Writing Research: Good Characters

For me, the best part of writing is getting into other character's heads and working out what makes them tick. It can be really cathartic to go through someone else's experiences and how they deal (or don't deal) with the problems they encounter. But for some people, creating characters can be a really big hurdle, and there are a few different ways to deal with this.

One that works for many people is planning out their characters backgrounds, details, likes and dislikes, etc. on a character planning sheet. This can be basic details or really in depth. You can use a pre-existing template (easily found with a quick search) or make your own. This can work very well when you have a lot of characters to keep a track of.

I find this doesn't work too well for me, and can often serve as a distraction to actually writing. Now, I tend to do this only for secondary characters, who don't necessarily need a detailed back-story or motivations, but just need to be kept consistent.

My preferred method for developing characters is through writing itself. Some of the early pieces might never make it into the finished piece, but for me, it's the most useful way of getting inside the heads of my characters and working out what makes them tick. Generally I'll be thinking about a character's childhood, or the moment that pushes them to begin their story, or an isolated incident that makes them reflect on or change who they are.

The most frustrating character I have ever had to write was Talli, the protagonist in a project I started for ScriptFrenzy way back in 2011. No matter what I tried, she seemed so boring and lacklustre compared to literally everyone else (including minor characters). While I finished the plot, she still seemed undeveloped and unmotivated, even as she was in the heart of it.

So, what did I do? Essentially, I took a break from her. I developed more of the backstory and followed around the antagonists and worked out what made them and this world tick. I wrote about how and why the events of the story took place, from other people's viewpoints. I worked out some of the more complex entanglements of the plot - information that Talli wasn't privy to. It took me four years to eventually getting back into her head and rewriting the events that she was part of.

But when I finally got there, something clicked for me. Instead of Talli being a character that this 'had to happen to', she became more of a driving force in her own story. Instead of passively reacting to events, she started actively trying to effect and change what was happening to her. By knowing more about why things were happening, and what motivations everyone else had, I had more freedom for her to push against these forces.

Another factor, for me, is that Talli was a character who was meant to be, for lack of a better word, average. The idea meant that she needed to be surrounded by forces that were more powerful than her, and trapped in a seemingly helpless situation that she could eventually triumph over. I strongly believe that back when I started the project, I simply didn't have enough experience to write that in a compelling way, but over time, having experienced similar things and honing my craft, I have learnt how to approach the humanity in 'normal' characters.

So, for writers in similar situations, I would advise trying to come at the world from a different angle. Work out what compels you about this idea, and what different perspectives you can find on it. But don't worry if things don't magically fall into place. Some stories simply don't want to be written now, or not by the person you currently are. Give it time, work on something new, and it will be waiting when you are ready for it.

Writing Research: How to Write Fight Scenes

As a writer, I'd consider my biggest weakness to be fight scenes, and I know I'm not the only one. It's one of the reasons I like to write scripts and screenplays, where you can describe the fight itself in a couple of lines, and leave the detailed scuffle up to the storyboard artists, directors and cinematographers as and when it's needed. However, as I write short stories and novels, too, it is a necessary part of what I do. So this post is a bit of a brief how to, for myself and other writers out there who struggle with this.

First of all, the basics of sentence structure. This is vital. Short, sharp sentences give the immediate feel of every impact, whereas longer, bloated sentences will drag out the action. At best, sentence structure will serve to enhance a fight scene, but at worst, it will confuse and disorient the reader.

Research is a must. To make your universe credible, it must follow it's own internal logic. If swords are used, research different types of swords and the styles of combat they are used in. If a character has trained with a specific type of weapon, improvising with a different weapon will put them at a disadvantage. If they have sustained injuries, that will also impact the fight. If magic is a force, what are the rules around it and how easy/difficult is it to wield in a combat situation?

A tavern brawl will be very different to a duel. The brawl will be chaotic, people are unlikely to be seasoned fighters, there will be little to no concept of 'fair' fighting. People might not know the initial cause, but stuck in the middle of the fray, they have no choice to fight back to escape or survive. In a duel, the fight will likely be more organised, with a form of judge ensuring some form of rules. The stakes will be more personal, and more complex than simply 'fighting to survive'.

Every fight should feel unique and different. You wouldn't repeat the same section of dialogue for no reason, so why should you write the same type of fight scene twice? What would be the point?

Different characters will respond differently to battle. The character who is willing to survive at any cost would have no qualms taking the easiest route out of a fight, even if that is to avoid it completely. The character who values personal honour over pragmatism may rush into ridiculous situations without really considering the outcome of their actions.

Do not disorient the reader. Fight scenes can easily become a blur and make it difficult to work out what exactly is going on. Many readers will skip them if they become too challenging to follow. Make sure that the fight is easy to read.

Alternatively, consider deliberately making it disorienting. Battle can be overwhelming, especially if the characters aren't trained for combat. Reflect that in the characters. Make them confused. What are the consequences? Injury? Losing a character or important item behind in the chaos?

Above all, practise. If you are aware that fight scenes are a weakness for you, go out of your way to write a few fight scenes. Writing, like any art, is a craft you hone over time and hours of practise. There's no shame in admitting that this element of your craft needs more work.

A few extra resources for additional reading:

Vary your sentence length to make your writing more interesting: A good primer on how and why to vary sentence length with some specific examples in both text and audio, talking about the musicality of the written word.
Here's how to write a damn good fight scene: More about the specifics of language used in a fight scene and specific techniques to try out.
Writing Fight Scenes: Specifically for fantasy writers, and covers a little bit of everything, including suspense and build-up before the fight has truly begun and how to develop characters through fight scenes.
5 Essential Tips for Writing Killer Fight Scenes: More about the motivations behind specific fight scenes - understanding why they are (or aren't!) necessary for your plot is the first step to tackling them.

A Note about NaNoWriMo

Ah, NaNoWriMo, that time of year when the writers go into deep hibernation and start wondering how to stretch out their word counts without resorting to too much purple prose. This year, I will be attempting to hit the 50,000 word mark, along with my fiancée.

This means one of two things: there will either be much more blog activity, or much less. More, if I procrastinate on fiction writing to write blog posts (and still count it within my wordcount) or less if I focus solely on my fiction project.

It's no easy thing to commit to writing a small novel's worth of words in a month, especially with the pressures of everyday life, but this year is looking to be the most likely one yet!

For everyone else participating in NaNo this year, good luck!