Auditioning Your Cast of Characters

Hopefully by now you have an outline. Don't carve this in stone just yet because you need to create your cast of characters. If characters have the right dimension they'll push your outline into new places you didn't think of before. That's okay! Just go back and rework your outline as you need to so you still have that map for later.

Novels are meant to take on a life of their own--it's evidence that your book is becoming "real." And if it's real to you, the writer, it will be real to your reader.

So, sit down and start thinking of the who part of your novel. Start with your main characters, then go on to more peripheral ones. Characters need depth to resonate with your readers. By depth I don't mean dump a load of information on the reader up front. That's overwhelming and readers simply can't retain it all (besides, they want your PLOT to pull them forward and information dumps aren't plot). Some details you create may never come to light in the book, only you will know them. But in order to write a character well you need to know them intimately.

Note that often as I'm writing I don't really know a character until I've written the full draft or even a couple drafts as the details of that character's life take form. But add in as much detail as you can think of now and go back later to fill in more as it reveals itself to you.

Here are some questions to consider as you brainstorm who will be in your novel:

1. What does your character look like? Their ethnicity, eye and hair color, height. Often this is the first thing the reader will learn about your characters. Don't lose track of this as you write! Readers will notice.

2. What is your character's history? Their life before the story began, their family background. What has caused them to become who they are at story's start? These things should weigh into what they do in the course of the story.

3. What are your character's strengths and weaknesses? Every character should have both if they are to be like people we know in real life. Sometimes the character will be aware of their own strengths and weaknesses, sometimes not. It's often more fun if they are clueless about what they are good at or awful at. And remember that often a person's strength is also their weakness--two sides of the same coin. For example, the brilliant scientist who can find the cure to horrible disease but because of his brilliance can't relate to people to save his life. That kind of juxtaposition will be rich for your reader.

4. What are your character's "markers"? These are defining quirks, expressions, speech patterns, body language that is specific to them. These touches add a depth to characters with very little work. They help SHOW the reader who your character is in the nuances. So give your character a lisp, a limp, they touch a scar on their face, maybe they sigh when they are frustrated... These should be used sparingly so they don't feel overdone, but just enough to add the right spice.

5. What is your character's world view? This will of course be affected by their history, but every person reacts differently to similar situations. Is your character a sunny person or rather dour? Do they have complete faith in God or are they as carnal as they come?

6. What does your character want? This is their personal arc within the story, not the plot necessarily though the two should be tied together. Keep in mind that what they want will likely shift altogether by story's end. For example in the movie Shrek, he thought he wanted to get all the woodland creatures out of his swamp so he could be alone (because he felt rejected), but by story's end Shrek discovered he wanted love, connection. Each character wants something, even minor characters. It can be something simple or something enormous. Let your imagination run wild!

7. How do you characters interact with each other? It's always more interesting to your reader if your cast of characters is diverse. How one character plays off another can add a lot of fun to your novel. Banter makes readers smile! Let one character's weakness be another character's strength. Look at other casts and see if there are elements that you might like to add to your story. For example take a look at Winnie the Pooh's cast: Pooh, steady calming bear; Owl, wise know-it-all, rather condescending; Piglet, quiet, sweet, loves on everyone; Tigger, energetic, spontaneous, fun; Eeyore, the cup is more than half empty... The characters play off of each other, making each character more memorable. 

8. Name your characters. A name says a lot. We have general ideas about people based on their name. Dickens used this greatly in his novels--just think Scrooge! A man named John is trustworthy. A woman named Betty is ditzy and usually rather plain. There are subtle stereotypes in names that we can use to our advantage, so let's use them.

Have fun with your casting call!

Traci