So I’ve made federal laws, supernatural society laws, made preternatural power rules, revamped history, and so forth.  Now let’s work on characters.         

(A lot of this I’ve touched on in a previous blog forming characters.)         

Character Building…In order for characters to be real in my head I have to have a feel for them, a feel for their personality.  This means getting to know them.  Getting to know their likes and dislikes.  What makes them angry?  What are their parents like?  What is their sexual orientation?  Fears?  Pet Peeves?  Prejudice? Have they ever had their heart broken?  Are they in love?  Is it reciprocated?          

Are they good looking?  Do they have high self-esteem?  High confidence? Are they conceited? Do they make jokes to cover up their nervousness?  Do they pretend to be snotty to keep people from getting too close?         

Are they human?  If not then what are they?  Then I need to know how they were changed or if they were born into whatever supernatural being they are now.  How has being that supernatural being affected their life?  If they were turned, was it violent? Was it chosen or forced on them?  Do they hate the person who turned them?  Do they hate what they have become or do they embrace what they have become?  What were their feelings about the supernatural before they were turned?         

If they were born a supe then are they prejudice against those turned?  Are they filled with hate because humans don’t understand them?  Have they turned others?  What do they think of other supernatural beings? Where do they rank in the hierarchy of their society?  Where does their people rank in the hierarchy of supernatural societies?  Do they aspire to reach higher?  Are they happy in their lot?         

Here, there will mingle the rules of the supernatural with the character.  Society and its rules whether they are law or just what that society has deemed acceptable affects the way we think.  Youth as a rule tends to be less prejudice, but a person who was raised in prejudice most often is also prejudice.  If a character is raised to believe that all people of a certain race were inferior, then for that character to change its view something has to happen.  Perhaps their life is saved by one of the “inferior” people or they get imprisoned together and work together to get free.  This would change that character’s opinion.  Change their character but that character’s best friend who wasn’t part of that life altering experience will still hold true to those ideals they were raised with. 

All of this affects and helps form a character.  All of these will affect their outlook on life, their reactions to certain situations.  Just as each of us are different and respond different to different situations so do characters in books.  Characters must have a real quality to them in order to make readers care about what happens to them. 

Let’s make up a quick vampire for reference here VonBludd.           

VonBludd was a farmer’s son and was turned violently against his will by his master who liked young blonde men.  VonBludd was forced to live centuries under her not so tender care.  When she was killed by vengeful towns folk he escaped and promised himself he would never be under anyone’s control again, especially a woman.         

I can assume then that VonBludd would be a male chauvinist.  Chances are he’s not going to be a real ladies man.  He’s a bit of a control freak.  If he were imprisoned by a group of mad scientists who were determined to find out the secret to eternal life he’d go ballistic.  The loss of his freedom again would make him insane.  If he were ever able to get free I don’t think there would be any survivors of those who imprisoned him, especially women.          

Every aspect of a character from their look to their pasts is important in shaping the character.  The more I know of a character the better I will be able to stay true to them.          Characters are harder to analyze than supernatural societies as a hole.  Most characters for me just sort of form and have their own voice without me delving too deep into their psyche.  I’ve got characters that won’t tell me their past.  This is just another part of their character.  It tells me that their past is not pretty and they don’t want to discuss it.         

But I want to be as detailed as I can about as many characters as I can.  Even minor characters.  Though a minor character isn’t as important as main characters and secondary characters.  Sometimes a minor character can take a life of its own and become a secondary character later on.  But the more I know about any character in my story the more real I can make them.  So while I might not spend as much time as on a minor character if they want to tell me their story I listen just in case I need it later and just to help me write better reactions and dialogue for that character.

          Character building is another phase of building my world…