A while ago, a reader on my Facebook Author Page asked how one goes about creating effective characters. Here are some thoughts--and a few examples from books I've enjoyed.
1. The character should be dynamic and driven by a strong passion. So it's a good idea to give the character a powerful desire, something he or she wants so badly that it will drive the action. An example is Balaram, the protagonist in Adiga's The White Tiger. He wants power & money. He wants a taste of the life the rich are living all around him. A very different example is Scarlett O'Hara in Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind. She wants to be loved by Ashley even after he marries another woman.
2. The character should be interesting, so either this desire should be something out of the ordinary, or it should be something archetypal (like love or riches) that is made specific and striking because of the character's nature and his/her way of looking at the world. Again, in The White Tiger, as Balaram broods on the gulf between the rich & poor, it embitters him and leads him to violence. Scarlett's desire, heightened by obstacles and her own obstinate nature, leads her to unwise and risky actions, such as professing her love to Ashley even after he is married, and keeping him and his wife in her home.
3. The character should rouse the audience's sympathy or empathy--and also their admiration. This can be because of his/her challenging situation, or because he/she possesses special characteristics.
An example: Elizabeth, the heroine of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Her difficulty: she has a foolish mother who causes her much embarrassment. She has numerous sisters who need to be married off. Her father is not rich. Her talent: she is smart, brave, unaffected, humorous and knows her own mind.
4. The character should grow and change--mostly positively, though sometimes, in tragedies, this change can be negative and thus very powerful. Conflict is a major vehicle of such change. This conflict can be with another character, with the situation in which the character finds him/herself, with society, with internal values, etc. Conflict with Darcy changes Elizabeth as the novel progresses, making her angry and confrontational.
Character change also occurs as a result of maturity, or because of a sudden understanding of a truth. Again, Elizabeth learns certain things that cause her to fall in love with Darcy, whom she hated earlier. In Tolstoy's novella Master and Man, Vasili the landowner at first is completely insensitive to the needs of his servant Nikita. But by the end of the work--which only encompasses about 24 hours, his attitude has changed completely. It's a great story--so if you haven't read it, I don't want to give the ending away!
There's obviously a lot more to creating characters, which I believe lies at the heart of good fiction, but this is a start. Of course, good characters may be created in many different ways. It depends on the kind of book we want to write. These are traditional methods. If we're writing experimental fiction, we'll need a different approach.
I hope you find this useful. I would love to hear about your methods for creating characters, or fictional characters that you have enjoyed, so please do write in with comments.
