Characters

That's a great question! Developing a solid character involves creating a vivid and believable persona that readers can connect with. Here’s a framework to help you build your character:

Physical Appearance: Start with the basics like hair, eyes, and skin color. Add unique details such as hairstyle, scars, or tattoos. For instance, you might describe a character with high-quality, natural-looking wigs like those from https://truegloryhair.com/collections/frontal-and-closures These wigs can give your character a distinctive look, whether they prefer straight, curly, or wavy hair.

Personality Traits: Define their core personality traits. Are they introverted or extroverted? Optimistic or pessimistic? Kind or sarcastic?

Background: Give them a backstory. Where did they grow up? What significant events shaped their life? This background can influence their behavior and motivations.

Goals and Motivations: What do they want to achieve? What drives them? This adds depth and makes their actions more believable.

Strengths and Weaknesses: Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. Maybe your character is incredibly brave but struggles with trust issues.

Quirks and Habits: Unique quirks or habits make characters memorable. Perhaps they always wear a particular piece of jewelry or have a specific morning routine.

By fleshing out these aspects, you'll create a well-rounded character that feels real and relatable. And if you’re ever in need of inspiration for a character’s hairstyle, checking out realistic wigs like those from True Glory Hair might spark some ideas!

When I think of a character, I use a method an author called Dennis Bond told me. He told me and other students in my juniour school (he came weekly to help students gifted in writing and reading) and sang to songs. One was to help us remember first person the other was how to describe a character. It went something like this

'Is he tall, is he short, is he fat, is he thin, what car does he drive, what house does he live in, what does he do for a living?' This helps once you have decided your gender and age, it also helps for smaller characters you might want to include. I have found this useful and hope you do to :)

"Could anyone give me a set way to build up the character?"

Yes I could... if I wanted to damage your writing - to the extent of quite possibly making it un-readable.

Some of the really hide-bound-formulaic forms of writing stomp things such as character into the writing - and usually pretty early in each book. They are, however, not just telling the reader what they "have to know" about the character but cutting off imagination.

To me this is more the territory of propaganda rather than literature.

I'm struggling to not just say "Mills and Boone" - because I think that would be unfair on their entire output - but - I suspect that it would be true of their output in some periods - probably in the late 1940s and 1950s... but those were periods in which (despite the 2nd World War) it was still socially acceptable to tell people what and how to think.

Heavily formulaic writing - even poetry and theatre - were acceptable in periods where people wanted (or at least expected) to be told "by society" how they should be and what they should do. We are a long way past that sort of social order (possibly too far in some respects). I think that, consequently, most readers would now rapidly reject any formula - it would be seen as heavy handed.

Broadly, reader now want hints at soft "direction" toward what to expect of a character and how to begin to imagine him/her. They want to be nudged along toward their own picture. For example, rather than be told that someone is nearly seven feet tall they prefer to pick up the clue for themselves - from the "fact" that the person always has to duck to pass through a door - or not if the door is described as very big.. The reader might not actually make the direct connection to feet and inches but build up an image of a very tall person. This is usually briefly described as "show don't tell" - but I like to go around the idea and build it up slowly with an example rather than plonk down a brief "directive".

On the other hand - there is nothing to stop you from using your own listing system to quantify characters for your own reference.

I have said elsewhere that I use a standardised chart/table for each character. It contains boxes for name(s), date of birth, age at time of story (saves keep figuring it out), sometimes their age(s) at specific points in their own story - such as when children born - colour of eyes, colour of hair, length of hair, left or right handed, grandparents, aunts and uncles...

In many characters "personnel files" a lot of boxes aren't filled in - they don't need to be - but... if as the story progresses I mention something I know there is a box for - then I try to go to the file and add it in - it is so much easier to do that than to have to dig back through the text to find the reference later - and this makes maintaining continuity so much easier.

The thing then is that I do not use most of the file material in any of the text. Except that it is there in the form that I do not contradict myself... Readers, even skim-readers - will pick up a contradiction (colour of eyes or left or right handedness) faster than a fly will home in on fresh poo.

The files are there to assist me - and they do make building illustration of a character much easier over the duration of the whole text. The reader doesn't need to be beaten about the head with them. The reader might, in fact, create their own personnel file for a character - and it could be quite different from the one I have for that character... This doesn't matter though - we all have different images of who people that we know in real life are - and - sometimes - we get surprises about characters - sometimes we think "oh! I thought his eyes were blue" or "Oh! I thought she was right handed" and so on. (You can even introduce these changes into your writing...

I hope that this helps.

:-)