Authors: Patricia Gilliam
Supporting characters give you the opportunity to learn more about your main character’s traits without directly telling your reader. Keep in mind that secondary characters can add interest when they have opposing personalities to your main characters. This can even be a subtle difference among allies and can provide humor/banter.
Realize that your characters and setting are going to become more complex over time. Prepare as well as you can, but don’t let the pressure of creating the “perfect” set of characters cause you to procrastinate and not get started. Part of the
interest and fun is allowing a set of characters to grow with you. As you gain experience through practice, they’re going to become more developed and realistic.
As you write your book or books, details are going to emerge about your characters that didn’t originate from your initial research. As you find time (at the end of each book project is fine if you’re working on a series), update your reference files to keep yourself consistent. As you progress, there’s a give and take relationship between your actual books and your background material.
Stein on Writing
by Sol Stein—great overview guide for not only character but also story structure and other major elements.
Psychology websites and old textbooks—anything related to the Myers-Briggs personality test has great material on actual personality types and combinations.
Personality Plus
by Florence Littauer was helpful as well.
TV Tropes (tvtropes.org)
is a wiki site featuring character types and typical expectations related around them. By understanding common base character models, you can modify them into something unique to your story.
Creating a setting on the scale of Middle Earth, Narnia, or Hogwarts can be a massive project but is executed over time as a series progresses. I recommend reading
Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia Series,
and
The Harry Potter Series
with a focus on setting and the different approaches to style.
As with long paragraphs of character description, setting details have a d
anger of bogging down your pace. My example with writing sci-fi is that you don’t want to go on and on about how the futuristic toaster works to the point your character can’t finish breakfast. Introductions to new concepts can be done through context if possible, and any direct explanation needs to be short. (One shortcut to this is having one character—often the protagonist—that is new to the environment along with a guiding character that is savvy to it.)
Smaller settings—such as a character’s home or vehicle—can be a reflection of their personality. There is also a larger dynamic of how the character is shaped by his or her setting and also responds by taking actions to either change the setting or move on to another location.
(Originally published in 2010 in
How to Build a Fictional World
; Revised 2013.)
The Big Picture
What overall mood do you want your setting to convey?
Does the main setting of the story stay consistent, or does it change over time? (If you have different stages of setting in your story, it may help to have several smaller templates instead of a single large one.) In creating a mood of suspense or mystery, you can work backwards from the ending of the story and seed clues in previous chapters.
Think about your story in terms of light and dark.
Horror or mystery stories traditionally have darker setting than other genres, and other aspects can become connected to that overall atmosphere. (The same applies with comedies and romances having a lighter feel to them.) Some stories have a gray area or alternate between different levels of light and dark based on the scene. You want to have a rough idea of the progression of this so you know which direction your writing should be heading.
If you’re writing in first-person, keep in mind that the setting is going to be conveyed through the lens of your character’s perspective.
If you’ve created your characters first, put thought into how you can create a setting that reveals their traits without having to use direct description. (A character that tends to be neat is going to be disgusted finding dust on a desk or table. A child is typically going to view the world from a more innocent point-of-view than an adult. A detective is going to be more observant of facial expression and body language than the average person.)
If you’re starting with your setting first, your focus will later be on how it would shape the life of a character and his or her thought process.
Make use of all your senses.
Novels and short stories have an advantage over film and television in that you can bring to life the senses of smell, taste, and touch in a reader’s mind. This takes practice to craft, but it impacts the realism and believability of the story. Keep this in mind as you build details in other areas of this template.
Biology and Physical Environment
Planetary Characteristics (mainly for sci-fi)
Factors may include gravity, atmosphere, rotation, orbit, placement near sun (if applicable), size, moons, closest neighbors, surface temperature (and variations), water availability, polar regions, ability to support life and what kinds, possible hazards (asteroids or comets within range, etc.)
How will these qualities
impact the appearance of life?
How long could a human survive there if stranded?
Physical Geography and Geology
If it’s an existing location
on Earth, do an online search for both a map you can print and a data sheet with key data on natural landmarks—rivers, lakes, mountains, etc. (If you’re creating a fictional area from scratch, creating your own map can serve the same purpose—you can use a real location as a starter point if necessary.)
From a ground level, what are going to be prominent natural features a character will notice?
Soil and Water
Think of the texture and amount of bounce.
What are the
color and make-up of the soil?
Where are water sources?
How are they used and/or filtered?
Are there important mineral or fuel deposits nearby
? If so, how are they mined or extracted?
What natural resources are considered the most valuable in the area?
Climate and Weather
Both daily weather patterns and typical seasonal changes (may also consider impact of an abnormal occurrence in weather).
Variety in weather can be a simple way to change mood between scenes.
Wild Vegetation
Different trees and plants need certain conditions to thrive—for example, evergreens tend to do well in wet temperate areas while cacti can survive areas with long dry spells. Wooded and rainforest areas tend to have multiple layers of plant life—ferns and shrubs more toward the ground-level, etc.
What plants may a character brush up against while walking outside?
Does the vegetation have an overall pleasant or unpleasant smell?
In urban settings, are there still parks and where?
Cultivated Vegetation
Are there any fruits or vegetables grown locally
?
What kinds of flowers a
nd trees are found near houses?
Do characters have gardens?
How are crops grown, harvested, preserved, and cooked?
Wildlife
Mammals tend to be the first animals brainstormed in this category, but don’t forget birds flying overhead, tiny insects (even the annoying ones), small reptiles and amphibians, etc.
If you’re creating your own animals (fantasy and sci-fi genres), studying the biology and structure of actual animals may still be helpful.
What are their food sources?
Do they have any predators?
Do they pose a potential threat?
Are they hunted for food or sport?
Domesticated Animals
These can range from farm and labor animals (horses, oxen, cows, pigs, chickens, etc.) to pets.
How they are treated can be a reflection of a culture.
Possible Impacts on Characters and Story
Physical setting can have a long-term effect on a character’s vocabulary and childhood experiences.
It can also impact appearance, food preferences, tolerance level for heat or cold, etc.
Even if a character moved around from place to place growing up, there is still some degree of impact.
For example, the character may become restless if he or she stays in one location for too long. What they consider “home” may depend more on familiar people than an actual location.
In cases of traveling, you need to have the ability to plot a journey both forwards and backwards
—a set of characters may cross over River (A), follow along Valley (B), make their way to the top of Mountain (C) and finally on their return home go back in the order of (C), (B), and (A). This is where maps can be very helpful if you’re dealing with a wider range of locations.
When you have multiple characters all facing the same physical conditions, you have an opportunity to showcase what’s different about them internally.
This comes into play with “man vs. nature” conflicts and plotlines.
If you have a reasonable used bookstore close to you, stock up old editions of college textbooks (biology, geography, geology, astronomy, history, etc.)
Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, NASA, HGTV, The Weather Channel, National Geographic, and PBS tend to have a good variety of information on their websites that can help you spark ideas. If you watch TV, keep a notebook nearby in case something catches your attention. (I found this useful in learning story structure, but the same concept can apply to other areas of writing as well.)
Cultural Aspects
Population and Community
Think of this in broad terms of how the population’s size will impact the daily life of your characters. For example, daily life in a large city will generally have a feel of urgency to it compared to a small town.
How do
people relate with each other?
Is the community close-knit, or do people tend to keep to themselves whenever possible? Why?
What are key parts of the community’s identity? What holds it together? (Possible examples could be anything from a company or sports team to a major event that impacted the entire area.)
Social Structure
Does the society have a class-system (official or non-official)?
How easy is it to move in societal position?
What personal traits or occupational positions are consi
dered valuable in the society?
Which ones are devalued or looked down upon?
Are there different role expectations for men and women?
What about adults and children?
Government and Law
What is the overall governmental structure of the society? Why?
How are laws created and enforced?
How prevalent is crime?
What types of crime are common and uncommon?
Politics
This can range from the local to national level.
What sides are involved, and what does each believe?
Is there a potential conflict in everyday conversations over a political issue?
Economy and Currency
What is the economic system in place?
What is considered currency?
Are services or products ever bartered?
Is the overall economy thriving or floundering in the background?