I’ve been working this week on fleshing the characters in my Birdie WiP, which I’ve been revising a few weeks now. It’s so easy to fall back on stereotypes, especially with secondary characters, and it’s got me thinking about how to make fresh, intriguing characters. How to make them human.
I know it’s a cliché to make your protagonist clumsy and awkward and feel out of place, especially in contemporary YA, but I think it’s cliché for a reason: that’s how so many of us felt in high school. I think there needs to be more to a main character’s personality, though. All of us have our own particular quirks. We have secret guilty pleasures. We have dreams we share with others and dreams we don’t dare speak aloud. These are the qualities that make us interesting and unique.
I’d rather read about a girl who collects porcelain pigs because her grandmother used to or who speaks with a lisp she tries desperately to hide. Something that sets her apart and makes her more real, not just another bumbling high school girl.
As for secondary characters, I try to stay away from the usual stereotypes: sassy best friend, nerd boy harboring a crush on the protagonist, etc. It’s fine for my best friend to be sassy, but she also needs to have her own interests and family life. The nerd boy needs to have some inner talent that may or may not impress the main character. No one fits into one tiny box.
What do you think? Do you think characters, especially main characters, need to be quirkier? Do you have any methods you use when creating characters?
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I think it all depends on what you know. It's true when writer's say to write what you know. If you know quirky (like myself) then your MC is more likely to have quirkier habits.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I love the secondary characters to be the quirky one's so my main character has to learn to deal with the quirkiness when she's normally so uptight.
Switching things up can sometimes be really fun!
Yeah, switching things up. I like that I have such different characters in the MS I'm working on now when compared to the first MS I wrote.
ReplyDeleteI want to read about a girl with a lisp too now :)
ReplyDeleteWell... I think characters must be their own people. Face it, all people have their quirks. They have their own personalities, likes or dislikes.
ReplyDeleteIf a writer can't make characters who act as if they are people, then quirks or no quirks, the whole thing will fall flat.
:-)
Quirky is good but I do think it doesn't always has to fit a certain mold
ReplyDeletethere's a great post on querytracker today on breaking out of the cliche. It directly references queries, but I think the same advice can apply to characters.
ReplyDeleteI like quirky characters. I think they're fun. But realistic fun/quirky lol.
ReplyDeleteI think it can be difficult to make them unique sometimes because quirks need to tie into the plot to seem credible; for example, if she never conquered the lisp it would seem an unnecessary detail. But that's just me, when I'm reading (:
ReplyDeleteI like quirks, especially the unusual and/or backstory relevant ones and they're helpful for differentiating/humanising characters. But characters should be more than the sum of their quirks, as has been pointed out. This post makes me want to list a bunch of fun quirks I can later use to brainstorm or round out characters. And because it would amuse me, of course.
ReplyDelete- Sophia.
I love quirky characters! I found this helpful ebook by Timothy King which lists down 1001 Character Quirks. The list generated a lot of other character quirks which I promptly used for my own story. :P
ReplyDeleteI agree--quirky is good. I love your porcelain pigs example!! Great post! :-)
ReplyDeleteI agree, each character needs something more than the fact that they trip over their own feet, or are the "smart" friend or the "pretty" friend. I love adding quirks to my characters:)
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who collects porcelain cows so that pig reference made me laugh. We all like quirky characters. No one wants to read about a perfect main character. All of my characters, even secondary, have flaws - some of them fatal. I think it helps move the plot forward as well. Adds intrigue, conflict and such. GREAT post!!
ReplyDeleteHaha, great minds is right! (btw, i love the idea of the porcelain pigs!) I don't have a method, that's probably why it's on my mind ... because I know I need to be better at it.
ReplyDeleteI love quirky characters, and the best way to let them embody it is to just let them have the awkwardness you feel yourself sometimes :)
ReplyDeleteI've seen a trend lately--that quirky is a necessity now for the publishing industry. The key will be making it something that's natural to the MC and story, and not just for the sake of being "out there."
ReplyDeleteGreat post Meredith!
This is an awesome post meredith. That being said, I agree with Lydia - quirky has to fit the character and the story and serve a purpose.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I like me some quirky! Your on the right track, definitely. It sets them apart and makes them memorable!
ReplyDeleteGreat comment so far, I agree with so many of them.
ReplyDeleteI think it also depends on the genre, a little quirk goes a long way definitely!! I try and give them something different and memorable if possible. You do want your character to stick out but you also want your readers to relate to her/him so give them something natural too. ;)
I think it's integral that a character's eccentricities set them apart from the rest. It can be easy to fail into stereotypes, but as long as the writer shows us -for example- how her protagonist's awkwardness differs from the awkwardness of others, the characters and story will ring true.
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