In our previous post, we discussed how to build a character by identifying their want and need. Now we want to dig into revealing the details, and here’s the thing:

Characters are sauce.

They are a mixture of different ingredients mixed together to make something that tastes amazing. The different ingredients you choose and when you add them to the mix will affect how the sauce tastes to the audience. I can’t tell you which ingredients to use, that’s up to you, but I can give you some cooking tips.

Want and Obstacle

First, you need to be deliberate about where you find these ingredients. Like I said in the previous post, these characteristics should come from how a character reacts to an obstacle that’s in the way of their want. The ingredients or characteristics should serve to ground that reaction and have it make sense. The audience should never think, “Would that character actually do that?” The decisions your character makes will be believable because you crafted them to match their want and obstacle.

But there isn’t a strict set of characteristics to match a reaction. Emotion is subjective and thus a huge grey area. There’s more than one way to make a sauce. You’ll have to trust your gut and the people who give you feedback. A good way to tackle this is to find one characteristic and branch out from there.

For example, let’s say I have a protagonist named Andy, and he wants to protect nature. The thing standing in his way is a lumber company that has just purchased public lands and intends to turn the trees into lumber. Andy initially responds by secretly sabotaging their machinery to slow their destruction.

So with that response I could start by saying he was a park ranger at the public land. That gives him a concrete motive to sabotage the lumber company. Now you can take that detail and let it lead me to other details.

Character Detail

I can do this by asking questions. Why did Andy become a park ranger? Maybe he used to go on hikes through the woods with his mom, but she passed away when he was a teenager. Now nature is his last connection to his mom, so he became a park ranger to preserve her memory.

Now let’s find another branch. What else about him would lead him to sabotage the equipment? A great strategy here is to think of other paths he could’ve taken and find traits that exclude those paths. Maybe someone socially and politically minded would’ve tried to start some kind of movement to stop the company. Not Andy though. Andy is anti-social. He likes to keep to himself. That’s one of the reasons he became a park ranger. He prefers the company of nature over people.

Finding traits that exclude other paths serves both character and plot – you’re adding depth to your characters while also rationalizing their decisions to the audience.

Keep following these branches. You don’t have to keep everything you come up with, but developing these possibilities will give you plenty of options as you decide what works for the story.

Somewhere in this process I will identify my character’s flaw. Perhaps Andy will need to overcome his anti-social tendencies to truly save the land that he loves. Finding this need will be an important step in characterizing your protagonist.

Details You Don’t Need

It is important to remember that as you follow these branches, the characteristics you end up choosing should influence the story. It’s very easy to get lost in the small stuff when it comes to character development. What is their favorite brand of cereal? Are they left-handed? Did they go to college? But these are details that don’t necessarily serve the fundamentals of your story. They’re bland spices that may get lost in the sauce. You don’t really need to include them.

Timing

Speaking of getting lost in the sauce, some ingredients require specific timing to have the effect you want. You can’t throw all of the ingredients in at once. When you reveal characteristics to the audience will change how they come across.

When should I reveal Andy’s backstory about his mom? I could do it at the beginning, so that it’s always there in the background like a ghost. I could sprinkle it in slowly over the course of the story so that it develops. Or, I could plop it in at the end to make a splash of zest. Considering the timing of revealing characteristics can change your character’s entire flavor.

Uniqueness

So how do you make characters that stick out? How do you make unique flavors? It’s easy to make a sauce that tastes like something that you’d find in a jar at the grocery store, but it takes skill and creativity to make something fresh and delicious. One of the keys here is to use interesting ingredients. Boring characteristics make for boring characters. If I use the same traits that I’ve seen before in the same combination, then I’m not making something that will taste great. I’m making Ragu.

This means you should avoid cliches and the obvious. These are boring. You want to add spice to your characters. When cooking, sometimes ingredients that don’t seem to go together on the surface, make something delicious. Like sea salt and chocolate, or anchovy paste in red pasta sauce. Finding interesting combinations of characteristics that work together will make unique and tasty characters.

Going back to my example, I can’t think of any sneaky park rangers. I think that is a rather unique character from a mainstream perspective. Unique doesn’t necessarily mean good, but unique is often better than bland.

Research

I’m not a park ranger though. I’m not really sure what their work is like, but my character is a park ranger. What do I do?

Writing about things you are unfamiliar with takes research. For the story I’ve presented, I’ll probably want to talk to a park ranger. Find out what their life is like. How do they feel about nature? What brought them to where they are? What does a day in their life look like?

Likewise, I don’t know a ton about the logging industry either, so I’ll have to learn about it. What kind of machinery do they use? What does the logging process look like? How long does it take to cut down a forest? You might have to read a book to write a book. If you write about something you know nothing about it will show, especially to those who do know about that subject.

After you’ve written your first draft, you should give it to someone else to taste test it, to make sure that you’ve used the ingredients correctly. If you are writing about an introvert, have an introvert read your piece to see if you really captured the essence of what it’s like to be an introvert. That way when you label your sauce “Introvert” it won’t taste wrong to those who’ve tasted that flavor before.

This process isn’t just limited to your main character. You can make a whole host of different characters for your audience to feast on. Your characters are the sauce. Your plot is the pasta that the sauce clings to. Your worldbuilding is the plates. The words are the silverware the audience eats with. Soon, you’ll have an entire meal to share!

TL;DR: Finding the details for your character precipitates from how they respond to an obstacle in the way of their want. You can take that response and let it lead you to other character details.

If you have any questions or comments, join the discussion on our Discord! Next time we’ll be discussing characterization through showing rather than telling. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter below to stay in the loop on the blog and Campfire news.