Writing builds character, or is that – Writers build characters?

I know I said my next blog post would be about the bloodsport called, Lesfic, but I wanted to give a little back with this post. So here it is:

The one question I’m sure all writers get: how do you come up with the characters in your book? Since I don’t write series books I can’t rely on the same characters to visit in every book, which means two to four new characters a book. That means different looks, personalities, styles, language uses, and names. Once I begin to develop the story, the characters start to take form. A look starts to develop in my mind’s eye. How they look, how they think, words they use, and personalities start to take shape. When this happens I start to use a character form I designed to keep track of their physical descriptions. I write down everything from the way they dress, the words they use, their moods, and finally words they would never use or be used to describe them. Why the last part? Well, it helps me to keep them in “character”, so to speak. To keep them from verging off into something they aren’t.

If a character is moody, dark and foreboding, I don’t want them to suddenly pop-up on the page farting sparkles and glitter, or suddenly become Ms. Mary Sunshine. It would be out of character and the reader would stop and suddenly wonder if they had missed something like: a medication change, a personality disorder I forgot to tell them about, or worse, a writer screw-up. I build all the characters, even the secondary ones, using my study sheet. It makes me think about them on a deeper level. Motivation, moods, why they do what they do and who’s to blame for it. I also have locations, a story synopsis, and a place for notes. I keep all of these pages, along with my research in a binder I build for each book. This allows me quick access to go back and make sure I’m not off track with my character building. I also put a pad of paper in it for outlining, notes, names, and anything else that might come to me. This is a pretty simplistic description of what I do and I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea.

I’ve attached my worksheets for you to use. Feel free to modify it to fit your needs, add details I might have forgotten or just see what I use to build a character. Enjoy!

So, does this mean writing builds character? Maybe.