and not bat an eye? Can they experience something very sad, and still go about their normal business, or does it incapacitate them for days? Maybe they're between the two extremes - their work is affected, but not overly so; they break down only at home. How much is their life affected when they're sad? Does their work suffer? Do their choices suddenly turn sour? Are their relationships changed?
Common triggers:
What makes them sad or depressed? A rainy day? A fight with a friend? Maybe a sad movie. Perhaps they have an emotional crisis over the dropping and breaking of cookies, because it makes them sad that all the work someone put into those cookies was wasted. Maybe the idea of starving children, lost families, wasted time or effort, get to them. You can pick almost anything and turn it into a sadness trigger if you want or need to. Even a sunny day, if your character associates sunny days with bad things, can make them sad.
Expression:
Is your character a crier? Do they cry to show sadness? Maybe they don't; maybe they prefer to go into some form of seclusion and avoid people. Maybe when they get sad, they get angry because they hate being sad, and therefore express sadness by being angry. Some people when they get sad turn to substance abuse. Some want to talk about their feelings, some just want to be left alone. In what way does your character express feelings of sadness?
Surprise
Amount of influence:
How does surprise influence your character's behavior? When surprised, do they gape at people and things? Do they stop processing information in the same way? If they're surprised, maybe by someone's behavior, are they then distracted at work, trying to make sense of it? How much does a feeling surprise affect your character's daily life? Maybe it doesn't affect them at all. Maybe it affects them so much they don't get hardly anything done.
Common triggers:
Surprise is almost always caused by things being different when we expect them to be the same. In other words, by expectations being thwarted. But what surprises your character the most in those situations? Is it when a person's actions are incompatible with past experiences of them? When there's a spider in their cabinet?
Expression:
Surprise is often expressed with gasps, or jerking (jumping), but surprise isn't just limited to things like surprise parties. Surprise can also include a friend acting out in a way never seen before, and in those cases, what will your character do? Will they talk to their friend? Will they watch and see what happens? Does this strange phenomena draw their attention? Some people withdraw when surprised; some people lash out. Some people laugh it off, and some get embarrassed. How does your character show feelings of surprise?
We've gone over a lot of stuff the last few weeks; a lot of little things. So here, I'd just like to let you know that you don't have to do every single one of them. Pick the ones you need, and tweak it to fit. That's part of the fun of being an author, you know? And remember to have fun with it, too. ;)
Guess what?
This concludes my series on character development! Yay!
The entire series, plus some extra content I'll be working on over the next few weeks, will be available as an ebook soon, and I'll be starting a new blog series next week, so keep an eye out!
August 22, 2015
Character Development For Authors, Part Five: Character Personality Basics
We're finally getting into the personality aspects of your character. If you haven't been taking notes on your character already, I would encourage you to start now. If you're like me, you can and will forget it, even if you tell yourself you won't.
I'm going to use this study as the basis for our basic personality set. I'm going to start with the Big Five personality traits (for an article on those, you can go here), and next week we'll add the six basic emotions. We're going to be spending at least three weeks on personality, so be prepared!
You might find it easy to go through and rate your character on a scale of one to ten for these. In my own descriptions I'm going to be using this method. As an example, the first of the Big Five is extraversion. Ten would be very extraverted, zero would be not at all. I'm just using the Big Five as a starting point, and will be altering them to fit the development of a character, rather than a classifying of a real personality.
Extraversion
According to the article linked above, extraversion is levels of talkativeness, sociability, and assertiveness, as well as a few other factors. For our purposes, let's call it extraversion versus introversion.
Most of us have an image of the complete extravert. The person that talks all the time, has tons of friends, maybe throws parties regularly, has no problems striking up conversations with strangers or going new places. On the other end of the spectrum are introverts. Whereas extraverts get energy from being around people, introverts get energy from being alone. That's the simplest definition of it. Introverts are not necessarily shy people, just people that get their energy from being alone as opposed to getting it from social interaction.
If you have an extraverted character, you may choose to show this by having them see out constant social interaction. If they are introverted, you might choose to show this by having them spend a good portion of time alone, or being uncomfortable in social situations.
Agreeableness
The article defines agreeableness as things like trust, altruism, and kindness. Most of us have had experiences with agreeable people and their opposite. The opposite of an agreeable person is a disagreeable person, or, someone who is distrustful, selfish, and unkind.
If your character is very agreeable, they are likely to be easily taken advantage of. If they are trusting and altruistic, for example, they may do something nice for someone who was manipulating them. If they are disagreeable, then they are also likely to be cynical and have a hard time believing in the good in people. You can show either in a number of ways.
Perhaps your trusting character believes someone, and then discover they were lied to. Maybe your cynical character doesn't trust someone they should, and they find out later that their mistrust hurt that person deeply.
Conscientiousness
This includes good impulse control and high levels of thoughtfulness. Being highly conscientious usually comes with organization and goal-oriented behaviors, as well as attention to detail.
If your character has a high level of conscientiousness (a ten on our scale) then they probably have a larger picture in mind when they do things. As an example, when they organize their desk, they know that being aware of where everything is will increase productivity, therefore increasing their chances of a promotion.
A character with a low level of conscientiousness (a one on our scale) may be impulsive and thoughtless. They might, for example, say things without thinking on a regular basis, or have an issue with something like impulse shopping. They may be disorganized, and have no real goals in life.
Neuroticism
To quote the article: "Individuals high in this trait tend to experience emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, irritability, and sadness." A character with a high level of neuroticism might be moody and depressed, or have emotional instabilities. They might, for instance, be an adult that throws temper tantrums when they feel they've been insulted.
A character with low levels of neuroticism will probably be on the happier, more stable side. They would most likely react to a situation in which they feel they've been insulted with more decorum than the person with a higher level. They may even be able to brush it off. They are probably happier people, who are less sensitive to irritation.
It's relatively easy to show a character that has a high level of neuroticism. Just put them in a normal, albeit frustrating or angering, circumstance, and show them overreacting in some way. For a character that has low levels, maybe they don't react at all. They're more likely to be calm in those kinds of situations.
Openness
Openness is associated with imagination and insight, and people with high scores tend to have a broad range of interests as well.
A character that scores a ten in this area will likely be imaginative, have a good intuition, possibly be able to easily step into another person's shoes, and have many things they're interested in. A character who scores low may not have a good imagination, and may be unobservant. They may also have a very rigid idea of how things should be, and not be understanding of others that don't meet their standards.
An open character can be presented by having them engage in some activity that involves imagination, such as art of some kind. They can also be shown by giving them a good intuition, like guessing what's going on with someone before they're told. A character that scores low on openness can be portrayed by lower levels of imagination, a talent for mathematics, or low art skills as well as a difficulty understanding the plights of others.
Each of these represent a range going from one extreme to another. You can pick a point between either of the two extremes and have it be believable. The thing to keep in mind with these is that you make sure your character's behavior is consistent with what you choose. An introverted character, for example, would probably not go to two parties in a row on the same night. If you're going to have them do that, or need them to do it for the sake of your plot, then there has to be an explanation for why they're doing it. To get an introverted character to be very social at two loud parties on the same night they would usually need a compelling reason to do so, and would also likely be uncomfortable.
As always, when designing your character, you need to remember that what you need them to do needs to be consistent with the personality you give them, or you need to be willing to manipulate the circumstances around them to force them into it.
I'm going to use this study as the basis for our basic personality set. I'm going to start with the Big Five personality traits (for an article on those, you can go here), and next week we'll add the six basic emotions. We're going to be spending at least three weeks on personality, so be prepared!
You might find it easy to go through and rate your character on a scale of one to ten for these. In my own descriptions I'm going to be using this method. As an example, the first of the Big Five is extraversion. Ten would be very extraverted, zero would be not at all. I'm just using the Big Five as a starting point, and will be altering them to fit the development of a character, rather than a classifying of a real personality.
Extraversion
According to the article linked above, extraversion is levels of talkativeness, sociability, and assertiveness, as well as a few other factors. For our purposes, let's call it extraversion versus introversion.
Most of us have an image of the complete extravert. The person that talks all the time, has tons of friends, maybe throws parties regularly, has no problems striking up conversations with strangers or going new places. On the other end of the spectrum are introverts. Whereas extraverts get energy from being around people, introverts get energy from being alone. That's the simplest definition of it. Introverts are not necessarily shy people, just people that get their energy from being alone as opposed to getting it from social interaction.
If you have an extraverted character, you may choose to show this by having them see out constant social interaction. If they are introverted, you might choose to show this by having them spend a good portion of time alone, or being uncomfortable in social situations.
Agreeableness
The article defines agreeableness as things like trust, altruism, and kindness. Most of us have had experiences with agreeable people and their opposite. The opposite of an agreeable person is a disagreeable person, or, someone who is distrustful, selfish, and unkind.
If your character is very agreeable, they are likely to be easily taken advantage of. If they are trusting and altruistic, for example, they may do something nice for someone who was manipulating them. If they are disagreeable, then they are also likely to be cynical and have a hard time believing in the good in people. You can show either in a number of ways.
Perhaps your trusting character believes someone, and then discover they were lied to. Maybe your cynical character doesn't trust someone they should, and they find out later that their mistrust hurt that person deeply.
Conscientiousness
This includes good impulse control and high levels of thoughtfulness. Being highly conscientious usually comes with organization and goal-oriented behaviors, as well as attention to detail.
If your character has a high level of conscientiousness (a ten on our scale) then they probably have a larger picture in mind when they do things. As an example, when they organize their desk, they know that being aware of where everything is will increase productivity, therefore increasing their chances of a promotion.
A character with a low level of conscientiousness (a one on our scale) may be impulsive and thoughtless. They might, for example, say things without thinking on a regular basis, or have an issue with something like impulse shopping. They may be disorganized, and have no real goals in life.
Neuroticism
To quote the article: "Individuals high in this trait tend to experience emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, irritability, and sadness." A character with a high level of neuroticism might be moody and depressed, or have emotional instabilities. They might, for instance, be an adult that throws temper tantrums when they feel they've been insulted.
A character with low levels of neuroticism will probably be on the happier, more stable side. They would most likely react to a situation in which they feel they've been insulted with more decorum than the person with a higher level. They may even be able to brush it off. They are probably happier people, who are less sensitive to irritation.
It's relatively easy to show a character that has a high level of neuroticism. Just put them in a normal, albeit frustrating or angering, circumstance, and show them overreacting in some way. For a character that has low levels, maybe they don't react at all. They're more likely to be calm in those kinds of situations.
Openness
Openness is associated with imagination and insight, and people with high scores tend to have a broad range of interests as well.
A character that scores a ten in this area will likely be imaginative, have a good intuition, possibly be able to easily step into another person's shoes, and have many things they're interested in. A character who scores low may not have a good imagination, and may be unobservant. They may also have a very rigid idea of how things should be, and not be understanding of others that don't meet their standards.
An open character can be presented by having them engage in some activity that involves imagination, such as art of some kind. They can also be shown by giving them a good intuition, like guessing what's going on with someone before they're told. A character that scores low on openness can be portrayed by lower levels of imagination, a talent for mathematics, or low art skills as well as a difficulty understanding the plights of others.
Each of these represent a range going from one extreme to another. You can pick a point between either of the two extremes and have it be believable. The thing to keep in mind with these is that you make sure your character's behavior is consistent with what you choose. An introverted character, for example, would probably not go to two parties in a row on the same night. If you're going to have them do that, or need them to do it for the sake of your plot, then there has to be an explanation for why they're doing it. To get an introverted character to be very social at two loud parties on the same night they would usually need a compelling reason to do so, and would also likely be uncomfortable.
As always, when designing your character, you need to remember that what you need them to do needs to be consistent with the personality you give them, or you need to be willing to manipulate the circumstances around them to force them into it.
