ashes ➷
asked
Shane Kuhn:
*waves* Hi there! I absolutely loved every bit of your book. So, my question is- How do you make your characters? Do you base them on real people or make them up as you go? Where do they come from? (I suppose that's three questions, oops!)
Shane Kuhn
Hi! *waves back* Thank you for loving my book. It's nice to hear as I'm currently in the dark night of the soul toiling on a new novel. Yours is a very good question because characters are EVERYTHING in any kind of story. I have kind of an interesting method for developing mine. When I was in film school, I learned a lot about writing characters from the acting teachers that did visiting lectures. From them I learned that actors can't truly play any role in a convincing way without actually becoming the role. Let's use Daniel Day Lewis as an example. He actually becomes every role he plays. And this is something we have done our whole lives, especially as children. So, when I'm building a character for a story, I pretend I am that person. I'll spend hours on walks or meditating, trying to think like the character I want to create. The beauty of it is, as human beings, so much of our lives are similar and relatable, regardless of our age, gender, ethnicity, etc. That's the reason empathy exists! So, I get into each character's skin and, based on motivations (the most important character trait in a story), I develop a personality and a belief system based on those motivations. If you are writing about Napoleon, you have to consider his motivation to acquire power on a massive scale. Based on this motivation, how would he behave in person? What would he have to believe? What would be his greatest wants and fears? This makes characters human beings and therefore relatable to us as their creators and as the people who read about them. And to speak to your other questions, experience definitely does play a part. We learn so much about the people we know, even fleetingly, and our brains dutifully store all of that information. So, yes, I will incorporate character traits that I have encountered in the people I know or know about, but I never base any characters based wholly on one person. Usually, it's a mixed bag of traits that come together to build a character. So, if you're a writer and you want to create a character, do everything in your power to become that person in your mind, and you'll see how it's possible because of what Carl Jung called the Collective Unconscious. Thanks for the great question!
More Answered Questions
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more