Way back at the beginning of this blog, I wrote a post about style sheets. To recap, a style sheet is a document that lists all the story details and style choices an author makes. It is a great resource for keeping details straight and ensuring consistency. If you only need a quick guide while writing, consider using the character section of the style sheet template.

If you want a little more space and direction while fleshing out and documenting character details, a character questionnaire is a great way to go. There are many character questionnaires floating around on the internet. But to save you some searching, here is one you can use as a starting point. This one covers the basics and allows lots of wiggle room in terms of what you want to include.

Of course, the questionnaire can be done on the computer or printed out as a hard copy depending on your preference. Alternately, you may want to consider researching novel writing software which often has built in systems for developing characters, or investing in a cork board and some index cards if, like me, you are tactile and find it helpful to see everything at once.

There is no right or wrong way to track your character information. With the exception of a style sheet, chances are no one but you will ever see these documents so make them as sparse or detailed as you need (and a style sheet will only be seen by your editor if you choose to share it with them).

Do you have a good method of tracking character information that I haven’t mentioned? If so, let us know in the comments.

The post How to Track Character Information appeared first on Clovis Editorial.

The two major difficulties with a large cast are: your reader won’t be able to remember them all, and each character has to stand out from the rest so your reader doesn’t muddle them up.

It’s also worth noting that not everyone likes a large cast. This doesn’t mean you are wrong to have one. Large casts can be great! But there are a few things you need to keep in mind as you write so you don’t overwhelm or confuse your reader.

Make the Reader Care about Your Characters

We’re more likely to remember how someone made us feel than we are to remember their name. This is true of our characters as well. If the reader cares about or is intrigued by the characters, they will be better able to remember them and distinguish them from other characters. Creating strong character arcs will help ensure your readers are intrigued by your characters.

Give Your Characters Distinct Names

Often when we read we aren’t looking at each individual letter and piecing the words together, instead we are taking in the shape of the word. This is why it’s important to give your characters names that are distinct from the rest. If your characters are named Rachael, Rebecca, and Rosaline, your reader may have a difficult time telling them apart. Especially if they’re reading quickly because your plot is so darn good and they need to know what happens next. It is best to vary the name length and the initial letter (unless there is a good plot related reason not to).

This rule applies not only to the way a name looks but also to the way it sounds.

Now that You’ve Named Them, Be Sure to Use Those Names

All your main characters now have distinctive name, that’s great! But it doesn’t help if you don’t use them. When you have a large cast, don’t make your reader guess which character you are talking about by constantly using pronouns instead of names. If a scene has more than one female character in it, then constantly using the pronoun “she” can quickly become confusing. So make sure you use the character’s names as well.

Also make it clear at the beginning of each new scene which character’s point of view is being used and stick with it.

Give Your Characters Distinct Traits

Names definitely aren’t the only way (or even the best way) to make your characters stand apart from each other. Every person you know moves differently, speaks differently, and has different habits and nervous ticks than every other person. Your characters should have their own distinct traits too. How they speak and carry themselves is more important to showing who they are than their name ever will be. Make sure these distinct traits come across on the page.

Introduce Your Characters Slowly

Finally, if possible, introduce your characters one at a time. This gives your reader a chance to get to know them and solidify their idea of the character before bringing others into the mix. Of course, if your novel has lots of characters, it won’t always be possible to introduce them on their own. That’s okay but do try to avoid introducing more than three characters at a time. Otherwise you risk overwhelming and confusing your reader.

Those are my top five tips for handing a large character cast. Are there any tricks you use when writing a large cast of characters that I’ve missed? Let me know in the comments.

The post How to Manage a Large Character Cast appeared first on Clovis Editorial.

It would be nice to be able to give a number, but unfortunately there is no way to do this. As with so many questions about writing and editing there is no specific answer; only some fairly loose guidelines. So, let’s look at those guidelines, as flimsy as they may be. As we do so, let’s keep in mind the definitions we recently discussed about protagonists, secondary and tertiary characters.

Protagonists

A novel only needs one protagonist. That’s not to say you can’t have more. But, since the protagonist is the main character and has a full story arc, it is best to keep the number of protagonists quite low. One to three is plenty especially if you are a new author still learning the ropes.

Secondary Characters

Secondary characters are where you need to be careful because they are interesting, readers care about them, and writers like to distract themselves from the corner they’ve written their protagonist into by exploring what’s happening with them. This is where the most danger lies. If you spend too much time with them, they will soon make themselves known as protagonists, and as a writer you will love them too much to shoo them back into their place.

Tertiary Characters

You can have a lot of tertiary characters. They are the baristas of our novels (sometimes literally). They give your protagonists caffeine so they can get through their day. Readers don’t need to know their back stories or even their names. Their presence is purely functional. Like secondary characters, if you spend too much time with them, or give them too much description they will try to exceed their station in story life.

Think of the story you are trying to tell. Now think about the smallest number of characters you’d need to tell the story. Try to stick as close to that number as possible and resist the urge to elevate secondary characters to protagonists and give tertiary characters too much page time.

Use as many characters as you need to tell the story but if you can’t remember all their names, you’ve probably crossed a line. Some readers love huge casts so when deciding how many characters you need, it is a good idea to keep your ideal reader in mind.

Do you like stories with large casts or do you prefer smaller ones? Let me know in the comments.

The post How Many Characters Does Your Story Need appeared first on Clovis Editorial.

There are twelve main character archetypes as categorized by Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell. Understanding these archetypes can help you improve as a writer because they illustrate common strengths, weaknesses, and motivations of the most recognizable characters. This can give you the foundation from which you can develop your own characters.

The Caregiver

The Caregiver is a character who supports, cares for, and is willing to sacrifice for others. Caregiver characters are generous, selfless, and loyal, but they can be lacking in ambition and self-esteem, and because of their selflessness they are susceptible to exploitation.

The Everyman

The Everyman is a character recognizable from our daily lives. They are relatable, hard working, and grounded. The everyman character strives for a simple life and a sense of belonging. They are often unprepared to face the narrative hurdles.

The Hero

The Hero is a character who rises to the occasion in an attempt to save the day and prove their worth. This character type is strong, courageous, and honourable. They can also be overconfident and egotistical.

The Innocent

The Innocent is a character with good intentions. They are optimistic, enthusiastic, and kind. Because they are innocent, this character is also naive, powerless, and vulnerable. Typically over the course of the narrative the innocent character learns a few lessons which force them to grow up.

The Creator

The Creator is a character who simply wants to make things. They are often artists or inventors who will sacrifice just about anything to create their masterpiece. The creator character is driven with a strong conviction and willpower. Because of their compulsive desire to create they are egotistical and single-minded.

The Explorer

The Explorer is a character who pushes boundaries to explore the unknown. This character is curious, relentless, and driven, but can also be unreliable, restless. Also, because of their curiosity, they don’t remain satisfied for long before finding some new unknown to explore.

The Lover

The Lover’s drive, unsurprisingly, stems from their love or their need for love. The lover character is passionate and devoted to the point of being willing to sacrifice anything for those they love.

The Rebel

The Rebel is a character who won’t abide injustice. They may be leading the charge to right a wrong or working in secret, but either way they are resourceful and persistent. The rebel’s actions border on criminal. They can be self-involved and probably don’t have much power.

The Jester

The Jester is the funny guy. Often portrayed as very laid back or used to deliver comedic relief. Jesters want to enjoy life to the fullest. They tend to be likable, funny, and even insightful but can also come off as shallow or obnoxious.

The Magician

The Magician is a disciplined and inquisitive character who strives to understand the universe so they can use its power for their own purposes. They are knowledgeable and powerful but this can make them arrogant and susceptible to corruption.

The Ruler

The Ruler is a character with power over others. They are leaders with the power, resources, and status to back it up. The ruler archetype wants to hold onto their power, as such they can be controlling, suspicious, and aloof.

The Sage

The Sage, sometimes known as the mentor, is a character who is highly knowledgeable. They often teach the protagonist something important that the protagonist will use in the course of their journey. While wise, insightful, and experienced, the sage is often unable to act and is over cautious.

As I mentioned before, these character archetypes are useful to know because they can help lay the foundation of your characters. But remember: Your characters should be unique. They don’t have to stick rigidly to any one archetype. They can be a combination (typically with one dominant archetype) or only loosely fall into any given category. The goal here is to understand universally accepted characters so you can then give them a twist and make them your own.

If you have any questions about archetypes, let me know in the comments.

The post An Overview of the Twelve Character Archetypes appeared first on Clovis Editorial.

Most people are familiar with at least a few of the characters roles that follow.

Protagonist

The protagonist is the main character of a story. They have a full character arc and drive the story forward with their goals and motivations. Every story has at least one protagonist although a story can have more than one. The protagonist is usually the character readers empathize with the most and is often the character they’re most likely to root for.

Antagonist

The antagonist is the person or situation that opposes the protagonist. As with protagonists, a story can have more than one antagonist that needs to be overcome but there will always be one main antagonist. It is important to acknowledge that an antagonist is not always a person.

Villain

Villains are always people. Specifically they are bad people (in the sense that they oppose the protagonist). Villains are also always antagonists (the reverse, as noted above, is not true).

Secondary Characters

Secondary characters are close to the story’s centre but not quite in it. They can have a big impact on the protagonist and help keep the plot moving but the story isn’t about them. Secondary characters don’t need to have an arc of their own. If they do have an arc, the choice to explore it (or how deep that exploration goes) will depend on their importance to the plot.

Tertiary Characters

These are the characters who populate the background of your world. They don’t have to tie into the storyline. They don’t have arcs, goals, or motivations outside of what is needed for the story. Tertiary characters have minor appearances which are purely functional.

Love Interest

This one is self-explanatory. The love interest is the protagonist’s object of desire. They can also be a secondary character. Not all stories have a love interest but since many stories have some sort of romantic thread, the love interest is worth mentioning.

Confidant

A confidant is the person the protagonist confides in and turns to when they feel they can’t turn to anyone else. The role of confidant often overlaps with other roles such as secondary character or love interest.

Foil

A foil is used to accentuate certain qualities of the protagonist by providing a contrast. The personality of a foil character is often the opposite of the protagonist. While the foil and protagonist will clash with each other, the foil is not necessarily a villain.

Not all of these roles need to appear in every story, but a good mix of them will help keep your story moving. Think about how each role relates to the others and what purpose they serve. This should help you figure out which character roles you need to use for your story.

Is there a character role you enjoy writing more than the others? Let me know in the comments.

The post Eight Character Roles to Include in Your Novel appeared first on Clovis Editorial.

As with scene types, there are different ways we can talk about character types. In fact, there are three different ways we can talk about characters: by quality, by role, and by archetype.

In this post we will talk about characters by quality which deals with the way a character changes (or doesn’t) over the course of a story.

Dynamic

A dynamic character is one who changes over the course of the story. As such, dynamic characters tend to be the most important characters in a story: protagonists and secondary characters are often dynamic. The changes a dynamic character goes through can be for the better or for the worse and they can be big changes or small ones, but the character must change. Often the changes of a dynamic character tie into resolving the overall story conflict.

Static

A static character is one who does not change over the course of the story. Static characters tend to be tertiary characters. They have a small but important role to play. A few static characters within a story are fine but if too many are used it may have a negative effect on your story. Static characters can also be protagonists if you are writing a story with a steadfast or neutral arc.

Round

Round characters are similar to dynamic characters. They have complex personalities and the ability to change. Unlike with dynamic characters, round characters show their ability to change right from the start. Round characters are less dependent on their change tying into the story conflict.

Stock

Stock characters are familiar figures who appear in stories time and again. In this way, they are similar to character archetypes. Because of their repeated appearance in stories, stock characters can easily become conventional or stereotypical. Stock characters tend to have a fixed set of personality traits and can be referred to as the mentor, the geeky friend, the joker, etc.

Symbolic

A symbolic character represents something bigger than themselves. Often what they represent ties into the broader themes of the narrative and their existence serves to guide the other characters (and perhaps even the reader). When employing a symbolic character, subtlety is needed to ensure the symbolism isn’t too obvious.

Understanding character types by quality is important regardless of what genre of story you are writing. Most novels have at least three or four of these types of characters.

Is there a character type you write really well or that you struggle to write? Let me know in the comments.

The post Types of Characters by Quality appeared first on Clovis Editorial.

A character arc is the shape of the inner journey a character takes over the course of the story. Stories are all about change and those changes are shown through character arcs. Not every character needs to have an arc, in fact, often it’s only the protagonist who goes through a dramatic change.

It’s also worth noting that in some stories the character arc is the main focus but in other stories (often action based ones) the story arc is the most important element.

There are three types of character arcs: positive, steadfast, and negative. Here is a brief description of each.

Positive Arcs

By the end of the novel, the character has changed for the better. Positive arcs start with the character believing a lie or being in denial about something. This lie or denial will cause them harm in some way. Throughout the story the character faces both internal and external conflict which forces them to confront the lie. Doing so will usually help them defeat the antagonist. The end of the story shows the character letting go of the lie and achieving their goal. Positive character arcs are the most common type of arc seen in novels.

Characters with a positive arc: Malta Vestrit (Liveship Traders), Bilbo Baggins (The Hobbit)

Steadfast Arcs

By the end of the novel the character has not changed but has changed the world around them. Rather than being hindered by a lie as with the character in a positive arc, the steadfast arc’s character knows an important truth which they are resolved to hold on to. They face both internal and external conflict but the truth they know helps them overcome these conflicts which in turn strengthens their belief in the truth. The steadfast arc is sometimes called a flat arc despite an arcs inability to be flat.

Characters with a steadfast arc: Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games), Diane Price (Wonderwoman)

Negative Arcs

By the end of the novel the character has changed for the worse. The character rejects the truth in favour of a lie, never overcomes the lie they initially believed, or they discover something even worse. Any of these options will ultimately lead to the character’s downfall. Negative arcs are all about self-destruction.

Characters with a negative arc: Anakin Skywalker (Star Wars), Dorian Gray (The Picture of Dorian Gray)

Character arcs are important because while the story arc may be fascinating, it is the characters we are rooting for. A poorly executed character arc can leave us feeling disappointed at the end of an otherwise good book because the character hasn’t grown or changed.

The changes a character undergoes can be drastic and show the transformation from one type of person to someone else entirely. The changes can also be small but significant showing the character change in a more subtle way. Which option you choose will depend on the type of story you are trying to tell.

Do you have any questions about character arcs? If so, drop them in the comments.

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