The process of character construction, a reflection

When I create a character for use in my own work, merely starting the process begins a lot of asking of questions. Probably the first and foremost question when writing any story is “how important is this character going to be to the story?”. In the cases of characters like Linula and Ruby Amelda, the answer is exceedingly obvious. They are the entire basis for the story, and in one case, the story is going to be seen almost entirely through her eyes. The first of the stories in which Linula and Ruby appear is in part a meditation on the fact that the things that make us different (one is from an abusive, self-righteous asshole family, the other a loving successful commercialist family) are just as important, if not more so, than the things that make us the same. So constructing these two characters is a painstaking process in which many questions have to be asked and answered.

Creating characters, a process

In the introductory notes to one of his novels, the richest author presently alive, Stephen King, explains that he was often asked how he writes. He states that his answer is always the same: one word at a time. And the answer is always dismissed by those asking the question. But when one strips away the cosmetic nuts, bolts, and plates, that is all it ever is. Take one word, connect it to another, and repeat until one has somewhere between a few hundred and tens of thousands of words. When one looks at it on this level, every author from King to Charlaine Harris to Harper Lee to Clive Barker has the same process. What makes authors different is in the cosmetics. The little frilly bits and pits that hang off the edges of the process proper. So, in the interests of promoting understanding of the world of the author, I am going to describe how I go about creating the characters that inhabit the worlds of my stories. Bear in mind that my process is like any other author’s. I use it because it works for me. I am sure that other authors will have other processes. This should only be taken as a rough guide.