{"id":406,"date":"2005-06-01T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-06-01T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2005\/06\/01\/14-tips-for-building-character\/"},"modified":"2024-10-15T19:43:15","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T19:43:15","slug":"14-tips-for-building-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2005\/06\/01\/14-tips-for-building-character\/","title":{"rendered":"14 Tips for Building Character"},"content":{"rendered":" \n
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This essay is adapted from Rick Meyer\u2019s notes for a talk at the 2005 Nieman Narrative Editors\u2019 Seminar. Rick\u2019s presentation was paired with Laurie Hertzel\u2019s talk on scenes<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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We probably ought to declare something right away, so no one can accuse us of cheating. In nonfiction, when we talk about building characters, we\u2019re not talking about creating them. That happens in fiction. In our world, God creates the characters. That\u2019s his or her job. It\u2019s our job to write about those characters.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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But it is true, nonetheless, that writers build characters. First, when they report them, they take them apart and put pieces of them into their notebooks: Pale, amber eyes. Red hair. Freckles across the bridge of her nose. Talks softly and slowly. Perfume like lilacs.<\/em> Then when they write these characters, they put the pieces back together, back into whole beings. If they have done it well, these people come alive. They inhabit our imaginations just as vividly as fictional characters do.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Maybe more so, because when we read about them we know they\u2019re real.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Related Reading<\/h2>\n\n
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Building Character: A Checklist<\/a><\/p>\n

Six Writing Tips for Crafting Scenes<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more writing tips here<\/a><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n\t\n<\/div> \n

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What happens to the main characters in the stories we edit is called the plot or the story line or the arc of the narrative. We ought to develop plots, or story lines, through scenes<\/em> as much as possible. I\u2019ll try here to suggest some ways to develop the characters in those scenes into full, three-dimensional figures. In other words, I\u2019ll try to suggest how to make the characters come alive, how to make them come up off the written page.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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None of these suggestions is original with me. I\u2019ve picked up these notions along the way from editors, reporters and writers, teachers and folks who write about writing. They include Jon Franklin, John Gardner, Jim Frey, Tom Wolfe, Mark Kramer, Gay Talese, Sol Stein, Walt Harrington, John McPhee, Jacqui Banaszynski, Elmore Leonard, Barry Siegel, Jack Hart, Kit Rachlis and Norman Mailer. If there\u2019s anything unique here, it\u2019s only because Willie Nelson might be right when he says, \u201cIf you steal from enough people, somehow you end up doing your own thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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My suggestions number a baker\u2019s dozen plus one. To illustrate them, I\u2019ll use a piece you might be familiar with. It\u2019s an old story by now, published in 2002. But it has some pretty good examples of what I\u2019m going to talk about. It\u2019s Sonia Nazario\u2019s piece<\/a> about a 17-year-old kid named Enrique, whose mother leaves him behind in Central America and comes to the United States to find work. He is so torn and lonely for her that he sets out on his own, by foot, riding on the tops of freight trains, hitchhiking on trucks, all the way across Honduras and Guatemala, up the length of Mexico, then by coyote across the Rio Grande and illegally into Texas, then finally to North Carolina to hunt for her. Forty-eight thousand kids do this every year. Some are only 7 years old. It\u2019s a new and extremely dangerous migration. Sonia\u2019s story won a Pulitzer.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Many of the things I\u2019m going to talk about Sonia did on her own. A few I suggested. Some are suggestions I wish I had offered but didn\u2019t have the good sense to at the time. A number might make you yawn, because you know some of these things as well as or better than I do. But maybe there\u2019s a notion or two here that could be helpful. It sort of goes without saying that Sonia and I talked about things such as these all along the way \u2014 as she reported, while she drew up her story architecture and during her writing. If you wait to consider them until the line editing gets under way, you\u2019re way too late.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Here are the suggestions:<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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1. Build characters by showing their\u00a0actions<\/h2>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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Sometimes you\u2019ll be tempted to develop characters by saying who they are. Show them instead.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Shaq was tall.<\/em> That\u2019s telling it. Shaq ducked to get through the door.<\/em> That\u2019s showing it.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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My father was easygoing about religion.<\/em> That\u2019s telling.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Every spring, my father let me skip catechism class so I could play baseball.<\/em> That\u2019s showing.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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From \u201cEnrique\u2019s Journey,\u201d here\u2019s an example that tells first and then shows:<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Uncle Marco and his girlfriend treat him well. \u2026 Uncle Marco gives Enrique a daily allowance, buys him clothes and sends him to a private school.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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I could make a pretty good case that you shouldn\u2019t do both. It\u2019s redundant. In retrospect, I\u2019d suggest to Sonia that we take out the first of those two sentences.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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2. Get character-building information by asking for\u00a0examples, anecdotes and vignettes<\/h2>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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Let\u2019s say I tell you: \u201cMy father was easygoing about religion.\u201d Right away, you should follow up by saying, \u201cPlease give me an example.\u201d Or, \u201cHow did it show?\u201d Or, \u201cHow could you tell?\u201d Or, \u201cCan you give me an anecdote or a vignette that shows what you mean?\u201d Or, \u201cTell me a story about that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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I\u2019m likely to think for a minute and say, Well, every spring when the mission sisters came around to our little town to teach catechism, my father let my brother and me duck out to play baseball.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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One day, one of the nuns came to the house and asked him why we weren\u2019t in catechism class.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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\u201cWell, Sister,\u201d he said, \u201cmy boys know a lot about their religion, even know how to serve Mass. But they don\u2019t know how to execute a double play at second off a hot grounder to short, and they need to know that, too.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Now you have an example of an action my father took that showed what he was like. My father is starting to come alive.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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So is Enrique\u2019s Uncle Marco, who was a moneychanger:<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Enrique runs errands for his uncle, washes his five cars, follows him everywhere.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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His uncle pays as much attention to him as he does his own son. \u2026 \u201cNegrito,\u201d he calls him fondly, because of his dark skin. \u2026 His uncle trusts him, even to make bank deposits. [One day], he tells Enrique, \u201cI want you to work with me forever \u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Because of [a] security guard\u2019s murder, Marco swears that he will never change money again. A few months later, though, he gets a call. For a large commission, would he exchange $50,000 in lempiras on the border with El Salvador? Uncle Marco promises that this will be the last time.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Enrique wants to go with him.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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But his uncle says he is too young. He takes one of his own brothers instead.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Robbers riddle their car with bullets \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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3. Build characters by\u00a0describing\u00a0them<\/h2>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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In detail.<\/em> When you seek the attributes that describe your subjects, think of the senses:<\/em> What do your subjects look like, sound like, smell like, feel like \u2014 and, if you kiss them, what do they taste like? Mint? Garlic?<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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What do they smell like? He hadn\u2019t showered in days, and his T-shirt smelled like sour milk.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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What do they feel like? (What is this? Some kind of California touchy-feely stuff? Well, not exactly.) He had leathery hands, and his shake was slow and firm.<\/em> (That guy could be from Maine.)<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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A lot of what we know comes to us through our senses. If you don\u2019t believe me, watch Sesame Street. Kids learn the number four by seeing four apples, hearing four bells, feeling four fuzzy peaches. Try to record all the senses. What do you (or your subjects) see? Hear? Smell? Taste?<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Get specific details<\/a>. Not just black shoes. Black shoes with laces and little heels. A subject didn\u2019t just shout. His voice split the morning like an ax. It was morning, and his voice was loud.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Details. Individually, details are very important. But taken all together, they are more important still. They help you convey your characters not just at the level where they can be seen and heard and smelled and tasted, but taken all together, they convey them at the level where they come to life.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Not all details are worth reporting or writing. Look for distinguishing<\/em> details, the ones that distinguish me, for instance, from everyone else. Look for particularity \u2013 details that are particular to me. Let\u2019s say you\u2019re writing about my eyeglasses. What distinguishes my glasses from everyone else\u2019s?<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Use not just distinguishing details, or particular details, but telling<\/em> details. What are the particular details of my eyeglasses that tell something about me? (They\u2019re dirty.<\/em> Then you can put that together with something my wife would say to you: He\u2019s always too busy to clean them.<\/em> That detail and the reason for it will tell readers something about me. It will characterize me.)<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Telling details:<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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