I know that it seems like I spend way too much time at the swimming pool. It’s just been such an incredibly hot summer (even for the Deep South), that whenever my children utter the fateful words, “We’re bored!” then I just pop them in the car and take them off to the pool.
I was at the pool last week and something started bothering me about the tree in the picture. See the tree I’m talking about? It’s huge. It’s like a pine tree on steroids.
The other thing that bothered me about the tree is that, despite the fact it was a windy day and the other trees were blowing back and forth, it didn’t move at all.
Finally I took a picture of the tree (the mommies at the pool are getting used to my weirdness by now, I guess…laptops at the pool, notebooks at the pool, talking to myself, taking notes on the people walking and talking around me, taking pictures of trees….They don’t ever seem to engage me in conversation—I wonder why!) and I realized that the tree was, actually, a cell phone tower disguised to look like a tree.
Having a character stand out in a book because they’re too stiff or not lifelike is a problem—especially if the character is our protagonist.
How can we make our characters more lifelike?
Cheat a little and base the character on someone or several people we know well.
Have the character really feel emotions and show them displaying some emotional range—humor, anger, trepidation.
Give the character a few flaws. Nobody’s perfect.
Help put the reader in the protagonist’s head. What is the character thinking? When a new character is introduced, what does the protagonist think of him or her?
Character growth and development. Does the character change and grow? Or is he static?
How do you make your characters more lifelike?
Why are they disguising cell phone towers?
I have to agree that making the protagonist grow and change, giving them flaws, and having them feel emotions makes them far more real and lifelike. Thanks for giving us something to think about.
Wow … cell phone towers disguised to look like trees. Very clever. I wonder what they’ll think of next?
I think John Cheever said something like “If you begin with any person, you end with a stereotype. But if you begin with a stereotype, you end with nothing.”
The fake tree at your pool is a lot more convincing than the one that looks like a toilet brush at one of the rest areas on the Hutchinson Parkway north of NYC.
Elizabeth – I know exactly what you mean about people getting used to your “writer’s presence,” so to speak : ). I do those kinds of things, too.
I think what I try to do to make characters more lifelike is to have things happen to them – some good, some bad – and have them react. Once a character has a reaction to something, it’s much easier to check that reaction for authenticity. It also makes it easier for the reader to remember the character (e.g. “Oh, yeah, that’s the guy that had the tire blowout/won the lottery.”).
I definately base some of my characters om people I know. Others, I simply develop them as I go along. I like to use conflict to help form character and define characters. Usually they fail tests along the way until the either get tired of being pushed around or they perservere until they get it right.
Stephen Tremp
A cell phone tower???? Wow. Oh and good detective work, Elizabeth. :)
I am still working on developing characters, but I use bits and pieces of people I know. Sometimes I use larger pieces than others.
A fake tree for a cell tower (still processing).
If I struggle I go through a list of folk I know, and borrow a few of their traits.
I like the idea of disguising the cell phone poles. Well spotted, Elizabeth.
LOL, I bet the women at the swimming pool get dressed up incase you take a pic of them!
I love your cell tower/stiff character analogy!
I use a different approach. Instead of trying to make that stiff character more lifelike, I simply populate my novel with even more stiff characters. That way, he blends right in :)
Many good points to be aware of!
Among all the mothers around the pool, you are apparently the strange tree in the forest >:)))
Cold As Heaven
LOL – I was going to ask if it was a real tree at all–we’ve seen quite a few cell towers in disguise living up here in the mountains–they do blend in much better than yours did–so much so that hubster couldn’t tell at a glance.
Since our move, the character possibilities seem endless. Everything here is new, and there’s such springboard potential.
I didn’t know they disguised towers like that – cool!
For me the emotional aspects of the character are most important – if that comes across as real, it’s all good :)
I make sure they have a detailed and realistic background.
That’s a cell phone tower? Never would’ve guessed!
I love that tree story. It’s kind of spooky. My characters are not based on any single real person but I get ideas for characters from real people and often traits from many people go into the making of one character and eventually he or she takes on a unique life of his or her own.
Okay, I have never heard of or seen a cell tower disguised as a tree. Around here they’re disguised as cell towers. Big, tall, ugly cell towers.
Excellent advice. You don’t want your antagonist to stand out or be so vanilla that they’re suspect (at least not suspect too early in the book).
I have never heard of cell towers being disguised as trees. It’s clever and yet sneaky at the same time.
I like to put my characters into situations where they are forced to be more like us. For example, in one of my books, I introduce on of my MCs by having his nephew come into his room at 6:30 in the morning to wake him up and tell him he’s peed the bed. In those moments you really can learn a lot about characters.
CD
My characters always start out as perfectly reasonable people who can adjust to any difficulty. Then I realize no one wants to read about people like that.
So I start giving them flaws, but I try to make sure these flaws are in direct line with my theme, so when my protagonist overcomes his flaws, he’s the hero. I think it’s discovering the characters’ flaws that make all this so much fun.
I’m big on personalities, so assigning each character one of the four basic personalities starts the process. Each carries its own strengths and weaknesses and I expand from that point.
Not quite there yet, Elizabeth, but when I get there, your posts will be oh so helpful.
Karen
LOL! These fake trees are around my town, too. They’re so weird looking!
Great analogy! I’m taking another look at my characters…
I listen to them and try not to oppose them too often. I put them in very tricky situations and see what they’ll do. I listen to so-called real people all the time so I have a pretty good idea how humans on this plane act. I really try to stay out of their way – they aren’t like me and they get cranky when I try to make them like me. Jan Morrison
Great story about a ´tree´.
Saturday I wrote a scene I quite enjoyed working on. I seem to have a lot of grumpy characters in my WIP, but Saturday I sent one of them off into a wood, hunting for mushrooms. He just loves that so it transformed him into someone quite different from his usual nasty self (at least I hope so).
Shannon–I know! I guess they’re trying to make sure we’re not all up in arms over the ugly towers they usually want to build.
Robert–That’s a little scary! But I see where he’s going with the quote. At least we need to START with something real.
HA! Toilet brush trees on rest areas! No, haven’t seen those yet. Am sure they’ll end up in NC before long, though.
Stephen–Conflict! Yes, that’s another great way to develop a character. Forgot all about it!
Glynis–I like borrowing traits, too. Yes, I think the mommies are very suspicious of me and my camera! They just stay out of the camera’s viewfinder. :)
Cassandra–Well, the folks around here REALLY like their cell phone reception to be good–but they don’t want the ugly cell phone towers in their backyard. They want them in someone ELSE’S backyard. :) So the cell phone companies are now “disguising” the towers as “natural” things. Sort of!
Cold As Heaven–I’m definitely the weird tree at the pool! :)
Margot–Great idea! The way we react to different situations can really tell a lot about us.
Alex–That’s a good way of doing it. So you come up with a personal history for the characters that helps you get to know them.
Journaling Woman–I like using that approach, too. Yeah, it took me a while to process it too.
Alan–The perfect strategy! It might work for cell phone towers, too–if we make ALL the trees cell phone towers, then they won’t look fake anymore. :)
Helen–We have some ugly cell phone towers, too–but not in the nicest, newest neighborhoods, apparently! ;)
Clarissa–I like that! See how they react under stress, etc.
Teresa–Good point– so you write protagonist flaws that make an impact on or connect to the plot of the book.
Diane–I’d like to hear more about how you set that up…sounds like a good way to establish some conflict in the story.
Laura–They’re just SO symmetrical! Sort of like a kid’s drawing of a tree.
Jan–They DO get cranky! And then they try to take over the story by force. :) Most of my characters aren’t like me, either. They’re all dying to be their own people.
Terry–We don’t have so many of the fake trees…at least, I don’t think we do! Now I’m going to be looking suspiciously at all the trees.
Jemi–And it’s important for the emotions they’re feeling to ring true, isn’t it?
Paul–That’s a lot of what I do, too–my characters are frequently amalgams of different people I know.
Elspeth–These folks just getting smarter and smarter.
Karen–Best wishes with your story!
Oh, NICE example! So we want to write about REAL people, not deoy people masquerading as characters! And it’s true–they need to have a little give and take (bend with the wind–respond to the action and other characters) or they DO seem two-dimensional.
What a great illustration. We want our characters to stand out, but not in the wrong way. And saying that’s just the way they are is like saying that’s just the way the tree is – doesn’t make it fit the picture any better, or the book. I’ll be thinking “cell phone tower” next time I read an unlikely character.
Unless I am reading a fantasy or a book about super heroes, I want my characters to be like real people, warts and all. That’s what I try to keep in mind when I am creating a character. If it is a mother, she is not a perfect mother. If she is a cop, she is not a perfect cop.
What a clever idea to make a cell tower look like a tree! But you are so right – having a character stand out like that could be a problem. I try to make my characters more lifelike by giving them flaws and hopefully using realistic dialog.
Hmmmm, don’t believe I’ve ever seen a cell tower that looked like anything but a cell tower. I kinda like the idea though :)
Human beings ae pretty complex – full of quirks and contradictions. I think for a character to be realistic, they need to be complex as well.
Nancy, from Realms of Thought…
Love the tower disguised to look like a tree, and love the analogy.
Hart–A little give and take can make a world of difference. :)
Sheila–I wonder if the unlifelike characters stand out as much to non-writers as they do to us?
Dorte–I like that! So he gets to step outside his personality a little. Are these going to be poisoned mushrooms? :) (Dorte is a mystery writer, y’all.)
Maryann–Exactly. Because if I’m reading about a perfect mother, that’s just not going to do it for me (in fact, it’s probably going to make me feel like a bad mom in comparison! Not fun when reading for escape.)
Jane–Dialogue! Good idea. Natural dialogue can go a long way to making a character seem real.
N A –I guess it’s better than the alternative tower that they *would* have put up. :) And, good point, people are complex so why wouldn’t our characters be?
Rayna–Thanks! And thanks for coming by.
Poisonous? Oh, I wouldn´t know yet – I am only on page 52!
Dorte–You write like I do! :) I never know what’s going to happen next.
I’m sorry I didn’t see this post yesterday because I have some answers. The cell phone tower was built by Nextel now owned by Sprint. I use to work for them.
I write fantasy and my stories are character driven. I want my readers to be able to relate to them and they are NOT based on real people. Yes, I do observe people like all writers but I have added a great book to my arsenal and so I will share that with everyone.
45 Master Characters by Victoria Lynn Schmidt. You will LOL reading this book and you will know people that are just like the profiles. But what is really great is that she gives you the profiles of various types as they would appear as either protagonist or antagonist. Also, for those important lead characters, you can learn how to intertwine more than one profile to make them multidimensional. A must have.
Nancy
N. R. Williams, fantasy author