Creation of a biography of a character. How to invent and develop interesting characters

When the desire to write a novel arises, the first question future writers ask is where to start? Someone starts with an idea, someone paints the plot in detail, and someone immediately proceeds to describe the landscapes. But, in fact, you can start writing with characters. Moreover, this is how it should be done.

Reading books, you can see how differently the authors pay attention to the characters of their characters. And, if a book with a wonderful plot, but dry and lifeless characters, leaves in memory little memory, then a work with perfectly described and realistic characters will never be forgotten.

In our time great attention The American writer Donna Tartt pays attention to characters in her books. Reading her works, you understand that some characters look more real and interesting than real people. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why Tartt deservedly received the Pulitzer Prize for her latest novel.

James Frey talks very well about character creation in his book How to Write a Great Novel:

1. A fictional person must be different from a reasonable person.

One one of the main mistakes of writers is that they “write off” their characters from real people. This is not bad if you take only a part of the qualities, and invent the rest, or exaggerate. The fact is that the reader will be bored watching ordinary people. The fictional person must surpass the real person in everything. It should be more emotional, or, conversely, more boring. His actions are bound to surprise and shock, delight or disappoint. Just do not leave indifferent. The reader will not forgive this.

Very important. Whatever your character is, his actions should be understandable to the reader. If his actions and feelings seem illogical to someone, people will simply close the book and find something better.

Also it is important to understand that a fictional person is easier to describe than a rational person. Why? Because he has a limited storyline, and you only need to describe the feelings and decisions of the character that the plot requires.

Characters are the material from which the entire novel is built.

2. A fictional person - subspecies.

"flat", "cardboard", "one-dimensional". Here we are talking about the characters of the second plan, whom we can meet in the book once or twice, hear a couple of words from them, and no longer remember their existence. These are, for example, bartenders, waiters, etc. We do not care what is happening in their inner world, what losses they have experienced, whom they loved and whom they hated. It does not matter. Such characters can not be painted;

a "full", "multidimensional", or "triangular" character. This is the type of main characters, including villains. The main quality of this type is that no label can be attached to its representatives. They must be interesting personalities, with a complex and complex motivation for actions. These heroes must endure a lot of suffering and know a lot of joys, love, hate, seek and run away, suffer and enjoy ... And, most importantly, they must have a full biography. But more on that later. You must interest the reader so that he wants to get to know your characters better.

3. Getting to know the characters

How to get to know the characters? In his work "The Art of Creating dramatic works"Lajos Egri calls the character "triangular", and highlights the following facets:

physiological. This includes all the physical qualities of your character, such as his weight, height, age, eye color, health status, and the like. Although this edge may seem the easiest to create, you need to remember what exactly appearance judged first. Therefore, it is important that the appearance fits the personality of the character;

sociological. To form this edge, you need to answer the following questions: what social class does your character belong to? What church does he go to? political party does it support? Who raised him? Was he a spoiled child, or did he grow up in strictness and order? Does he have many friends? What are their common qualities? And there can be many, many such questions. The main thing is to find out what your character is socially. It is very important to understand the dynamics of character development. He was not born the way he is now, he became that way. You need to understand the reasons for the formation of his character, only in this way you will get a realistic hero;

psychological. It should immediately be noted that it is not necessary to be professional psychologist to create good and quality characters. It is enough to understand human nature and be observant. Has your employee quit? Find out why he did it. Did a friend quit malnutrition and signed up for sports? Get in touch and find out what caused these changes.

This facet is considered to be the interaction of the social and physiological facets. Here you need to describe the passions, fantasies, complexes, fears, guilt of your character, and the like. It also includes emotions, habits, intelligence, self-confidence and various tendencies.

The greatness of the drama depends on how the author manages to create complex multidimensional images of the characters. thus, the eternal task of self-knowledge turns for the playwright into the task of knowing the characters own work. The old "know thyself" call for the playwright is "get to know the characters as closely as possible." George Baker Drama Technique

4. Making the characters act

Very important advice- do not create inert characters. Have you ever read a book where the secondary characters were more interesting than the main ones? This should not be so, firstly, and secondly, this happens due to the fact that the main character turned out to be inert. In this case, he will avoid conflicts, be afraid of difficulties and struggle. Such characters are of no interest to anyone. Try to keep your main characters dynamic and able to cope with various difficult situations.

5. Create a character biography

Before you start writing the first chapter of the book, you need to fully create each character. The biography of the main characters should consist of 10-50 A4 pages. You should know everything about your character - where he was born, how he grew up, who raised him, with whom he was friends, whom he loved ... In general, everything that can explain to the reader why your hero became the way he is now.

Of course, when you have almost the entire biography in front of you (it is recommended to write it in the first person), you will still have a few questions about the hero, the answers to which you will not know. Then the best option will hold character interview. Since he is a figment of your imagination, all his answers will definitely be honest.

You must paint all the details of your hero's life. Even if you don't use them in the book, and no one but you knows about them, you must write them. After all, you are creating a person.

Write the books you yourself like to read.

If you take all these tips into account when creating your character, you will realize that you yourself begin to believe in his existence. This will be confirmation that you have created a truly high-quality hero.

What is important in the house? The consumer looks at the facade and interiors, and the builder looks at the foundation, walls and roof. To become a storyteller and compose interesting stories, it is necessary to change the consumer's view of history to the point of view of the builder, that is, the author. There are stages in the construction of a building: first they put the foundation, then the walls, the roof, and only then they move on to interior decoration. If we think of making up a story as architectural project, then there are also steps that must be followed.

Why Russian TV series dull and like everyone is the same? The biggest problem is the characters. classic hero series of the Russian broadcast channel is a smart, brave man, with an innate sense of justice, who does not get along well with his superiors, is not a fool to drink, but at the same time he gets along well with women. This hero can think of any profession, but in fact it will always be a series about the same person. It is clear that it cannot be done good series about the walking code of criminal procedure. In the American series, the characters are completely different. For example, Dr. House is a drug addict, misanthrope, badly converges with women, mocks his subordinates, and besides, he is a genius.

That is why the series "Capercaillie" broke all TV ratings - there appeared Not ordinary hero. The character of Capercaillie differed from the standard "fair cops" - he put friendship above justice and law. Many admit that Maxim Averin played well there. Yes, but also because he had something to play.

Without interesting hero no history. It's like with people - if it happened to a boring person funny story, this does not mean that he will be able to tell her interestingly. A interesting person can even describe in a breathtaking way how he went to the store for bread.

First you need to come up with a character. The main mistake of novice screenwriters is that they start to come up with a character from the wrong place. They think about his profession, age, clothes, appearance, habits and biography. This is a dead end path. If you only think about outward manifestation, you will not invent a whole person. Character creation must begin at the core of the character. A hero is one who acts. A character's personality is how he acts. The core of the character can be built on two main features, for example, a boring hero, a misanthropic killer. Next, you need to determine the goal of the hero, that is, what makes him act. The goal determines the personality of the hero. If you figure out how the hero acts and why, he himself will lead you to a good plot.

The hero must also have value - what he believes in. For example, he wants to try everything in life. It is clear that this character trait will most likely lead him to try something very bad and this will somehow turn his life upside down.

It's also good when the hero has a paradox in his character. For example, a bandit loves his mother very much, a misanthrope fanatically treats people, a bandit speaks literary language etc. The paradox should logically follow from the nature of your character and at the same time be very different from him.

Also, the character can come up with details. Details should also be tied to character: an athlete can have protein shakes, a cleaner can have a small brush, a coward can have good sneakers to quickly run away.

The biography of the hero is how he lived before the start of the action. She comes up with the most last turn, and only if the plot requires it. But the biography must also be submitted through action, living detail and not through a verbal description of the past. For example, the hero stutters because at the age of six he was given a cuff on the back of the head on a drawing mug.

When the hero is ready, you can proceed to the plot. The story consists of several important elements. All successful scripts use this structure - without it, the plot risks falling apart into disjointed scenes.

Structure of a good story:

The theme, the driving idea, is what we want to tell the story about. It consists of three components - character, conflict and ending. It is better to start inventing a story from the end. It's like driving a car: you have to know where you want to go, otherwise you won't get anywhere.

Exposition is the moment when we talk about our character. His qualities must be revealed through action.

An Inciting Incident is an event that spurs our hero into action.

Let's start creating a character: come up with a biography for him

In Literature for the People (1983), Robert Peck gives the following advice: “Being a writer is not easy. Approach the matter in a slipshod manner, and very quickly the moment will come when you have to pay the bills. Therefore, before typing at the top of the virgin clean slate"Chapter I" (and then sit for a week over this sheet, thinking about what to do next), it is necessary to prepare each character.

The phrase "prepare the character" implies the creation of a background, a background for each main character. In other words, the main characters need a biography. For most writers, and no doubt for all aspiring writers, writing character biographies is the first mandatory preliminary step.

Let's say you decide to write a detective story about a murder mystery. You don’t have a well-thought-out plot yet, you just have an idea. First of all, once we are talking about a murder mystery, you need a killer. It is he who will become the main villain, the main negative character your work. The villain's intrigues kick-start the story, so in a sense, the villain is the "author" of your work. What other characters you will have depends on the plans of the villain you create.

Suppose you want to write about a woman who killed her husband because he dishonored the family. He dealt drugs to make money. He always has no money, because he spends everything on the races. He's betting on the wrong horses. You have no idea who this woman is, what she is. The only thing you know is that she is very smart (if not, then she will not make a worthwhile villain). You know that she plans the crime with all care and cunning. Moreover, the speed of solving the crime depends on her intelligence and deceit. Therefore, the smarter you have it, the better.

Now you need main character, the hero who will solve the crime. What if you do not have suitable candidates for this role?

In novels of this genre, there are different types hero detectives. Positive hero or the heroine may be sophisticated professionals (Philip Marlowe, Sam Spade), intellectuals (Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot), gifted dilettantes (Ellery Queen, Miss Marple) or bystanders drawn into the thick of things by the plot (Mrs. de Winter in the novel by Daphne Du Maurier "Rebecca").

Which type is preferable is up to you. The choice depends on your imagination giving birth to the plot. The reader loves detective stories. Some people like to follow the train of thought of an intellectual like Sherlock Holmes, busy investigating a mysterious crime. Someone likes to tremble and experience horror along with an innocent victim caught in the net of bloody intrigues. Someone comes to the delight of a strong courageous investigator, walking through mud and slush along dark dangerous alleys, breaking through heads on the go and dodging bullets.

If you're an avid fan of one type of novel or another, sit down and grab a pen. Write books that you yourself like to read. True, there is one exception: a novel written on behalf of a strong, courageous detective. In such a work, the style of narration will be very specific. Maintaining this style is very difficult, especially for a novice writer. In case of failure, expect accusations of imitation. However, if your detective novel turns into a parody, it will be even worse.

You can choose any type of novel. However, regardless of the choice, you will have to create within the framework of a certain tradition, the rules and canons of which you have already familiarized yourself with if you have read a lot. Famous Author free to depart from tradition and break the canon, readers will forgive him. The novice author is deprived of this privilege, so he is strongly advised not to go beyond the traditional.

Let's say you decide to write a novel about professional detectives. You like the novels of Stanley Gardner, Ed McBain, Ross MacDonald, John Dickenson Carr and Robert Parker. The professional detective type is your favorite. But the trouble is, you don't know what your professional detective will be like. Start with a name. This will help to draw in the imagination appearance character.

Avoid the names often given to detectives in novels. No Rockfords, Harpers, Archers or Marlows. You need something special, fresh. No need to go beyond the bounds of reason. Giving the main character the frilly name of Stempsky Shazaks can scare the reader away. The bottom line is that you should create within the generally accepted framework. The architect can change the size of the corners, the number of columns, and the slope of the house's roof, but inside that house there must be exactly as many rooms, bathrooms, and toilets as the clients require.

Let's give our detective a name that detectives don't normally have, say Boyer. Boyer Mitchell, how are you? Sounds like? Most common name. If you can't come up with a name yourself, take the phone book - there are an abyss of names.

The vast majority of detectives are always middle-aged, gray-haired, experienced, have a tough character. Let Boyer be young and inexperienced for a change. Outwardly, he should not look like a detective. Detectives in novels are always daring, tall, stand out with severe male beauty. Let Boyer be of average height, clumsy, round-shouldered, fragile physique, intelligent appearance, with large dark attentive eyes. He moves slowly. He believes in being judged by clothes, so he is neat, and he also has sparkling white teeth, pleasant manners, he is quiet and thoughtful. Many take him for a scientist. He is twenty-six and still single.

Where did the image of Boyer Mitchell come from? Out of nowhere, it was woven out of thin air by the author of the book you are reading. He chose traits that were the opposite of those usually found in detective novels, traits that had long since become stereotyped. Boyer might as well be old, fat, and a hard drinker. The description of the characters is based on two pillars - breaking stereotypes and harmony.

Harmony, according to Egri, is the art of creating bright characters, acting like "instruments in an orchestra, giving birth to a harmonious melody." In other words, don't make all heroes greedy or ambitious. Characters should contrast with each other. If one character is hardworking and diligent, make the other a slacker. Hamlet was indecisive, he lacked willpower, he was more inclined to think than to act. He wandered gloomy, immersed in thought, filled with self-pity. Laertes is a character bred as a contrast to Hamlet, exclusively a man of action.

There is one more important point, which is worth mentioning when it comes to character creation. You, the writer, will have to settle in the minds of your characters for quite a long time. Seriously think about whether you want to work with such characters? Are they interesting to you? Maybe you do not want to work on a young, intelligent and fragile Boyer Mitchell, you need him to be old, fat and drinking? Do as you please, you write the novel. If you are fascinated by your characters, if you like them, then most likely your readers will like them too.

So, we roughly determined physiological facet of Boyer and slightly touched it sociological edge. The image became clearer, but still blurry. He main character our romance, so we must penetrate into his soul, understand him to the marrow of his bones.

Boyer is not like typical detective, so, for starters, let's ask ourselves why Boyer suddenly decided to catch criminals. Maybe his motivation coincided with the motivation of many young people who choose their own path in life - he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps? It's time to let your imagination run wild. Let's imagine that his father was "Big Jake" Mitchell, the man Dashiell Hammett based on Sam Spade. Big Jake is tough, tough, shrewd, and will stop at nothing to protect his client's interests. More than once or twice he had to turn his jaw, being in the service of what he calls "higher justice." Boyer considers "Big Jake" Mitchell a bully, but that doesn't stop him from admiring his father at the same time. He believes in justice as sincerely as his father, but he also believes that social order is based on the observance of laws.

If we find such a father for Boyer, then our hero will have to reach out to the level of Big Jake. People always compare themselves to their fathers. Old enemies, whose hatred is still hot, turn the sons' lives into a nightmare. Big Jake, even in death, will remain a cross that Boyer will carry with him all his life. When creating a character's biography, look for details that can influence his actions and emotions in the novel. Multidimensional characters, like real people, have a past. This past is always with them.

And yet, for now, we only have a rough sketch of Boyer Mitchell. We need to breathe life into it. How? We will write his biography either in the first or in the third person. The biography below contains sketches of yet unrevealed relationships, allusions to some events that are not narrated in detail, etc. The biography does not at all require a detailed and comprehensive description of the character. It's simple short story about his life, which can help the writer better understand his protagonist. The writer creates a biography of the character only for himself and for no one else. Here is a biography of Boyer, written in the first person.

“My name is Boyer Bennington Mitchell. I was born on the first of January. I'm twenty six. I'm not just young, I also look young. With such an appearance in my profession, it is difficult to gain respect, but I have learned to deal with it.

For me, the most important thing is to get things done. As my father said: if you take money, work off every cent.

My father is "Big Jake" Mitchell. This is another problem for me. It is not easy to reach the level of a human legend.

Boyer Bennington was my mother's name. She was born into a family belonging to high society, she's from the Bennington family in Vermont. This is a very ancient family in New England. It so happened that in 1955 her uncle was killed here in San Francisco, and the police never found the criminal.

Let's go to Big Jake. A day later he caught the killer, and a day later he married his mother. She just lost her head. And no wonder: the father knew how to deal with women. They are all crazy about macho. Mom, at least. True, in marriage, the parents were happy as prisoners in a punishment cell.

The reason for all the troubles lay in the fact that the father insisted - one must live on what he earns, although the mother had so much money that it would be enough to buy all of Monaco. Big Jake made good money. But what is "not bad" when you're used to driving Rolls-Royces and spending the winter in the Bahamas? What a childhood I had! My mother wanted me to play the violin. And this is with a complete lack of hearing and a sense of rhythm. I have changed nine teachers. My mother blamed them for my failures. But I never set out to become a musician. When I was about fifteen, I was finally released from music lessons. Now my mother wanted to make me a banker. I didn't even want to hear about it. No, gentlemen, ever since I was a child, I wanted to be a private investigator. And even as a child, I was stubborn as a donkey. If I wanted something, I always tried to achieve what I wanted, no matter what the cost.

My mother said I wouldn't succeed - I don't look like my father at all. She fought me with the desperation of the Boers against the English. But, believe it or not, you don't have to be like Big Jake Mitchell to be a good private eye. His style is not my style. If I behaved like him, I would have been torn to pieces in the first six months.

I believe that a good private investigator should first of all have an excellent training in the field of scientific forensics, and not cast muscles and hefty fists. In college, I scored more courses in chemistry, physics, mathematics, law, forensics, programming. I can say with confidence: I'm good at investigating crimes. When Big Jake was killed in 1982, I was finishing my graduate school. Everything in my life went upside down, I was just about to get married, I had just had an operation, I wanted to buy a house and even looked at some options. Everything had to be abandoned. I took my father's business into my own hands ... "

We now have an idea of ​​how Boyer's life began. For such important characters like Boyer, such a biographical sketch should be ten to fifty pages long. In it, you describe the events of the hero's life from the moment he was born to the beginning of your novel.

So, why did we reflect in the biography exactly these particular events in Boyer's life? As already mentioned, we need elements that will influence the behavior and feelings of the character in the novel. Boyer is young and therefore shy. Some of the other characters don't take him seriously due to his appearance. This means that Bowyer will definitely face additional difficulties. Always look for and create obstacles for your heroes. Neglect some characters to Boyer will prevent him from reaching the level of his father. Boyer's mother, who is still alive, will persuade him to change his profession - here's another obstacle for you. But he gritting his teeth will rush to the goal. As a compensation for external data that, according to the stereotype, does not correspond to the chosen profession, we will reward him with something else: intelligence and diligence. The death of his father not only forced our hero to get down to business when he was not yet fully ready for work. The death of Big Jake forced Boyer to change his plans for his personal life, to abandon the wedding. Here's another hurdle for you.

We could well create a completely different biography. In this case, the character of Boyer Bennington Mitchell would have changed radically. You can make Boyer's father a corrupt cop. Then our hero will have to defend his honest name. We could decide that he does not help in solving crimes scientific approach, but intuition. We could write that Boyer has an old, poor, sick mother and has to pay her bills. How the character appears to the reader depends entirely on the author. Shuffle the options in your imagination, there are an infinite number of them. Your the main task- to create a bright, believable multidimensional character who will brilliantly play the role assigned to him in the novel.

If you carefully work on the biography of your characters, you will know them as well as your brothers, sisters or best friends even before the novel begins. It's impossible to make a list of everything that needs to be included in a character's biography. It's up to you. The biographical sketch should include those events that will affect the feelings and behavior of your character in the novel. Tell us about everything that shaped his habits, beliefs, views, inclinations, attachments, superstitions - in short, everything that affects a person’s behavior, his decision-making in a given situation. You must be clear about the political and religious views his character, what he thinks about friendship, family. You should know what he dreams about, what he is interested in, what he is fond of, what he studied at school, what subjects he liked and what he hated. Does he have prejudices? Which? What will he hide when he comes to see a psychoanalyst? What will he hide from himself? If the character is truly close to you, you will be able to answer any question about him.

It may happen that you have written a biography of your character, but some questions still remain unanswered. Let's say your character found a wallet, and there - 10,000 dollars. What will he do with it? Take it to the police or keep it for yourself? Or, say, your hero finds out that he is terminally ill. How will he act? Commit suicide? Imagine that he has a fire in his apartment and he can save only one thing from the fire. What will this thing be? Can't answer these questions? So, further study of the character is required. This must be done before you start the novel.