Characterisation

From UnknowableWiki

Characterisation is the way the author develops the character. By this, the author must include the character's appearance, their thoughts and actions, their reactions and the way they speak.

There are several ways of going about creating a character, but however you choose to do it, you must always understand your characters inside and out. Having them speak and interact with the other characters is not enough; you must understand, specifically, why they act the way they do. By this we mean that you must always know how their personalities determine their actions.

Most fanfiction authors, primarily authors that start writing for the first time have trouble with characterisation. Most of their characters tend to end up as Mary Sues, something readers dislike, but with time and practice, the author improves and manages to write the characters and keep them characterised.

In order to craft a fully-developed character, it is helpful to craft a fully-developed backstory for him or her. J.K. Rowling, for instance, has said that she has tonnes of notes on even the most minor character in the Harry Potter books.

Whenever a character does something, be it in words, in thought, or in action, it might be useful to keep in mind why the character is doing that--what event in the character's life has led him or her to dislike a person, or to have a fear of spiders?

The Unknowable Room really tries to help authors with characterisation problems, so admins and members often decide one day in which to hold chats so they can argue different topics on fanfiction. One of them was dedicated to Characterisation and Character Relationships.

Things to Avoid

It is doubtful that aspects of personality are genetic: they are, certainly, influenced by one's environment, but if someone is adopted, say, (s)he will not have the exact same sense of humour as his/her mother or father.