Character Traits: How Do You Come Up With Them?

Let's face it. We writers spend more time with fictional people than real ones. They become real. Friends. In our minds they are living, breathing people with actual flaws, or at least they should have flaws because no one is perfect. Even Edward Cullen has creepy stalkerish tendencies.

So my question is how do you as a writer come up with your character traits? Where do you draw the most inspiration? Is it while watching a television show? Where you see the people weekly and learn traits that you love and kind of use that as a spring board or maybe you've made a character based on an actual person you know.

Music helps me a lot. Sometimes the lyrics of a song will call out to me and will let me inside someone else's head for a little while--gives me ideas on how my character may feel about a particular thing. Internal thoughts and feelings is, what I think, a building block to creating external characteristics. So I build a playlist. They tend to be a dark songs because my stories are not all puppies and rainbows.

I also read. A LOT. Reading is studying. When you find a book you like, study the characters. What makes you love them? Take that information and figure out how develop your a character people will love and want to read about.

Anyone else want to share about their character development process? 

Reading, Writing and Waiting

What's In A Name?

Characters sell books. I’ve heard that phrase many, many times. While some may debate whether it’s fact or fiction, it made me want to break down characters to their basic parts. What makes a character likeable?

On April 22, I posted a survey on Poll Daddy to determine what character traits people automatically assign to individuals based on name alone. Out of context, without any “voice” or physical description, what comes to mind when you’re given a name at random?

Having a couple friends who are teachers, and bantering about this survey with the other GotYA bloggers, it’s been proven to me that certain, common characteristics are attributed to people with the same name.

For example, the name Brad. (If your name is Brad, skip ahead.) Talking with several individuals, it’s a common conception that Brad’s like the ladies…wink wink.

Please understand the purpose of this study was to play a type of word association, not to label people with certain names by certain character traits. This is by no means scientific. My sample size is 91. This was done to show that picking a name is just as important as giving your character his physical traits and dialogue. If you name him Barnaby and you want him to be taken seriously, you have an uphill battle ahead of you.

Use the baby name websites and look up name meanings, but the most important research you can do is to just ask other people what they think of the name you’ve chosen. Just because your main character shape shifts into a warrior grizzly, doesn’t mean you should name him Humbert based on etymology.

Five names, fifteen questions. Here are the results!