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Tag Archives: Character tags and traits

Everyone has a story

24 Jul

It is that time again where the world becomes a single spectator for seventeen days. The Olympics open this Friday and are a spectacle so grand that the entire world stops for a moment to watch. For seventeen days, we watch the competition, the emotion, the determination, the courage, the joy, the heartache, the drama. As a former non-worldclass athlete, I can only dream of what it must be like to step on that podium and be heralded as the best in the world. To represent one’s country on such a grand stage must be a moment of a lifetime.

The competition is exciting and dramatic as it should be. However, the part of the television broadcasts that I enjoy most are the personal stories about the athletes. Every athlete has a unique and interesting story about who they are and how they became the best they can be. They all had major sacrifices and overcame huge obstacles. All have interesting character traits. They had support from various people and had their share of rivals who tried to keep them from realizing their dreams. They have finally made to the pinnacle of their sport, a few short days, hours, minutes, seconds, and even hundredths of seconds away from their goal. Still, there are obstacles to overcome and anti-heros from other countries to vanquish. Their life’s journey is coming to a climax!

Does this sound familiar?

Before you lies seventeen days of grist for the mill. If you cannot find a usable plot or character out of what you will hear and see,… well… you will. I have faith in you. Personally, I’m looking for someone I can love to hate. I know they’re out there. I just need to put my twisted hat on and tweak their life story a bit. Oh, I am so looking forward to it.

So Friday night, with pen and notebook in hand, I will in front of the tube looking for the perfect villain. I hope to hear about your finds in the near future.

 
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Posted by on July 24, 2012 in Other Strangeness

 

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Character Traits

13 Mar

Last week I provided some commentary on the use of character descriptive tags. I promised that I would follow that up with one regarding character traits. So, let’s clear up the question that I know has kept you awake every night since my last post, “What is the difference between a tag and a trait?”

The correct answer is: It depends on who you ask. But, since this is my post you will get my opinion. Tags are primarily, descriptors of a character’s appearance. These are words you might use to describe a picture of your character to someone else. Hair color or style, eye color of shape, general body type, height, weight, clothing worn, tattoos, scars, jewelry, tools carried, weapons, are all examples of tags.

Traits on the other hand, are those descriptors that make your two-dimensional character jump off the page. In most cases they are action or sensory oriented. Traits help the reader create a motion picture that affects all five of their senses.

Physical:

How does the character move? Does she limp? Does she have grace? Is she a good dancer? Does she routinely trip over her own feet? 

What is the character’s mannerisms, gestures, and expressions? Two of my favorite bloggers have already addressed this, so here are the links to their posts. Carlie Macullen  wrote a wonderful post relating to this group of descriptors. Also, Nicolette Jinks wrote an interesting post on body language. They are certainly must read material.

How does the character sound, smell, feel, and taste? What does his voice sound like? Does she wear perfume or does she reek of garlic? Is his handshake cold and clammy? Does her throat taste like the apricot scrub she used this morning? The more senses you can include, the more real the character will become.

Psychological:

This where you should go back to the volumes of character information you generated at the airport, (See previous post) and dig through your character personality, family history, back story, life crises, etc. What you want to do is find quirks, oddities, phobias, likes, and dislikes that will give your character that extra spark of interest and make them REAL! If you did your home work you should have a boatload to choose from. Decide on a couple to use that help clearly define your character. Clearly, this is where you insert flaws into your character.

Some notable examples include: Indiana Jones was afraid of snakes. Dr. Robert Langdon had claustrophobia from being stuck in a well as a child. Felix Unger was a neat freak. Ocean Eleven’s, Rusty Ryan was constantly eating something.

Don’t be afraid you will hurt your character by making them unusual. Trust me here, we are all unusual. Even identical twins are not truly identical. Otherwise, my trip to the airport would yield a blank notebook.

Like tags, traits can be overused. If a character has too many flaws, the become unbelievable and the reader will get bored. On the flip side, if you don’t use them, your characters will come off flat and uninteresting. This results in the reader getting bored. We all know what happens when a reader gets bored, the book closes. Just like chocolate and alcohol, use tags and traits in moderation.

One more thing, while I’m on the subject, Do not forget your supporting cast. Unless your main characters are interacting with crash-test dummys, add a few tags to your minor characters. It would not be the first time that the ogre”s spanish accented, sword-wielding side-kick cat, became the star of his own story. (I love that movie.)

So, go forth and flaw your characters. Make them real. And please, let me know how it works for you.

 
16 Comments

Posted by on March 13, 2012 in Other Strangeness

 

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Character Tags

08 Mar

The last week or so has been busy to say the least. Sunny southern California looses something when the only time you are outside is to drive from the hotel to the office and back with just enough time to grab a quick dinner and collapse into unconsciousness. The upside of the business trip was the seven and a half hours of plane travel.

Yes, if you follow this blog and you were at the Lindberg Terminal, you know that I was the strange man watching you and taking notes on the way you dress and your behavior. There are some real interesting people out there. 🙂  Now back to the flights.

Having spent two hours collecting “data”, the task before me was to create two in-depth characters. Core personality types soon were expanded to include: family histories, tragic situations, love languages, physical looks, costumes, education, etc. All told there is twenty to thirty pages of notes for each character. This page count will go up dramatically as the writing unfolds. However, it is a good start.

Somewhere over Nebraska, at 36,000 feet, it struck me. From all of this material, what six or seven words or phrases would I use as tags for the characters.  Those descriptive words that help the reader identify who the players are. How do we as writers decide what, of the volumes of physical description, psychological detail, back story, and personal background will we use to create a vivid image in the reader’s mind? Tags are the physical descriptors. I will discuss Traits in a later post.

Physically descriptive tags can create a cliche’. For example: a witch with a wart on her nose, a pointed hat, a broomstick, poison apple, and a black cat familiar. How many stories have you read where the villan has beady eyes and wears black clothes? Or, how about the villan’s bodyguard is a hulking brut with the IQ of a slug and hands like meat cleavers? What turns my stomach is the hero with blond hair, blue eyes, strong chin, six-pack abs.

However, tags can also give the character…well…character. Doesn’t the villan become more disturbing when he looks like the boy next door, wears designer clothes, and is a great cook to boot? The fact that dinner consists of the census taker’s liver and farver beans just adds more flavor to the story. 🙂 Why can’t the hero have a wicked scar across her face, a crippled leg and dress in thrift store cast offs?. The hero in one detective show I watched as a child was short, always wore a rumpled trench coat, smoked a cigar, and came across as extremely forgetful. Yet, he always figured out who the murderer was and usually got a confession.

Try to stay away from the cliché’s unless you have a very good reason. To me, cliché’s are boring. I have the attention span of a gnat when I read. If I get bored during the entrance of the main characters, the chances of my finishing the book are slim at best,  

So, use the volumes of character details you have worked so hard on and pick out the most unusual descriptors you have. If you don’t have anything that is unique, go back to the airport and sit there until you do. It should take you all of about two minutes.

Now that you have six or seven interesting  tags, use them. Not just the first time you introduce the character, but often throughout your story. I am not saying to use all six every time the character shows up. but, one or two inserted within the action, help your reader create a picture in their head. When you are finished reading this post, go pick up a book where you really liked the characters and find where the main character is introduced. Look for the tags the author uses. Then flip back a chapter or two and see what tags the author is using. Are they the same tags? Go back a few more chapters and see if the tags are still being used. I will bet you a magic acorn that the author is using the same tags throughout the story. The repetition reinforces the character’s image.

Take a look at your current project and see if adding a few tags will help bring color to your story. Let me know if it works for you.

In an upcoming post, I’ll talk about traits which are the psychological and action descriptors that really bring your character to life.

 
14 Comments

Posted by on March 8, 2012 in Other Strangeness

 

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