Faking a Character

I find writing believable characters difficult.

I don't know whether this is because I'm not neurotypical. Or if it's just something that all authors grapple with.

Or maybe all characters just feel flat to the conjurer.

In any case, I've learned some tricks over the years to fake it.

---

By Sight

One of my favourite tricks is the contradiction.

I learned this one from Mary Robinette Kowal.

The trick here is to give your recently introduced character a trait or flaw that contradicts what little the reader has already learned about them.

This is supposed to leave the impression the character has more to them than an initial impression implies. It's a good way to fake depth.

I like to give this as soon as the story allows, so the reader doesn't build their impression too high.

For instance, in one of my (yet to be published) stories, I have a bodyguard who is big, square-shaped and scarred. He expresses himself through his violent actions more than his words.

But he loves playing the Italian card game, scopa.

Now, this probably wouldn't bear up under closer scrutiny -- how would someone with an obviously violent upbringing have had exposure to the subtle strategies of bridge, let alone finding three others like-minded people to play with?

But for a character who appears in one or two scenes only, I think this is a good fake.

---

By Touch

The next trick in my bag is an aim or action.

Your main characters all have complex matrices of goals and wants and interactions and needs. It's part of what makes them interesting to read.

A minor or newly introduced character can often feel flat when they appear on the scene -- as if they were standing in the wings just waiting for their moment. Which, of course, they were.

Make them want something. Give them a goal, however trivial in the greater scheme of the story, and have them taking some action to reach it.

For example, in another of my own stories, I have a market stall vendor whose only role in the story at large is to effectively delay my protagonist for five minutes.

When I introduce the character late in the day, he's famished, having not eaten since he woke before dawn. He is desperate for someone -- anyone! -- to nip across the alley and buy him a bretzel.

(This quick and dirty trick ended up being worked into the exchange between him and my protagonist.)

Now it no longer feels quite like entire whole existence revolved around my main character.

Again, if someone were to scratch the veneer here, they'd probably find he's just another NPC.

But I think it works well enough in putting a little flesh on an otherwise passe bystander.

---

By Sound

The last cheap trick I'll share is langauge idiosyncrasies.

Everyone has unique ways of saying the same thing. I tend to greet people with a g'day, I work with someone who prefers a hiya, and I've a friend who just goes with a hey.

Conversations would be a bit dull if we spoke with the same quirks and idioms.

That's true for your characters too.

As a quick cheat sheet, for a new character I come up with one or two turns of phrase they use for:

• Greetings and farewells

• Saying yes or no

• Swearing or cursing

If they're sticking around for a few scenes, I'll even break this out into a matrix of different phrases for formal, informal and comfortable situations.

Not every character needs to be utterly unique, but some variation is good.

One of my characters -- an English, old-money upper class officer in the army -- uses 'chaps' by way of a greeting, 'here, here' instead of yes, and turns his nose up at most swear words yet employs c-bombs without batting an eyelid.

But a little careful with this trick, though. It can wear a bit thin, especially if characters differ ridiculously from each other.

If you don't keep an ear out, your characters will end up sounding like caricatures.

---

These tricks are good for faking a more believable character.

But of course you can only fake it so far.

I find these tricks help me immensely when I need to make a minor character up on the fly. Or I need a launching point for a new major player.

But they don't bear up under the scrutiny required for a main character.

They're great for adding some colour and depth for a quick glance at an otherwise throw away character, but if your reader's focus is going to linger on them, you'll need to build the characters properly.

But that is a post for another day.

All images from pixabay.com