Psychological Problems: Cardioneurosis, Cataphasia, Hebephrenia, Korsakoff's Psychosis

 Marc McCutcheon's book  Building Believable Characters has a section called PSYCHOLOGICAL/PSYCHIATRIC PROBLEMS. My last post on this topic generated a bit of disagreement, so let's see what I can come up with today from the alphabetical listing of psychological problems. (Note: the list is in alphabetical order, so you can see I'm just beginning. I'm also skipping many of the well-known ones, like bulimia, compulsive disorders, delusions, etc.)

CARDIONEUROSIS: "A neurotic fear of having a heart attack. Symptoms include perceived chest pains, palpitations, and shortness of breath." This one can be used seriously, but I've also seen it done for comedic effect. Victoria Laurie has a series with a young man who's always terrified of getting sick. Not like a head cold, but strokes, heart attacks, exotic fevers, and off-the-wall sicknesses that make him extremely funny. 

CATAPHASIA: "Repetition of the same word or phrase over and over." You could use this one without ever labeling the problem, and I could see this working extremely well. Many well-loved characters have catch-phrases ("Elementary, my dear Watson" comes to mind), but you could magnify this one enough to truly make your character stand out. Too much repetition and the reader will tire of it, but used in moderation, this could be a fantastic tool for creating a memorable character. This disorder closely resembles ECHOLALIA, which is "a brain disorder in which the victim repeats the words of others." Both of these could also be used for comedic effect, too.

HEBEPHRENIA: "A form of schizophrenia characterized by regressive behavior and a perpetual silly grin." If you want to use this one, do a ton of research before diving in. I bring it up, though, because I've never heard of it before and the "silly grin" stood out to me as unique and interesting (in a morbid sort of way). As I know nothing about this problem, I hesitate to comment as I may get it all wrong, so I'll leave you with the description and your own imagination.

KORSAKOFF'S PSYCHOSIS: "Distorted thinking and memory loss caused by alcohol." Again, I know nothing about this, but the memory loss part sparked several ideas. Do your research if you want to use this one. If any of you have heard of this one (or the previous), please share in the comments section.

The next part of the list has a bunch of manias, and I'll discuss those in my next post. Questions? Comments? Rants? Share them all.

-Sonja

Psychological Problems: Accident-Prone, Alethia, Anomie, and Anxiety

 Marc McCutcheon's book  Building Believable Characters has a wealth of information to absorb, and I'm doing my best to share some of it. Today I'm in the section called PSYCHOLOGICAL/PSYCHIATRIC PROBLEMS. It's an alphabetical listing, so I'll just go through it and hit the ones that stand out to me. (For a complete list, buy the book. It's a handy tool.)

ACCIDENT-PRONE: This is "an unconscious need for attention that manifests itself through an unusual number of accidents and mishaps." This is different that being clumsy or uncoordinated. A character with this problem will intentionally hurt themselves to draw attention. This could be a ton of fun to work with in a novel, but you'd have to be careful that your character doesn't come across as pitiable, or worse, unsympathetic. Make sure that underlying need has a background that's believable and sympathetic.

(photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)

ALETHIA: It sounds like a girl's name, but it's really a "dwelling, to a neurotic degree, on the past." This is more than just wishing for the good old days, or pining for someone who's gone. This is an unhealthy fixation on the past. I can think of a ton of ways to use this in a novel. A woman who lives like a pioneer, avoiding all technology. A man who sees his dead wife's face or smells her perfume or hears her voice wherever he goes. A woman who treats a doll as her own baby to replace the one she lost. These are getting kind of sad, but you can see the potential to use this in your novel. Even a minor case of alethia could be useful for a character.

ANOMIE: "Feelings of alienation and not belonging to society." We've all seen this one taken to extremes on the TV where the guy thinks he's an alien sent to probe the planet. That can be fun, but you can also dial this back a bit and use a mild form of it for your character's flaw. A man who lives in the city but stays inside at all times. The woman who lives in the country and can't abide visitors. The teenager who's desperate to fit in but can't find a friend. Play with it and see what you come up with.

ANXIETY: "Fear, nervousness or apprehension caused by a real or imagined source." Most people feel this a time or two during life. It's the feeling of not being in control, of things moving outside your sphere of influence when you're certain you should be in charge. Magnify it in your character, remove any sense of control (locked in a mental institute against her will? held captive by kidnappers? child is dying of incurable disease?), and watch the conflict mount exponentially.

I'm not finished with the A's yet, but I'll stop now and continue next time. See anything here that sparks your imagination? How could you use one or more of these in a character? Please share.

-Sonja

Something Humorous

Personality Traits: Bad Habits/Vices part 3

I'm discussing a section of Marc McCutcheon's book  Building Believable Characters called BAD HABITS/VICES. It's basically a three-page list of bad habits and vices you could give your characters. Let's get to it.

The next vice that caught my eye is WATCHES TOO MUCH TV and it's twin brother, WATCHES TOO MUCH SPORTS ON TV. We can all see the comedic potential in this one, but think about it's serious impacts. Spending too much time on any one activity has a negative impact on all of life. Think about the man who skips church to watch football, or the woman who doesn't feed her kids until it's nearly bedtime because "her shows" were on, or the college student who's failing classes because she's addicted to daytime TV (soaps, talk shows, all of it). This can be a devastating issue if taken to extremes, and it shouldn't be too hard to figure out how this vice could become the Flaw a character must overcome to reach The Goal. You could substitute "TV" with any other activity and get the same results (video games, reading novels, building model airplanes, etc).

SWEARS TOO MUCH is on the list, and I immediately thought of a retired man who drove into the Cal-Gas one day to fill up his propane tank (this story courtesy of my husband, who was the poor soul who had to help this man). Every other word out of his mouth, to both the propane attendant and his wife, were foul words. He didn't even realize he was cursing. He'd added those filthy words to his vocabulary, and they were as standard as articles and verbs. He used them like adjectives. This is an extreme example, but extremes are so much fun to play with in novels. How could a man with this potty mouth survive in the work force? Could he control his tongue in front of a police officer, or a judge, or his boss? How would his wife deal with it? I'd be mortified to be married to a man like that. Would his children emulate him? How would he respond to teachers who complained about his child's inappropriate vocabulary? Society has become a bit numb to curse words, but they still offend people. Can you think of a way to use this as a flaw for your hero? How and why would he overcome this?

There are a lot of things on the list that deal with food and eating: TIPS TOO MUCH, DOESN'T TIP ENOUGH, BURPS LOUDLY IN PUBLIC, FINISHES EVERYONE ELSE'S MEAL, SNACKS TOO MUCH, CHEWS GUM TOO MUCH, COUGHS WITHOUT COVERING MOUTH (which is really gross if there's food involved). You may have noticed the word "TOO" in many of these. They are all extremes. As I said above, these are fun to play with and will work as both comedy and tragedy. I remember an episode of Third Rock From The Sun where Mary left a tip on the restaurant table and Dick stuck it in his pocket. She caught him at it, and that lead to a half hour of hilarity while Dick learned the art of tipping properly. Just because it's been done once (or twice) doesn't mean you can't put a new twist on it and use it yourself. Does your hero eat too much? Pair it with a high metabolism and she's enviously skinny. Is your hero an extremely picky eater? Plunk him into a middle-eastern society where it's rude to not eat what's put in front of you and watch the tension mount. You've seen this a ton on TV: the girl who's afraid of green Jell-o (Third Rock), the man who only eats white food (Numbers), the characters who only eat live food (Star Trek)... have some fun with this one.

There are a lot more on the list, but I want to finish this up and move on. The last habit I'll cover is PARKS IN HANDICAPPED SPACE because it has so much potential. When I see what appears to be a non-handicapped person get out of a vehicle parked in one of those spots, my first thought is "what a jerk." But what if he really is handicapped, but it's not visibly apparent? Or what if he really isn't handicapped, he's just being a jerk? Why would he do such a thing? Is there backstory lingering behind this excuse, or is he just in a hurry and it's the only spot available? Does he do it all the time, or only once in a while? What are some handicaps that aren't readily visible to passers-by that could make someone think ill of them? Diabetes came to the top of my head, but I'm sure there's more. Heart trouble, nerve damage in feet, seizures (although why would this person be driving?), passenger who's handicapped... what do you think?

(Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)

The next section of the book is called PSYCHOLOGICAL/PSYCHIATRIC PROBLEMS. I can't wait to dig into it with you! Stay tuned.

-Sonja

Personality Traits: Bad Habits/Vices part 2

I'm digging through Marc McCutcheon's book  Building Believable Characters for the good stuff, and I'm in a section called BAD HABITS/VICES. It's basically a three-page list of bad habits and vices you could give your characters. I started this discussion in my last post, so if you want to know what I'm up to, revisit that one. I'll wait.

Welcome back. The next bad habit I want to discuss is FORGETS A LOT. I don't tend to think of forgetfulness as a bad habit or a vice (I'm horribly forgetful), but I can see where this could be a fantastic trait for a hero. My friend Aggeloi wrote a story with an absent-minded hero, and I thought it was fabulous. The key to this trait is to balance it with some strength so the character doesn't appear weak, pitiable, or unlovable. The forgetful genius has already been done (Absent-mindded professor). How about the forgetful woman who feeds the homeless four nights a week? Or the forgetful police officer who tries to get prostitutes off the streets? The forgetful school teacher who takes disadvantaged kids camping during the summer? I'm actually working on a version of this in one of my WIP's: a forgetful FBI consultant who knows there's a bit of information she gathered that's crucial to solving the crime if she could just remember it. Memory is a fun thing to play with in stories because they can be triggered by so many things: smells, sounds, textures. I could find a dozen ways to use this trait in a novel. How about you?

Here's a funny one: EATS SOUP STRAIGHT OUT OF THE CAN WITHOUT HEATING. The first thing I thought of was a hobo under a bridge eating pork-n-beans with a fork. I must have seen that in a TV show or movie. Anyway, this could be a wonderful quirk for an otherwise normal character to give him a spark of humor and reality. Chef Boy-R-Dee out of the can? I could see a young single man doing that. How about green beans out of the can? Crushed tomatoes (use a spoon, please), kidney beans in that nasty pink syrup, Nalley's Chili with that crust of orange fat across the top... I could gross myself out doing this. Open your pantry and see what comes in a can, then picture your hero eating it. To jazz things up, make your hero something other than a young bachelor. 

(Sweetened condensed milk, anyone? Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)

The last one for today's post is WEARS TOO MUCH PERFUME OR COLOGNE. I can relate to this, as I was born with no sense of smell. If I spritz myself with perfume, I have no way of knowing if it's too little or too much unless someone else is brave enough to tell me so (sons and husband seem oblivious, so I rely on total strangers or friends. Usually I just skip the perfume). While this could be an embarrassing trait for your hero, it could also impact others. There's a kind old gentleman in my church who's seriously allergic. Many times he comes to church, sits down, gets a whiff of someone walking by, and he's got to leave the building with his hacking and wheezing. This bad habit could be used for comedic relief, for increased tension, or for raising the stakes (life-threasening allergies). Can you come up with a way to use this one?

I'll continue with McCutcheon's list of bad habits in my next post. Share your thoughts with me and whoever else might be reading today. Thanks!

-Sonja

Personality Traits: Bad habits/Vices

The next section of Marc McCutcheon's book  Building Believable Characters I'd like to discuss is called BAD HABITS/VICES. It's basically a three-page list of bad habits and vices. While some of them are silly (cracks knuckles or farts in public), others would be useful for building a well-rounded yet flawed character. I'd like to pick out some of these bad habits and offer suggestions on how to use them in novel-writing.

The first one on the list is OVERSLEEPS. At first, I thought it was funny/not serious, but then I thought of a great application. My hero oversleeps every day. The alarm goes off, he slaps the snooze button a few too many times, and suddenly he's late for work. Most bosses would not tolerate lateness, especially on a daily basis, but as I writer and creative person, I can do better than that. Maybe the boss is okay with a flex schedule, or the work involved doesn't revolve around a fixed schedule, so it doesn't matter what time the hero shows up for work, as long as he puts in his eight hours. And for the sake of storytelling, my hero is a hard, conscientious worker. He just not very punctual. Now I'll make it his flaw, that inner something that must be overcome before he can achieve The Goal. Suppose his goal has a time limit? Maybe not as dramatic as a ticking bomb that will blow up his entire city, including his puppy, his girlfriend, and his aging mama, but something that has high enough stakes that he's got to be on time for it--and that deadline is 5:30 am. I'm gong to stop there because I'm sure you've already finished the story, or you're miffed at me because I changed something midstream that you were already thinking about. Play with this bad habit and see if it can work for your hero.

I'm skipping down the list to "Shaves and leaves whiskers in the sink." Gross! Definitely a bad habit, but not something that would work as an inner flaw. However, this could generate some necessary tension in a relationship. I'm thinking the guy who leaves whiskers in the sink will also leave his socks on the floor, and when he makes himself a sandwich the mayo knife will be left on the counter, and his raincoat will be a permanent fixture on the banister by the front door. This guy's bad habits will make some woman's life misery--and maybe that's HER flaw that she must overcome: deal with this guy or move on, because all women know, deep down, that we can't change our man no matter how hard we try. (Insert joke here). Can you think of another way to use this bad habit in your story?

(This mess brought to you by freedigitalphotos.net.)

Further down the list, I'm intrigued by LAUGHS TOO LOUD WHEN NERVOUS, and it's cousin LAUGHS TOO MUCH WHEN NERVOUS. This is a glorious personality flaw to play with! We've all seen this on TV and in real life: female hero is in the emergency room waiting for news of a loved one who was in a horrific fill-in-the-blank, the nurse arrives to give the dire news, and the hero's giggling at every word the nurse says. I know someone like this in real life. Her daughter was having a broken arm reset, and my friend was giggling. Not a "it's funny" giggle, but a nervous chitter that she couldn't help. She's admitted that it's thoroughly embarrassing, and she wishes she could stop, but she can't. It's her body's way of dealing with the stress. Can you think of other inappropriate situations where this nervous laugh will create tension or hostility? (Other versions of this are whistles when nervous, hums when nervous, sings when nervous, etc.)

The next one on the list that caught my attention is TAILGATES (goes with IGNORES YEILD SIGNS and SCREAMS AT OTHER DRIVERS). While tailgating is a dangerous activity that can earn you a hefty fine if a police officer spots you doing it, how could this be used in a story? I'm thinking of a Type A hero who prides himself on never being late, who demands that everyone else on the road do the exact speed limit ("You're going five under the limit, you jackwad! Find your gas pedal!"), and who's now got ten minutes to make it to fill-in-the-blank and there's a traffic snarl up ahead. While this will create tension for both the hero and every other driver on the road, can you think of ways to make this a much bigger issue? Can this bad habit of tailgating and shouting at other drivers become an inciting incident, or even a major plot point? Think about it for a minute. I'll wait.

There are a ton of bad habits/vices on this list, and I want to talk about more of them, so I'll continue this discussion in my next post. Did anything I say in this one get your creative juices flowing? Care to share what you thought of? That's what the comments section is for. Please avail yourselves of it. Is that grammatically correct?

-Sonja

Something Funny

This is the Absolute Truth.

Personality Traits: Flirtatious, childish, and Strong/Brave

If you've been hanging around, you know I'm digging through Marc McCutcheon's book  Building Believable Characters. It's a great tool for writers to create believable characters. I'm in the section of the book called the PERSONALITY TRAITS INVENTORY. The traits I want to discuss today are FLIRTATIOUS, CHILDISH, and STRONG/BRAVE.

SEXUAL/FLIRTATIOUS is pretty obvious. This character uses her body to convey a message of openness to romance. She uses eye contact, suggestive talk or behavior, and her mode of dress to attract sexual attention. She may play it shy, coy, and demure. Or she might be brazen and promiscuous, with plenty of physical contact and teasing behavior. She's a lot of fun to write, but stay away from stereotypes. Give her other traits that make her more believable. Maybe she acts this way because it's all she's been taught, and on the inside she's not ready or interested in a sexual relationship, it's all outward. Or maybe she's got a deep desire for "Mr. Right" and a house with a picket fence and three kids, but she's trying to achieve her goal in a way that's counter-productive. This flirtatious character would also make a great comic side-kick or an antagonist. Just avoid stereotypes. Also, try it with a male character to see how it goes.

The next trait is CHILDISH/ADOLESCENT. This character, despite an adult age, tends toward a sophomoric sense of humor (think of the bathroom humor of an eight-year-old boy). He is silly, giggly, immature, irresponsible, fun-loving, impulsive, fickle, and shallow. He doesn't make good decisions and his judgment is poor. He could be seen as naive or innocent, but also unrealistic, melodramatic, and reckless. He could be socially awkward. As with all these traits, avoid the stereotypes. Give him other traits to balance out his immaturity: he loves puppies, or he's ultra-responsible in his care of his elderly mother, or he's got such a golden heart and concern for others that everyone loves him. I'd also use this personality quirk as his flaw that must be conquered. He can grow up, if he's got the right stimulus.

Last is STRONG/BRAVE. This person is a risk-taker, adventurous, unflinching, thick-skinned, and macho. He's daring and brash, powerful, heroic, showing great leadership skills. He can also be disgusted by weakness, and his self-esteem is wrapped up in his outward show of strength. He could also be a she: brave women can be just as macho as her male counterpart in fiction, but please don't make another Lara Croft. She's been done. This character won't admit fear, jumps into a challenge with both feet, and can make an awesome hero for a story, especially if his bravery is the flaw he must overcome by story's end. 

(This strong guy courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)

That concludes this portion of the personality traits inventory. The next several sections deal with darker issues, like bad vices, psychiatric problems, and manias. 

Have these personality traits been useful? Can you think of ways to use today's traits in your hero? Share other examples beyond what I've offered.

-Sonja

Personality Traits: Type A/Type B, Mentally Ill, and Substance Abuser

Marc McCutcheon's book  Building Believable Characters is a great tool for writers to create believable characters. I'm in the section of the book called the PERSONALITY TRAITS INVENTORY. Today's traits are Type A/Type B, Mentally Ill, and Substance Abuser. Here's what McCutcheon has to say:

TYPE A/TYPE B are two separate traits, but I want to deal with them together. The Type A person is hard-driving, impatient, cynical, aggressive, hates being late, restless, and hyper. They can also be cynical, hot-headed, frustrated, irritable, aggravated, belligerent, and short-fused (but not always, and not all Type A's are like this). Type A's are fun to write because they're so driven and goal-oriented, which is perfect for a protagonist who must Get Something Done. Type A's can be obnoxious, especially to non-Type A's. I grew up with a Type A (my dad) and it was fun to watch him interact with other Type A's. Sometimes they admire each other. Sometimes they compete with each other. Sometimes they become bitter enemies. To a Type A personality, life is a race, a competition, an opportunity to get stuff done. The Type B, on  the other hand, is laid back, easygoing, long-fused, patient, cool-headed, mild, even-tempered, unaggressive, carefree, and calm. They're generally nice people. My mom is a Type B, and I think she's the perfect match for her Type A husband. You could have a lot of fun writing couples who are this opposite. Then again, putting two Type A people in a relationship could be fun, too! Play around with this one, as there's a lot of flexibility in both these personalities.

I was going to skip the MENTALLY ILL personality because it's entirely too broad to deal with, but McCutcheon mentioned it here, so I'll put it in. This personality could include some of these traits: delusional, hallucinatory, irrational, manic, hyper, depressed, neurotic, obsessive, compulsive, insanely jealous, phobic, unstable, homicidal, sociopathic, or suicidal. They could have unrealistic believes (he's the savior, he's being followed, he's being bugged by the CIA, he's receiving messages from fill-in-the-blank, he's an alien). This personality type is extremely hard to write because you've got to be close to an expert to not make the character seem unrealistic or comedic. A protagonist who's mentally ill could be highly unsympathetic, or worse, pitiable. Steven King pulls this off in his horror novels fabulously, so it can be done well. 

(This photo of Jack Nicholson from the movie The Shining courtesy of wikipedia)

The last personality I'll cover today is the ALCOHOLIC/SUBSTANCE ABUSER. They are usually (but not always) in denial about their abuse. Their thoughts center around their substance of choice, they try to hide it, and sometimes they're ashamed of their problem (other times they flaunt it). They appear sickly, dysfunctional, and irresponsible. They fight with those closest to them. They usually steal to fuel their habit. The alcoholic/substance abuser has been done and overdone, so if you want to create a protagonist with this problem, take care to make him unique and sympathetic. 

Any comments on these personality traits? Can you think of ways to make them work as a protagonist? Share your thoughts, please. I love hearing from you.

-Sonja

Personality Traits: Charming, Devious, Annoying, Puritanical, Happy

Marc McCutcheon's book  Building Believable Characters is a great tool for writers to create believable characters. I'm in the section of the book called the PERSONALITY TRAITS INVENTORY. Today's traits are Charming, Devious, Puritanical, and Happy. Let's dig in.

CHARMING/WELL-BRED is another of those that could lead to stereotype if you're not careful. This character is gracious, polite, and smooth. They make others comfortable. They are the life of the party. Ladylike, tactful, warm, friendly, personable, they are the child every parent wishes they had, the wife every man wants as his own, the friend everyone wants to be with. They are sexually attractive. Clean and neat. Considerate. Darn-near perfect. And that's the problem--how often do you run across someone in your life that's this wonderful? Do you truly love them, or in the back of your mind do you envy them or wish they'd step into a mud puddle just once? All this awesomeness is good in a protagonist, but it must be coupled with a flaw or she'll seem cartoonish. Ruin her looks with a hairy wart on her chin. Or give her a bit of a temper and a unique way of displaying her temper--no shouting or door-slamming for this woman, she plots her revenge in secret and gets her revenge by publicly humiliating her enemy. Play with it and see what you come up with.

The next trait is DEVIOUS/CONNIVING/EVIL. This is fabulous for the antagonist, but can you use this trait for a protagonist? This guy is wily, plotting, false, manipulative, lying, backstabbing, two-faced, sneaky, power-hungry, and venomous. Think Scrooge times two. Actually, Scrooge is a great example of how to pull off this nasty protagonist. Use these traits as his flaw to overcome, make the stakes ultra-high (death, in Scrooge's case), and reel the reader into a fabulous ride of conflict after conflict.

ANNOYING is up next. This personal in a know-it-all, or tells offensive jokes in mixed company, or touches people too much, or whines. He's shallow, gossipy, smug, self-righteous, rude, and insincere. He's not exactly evil, although he is self-absorbed. He doesn't know how to behave politely with others. How did he get this way? Is he desperate for attention? Is his sense of self-worth grossly exaggerated (Mommy raised a prince)? Is he socially awkward because of a secluded upbringing? This one has lots of potential because it's so varied, but again, he must be sympathetic. 

PURITANICAL/PROPER could get you in a bit of trouble if you don't handle it well. This character is goody-goody, politically correct, morally superior, sees others as immoral heathens (but never himself--he sees himself as clean and righteous), quotes Bible verses at every opportunity (or Koran, or Torah, or whatever religion you make him). He's modest, law-abiding, honest, attends church regularly, doesn't drink or smoke, and is judgmental. He knows what's best for everyone and expects everyone around him to heed his words. Once again, be ultra-careful about stereotypes with this one. The old Bible-thumper from the South has been done one-too-many times, and quite frankly, he's not sympathetic. This would make a great comic-relief, though, or a good fanatical antagonist. 

The last trait I want to cover today is HAPPY/JOVIAL. This lady is a treasure. She's good-humored, easy going, funny, light-hearted, relaxed, friendly. She smiles a lot and sees the glass as half-full. She's always smiling, or humming, or doing good deeds. She's also too good to be realistic, too syrupy and sweet. She needs a flaw that brings her back into the realistic realm, because Pollyanna has been done several times and Disney princesses, while wonderful, belong to Disney. So give your happy character something to be sad about (an ailing parent, a dead-end job, a disrespectful/willful child) and make sure her inner flaw stands in her way of achieving Her Goal.

(This is Belle, the happiest of all the Disney princesses. This photo courtesy of wikipedia)

What negative traits would you pair with a charming or happy personality? How would you make an annoying character likable? What positive traits would you give a devious or puritanical character to make them believable? Share your thoughts in the comments section. I love hearing from ya'll. 

-Sonja

Personality Traits: Nervous, Depressed, Intelligent/Ignorant, Boring/Eccentric

Marc McCutcheon's book  Building Believable Characters is a great tool for writers to create believable characters. I'm in the section of the book called the PERSONALITY TRAITS INVENTORY. Today's traits are Nervous, Depressed, Intelligent/Ignorant, and Boring/Eccentric.

The next personality McCutcheon covers is NERVOUS/SHY/SUBMISSIVE. This is different from introverted. The nervous/shy/submissive character has nervous ticks like fidgeting, trembling, clenched jaws, blushing, or stuttering. They are apologetic, deferential, won't make eye contact, and solicitous. If your protagonist suffers from this personality trait, you'll need to find a way to make him sympathetic so the reader won't walk away. I once began a book where the protagonist became morbidly obese, and everyone (including his parents) mocked him for it. I put the book aside and never finished it because I felt too uncomfortable to identify with the hero. If you decide to use this personality trait for your hero, he definitely has a flaw to overcome. If the final conflict of the story is a confrontation, then your hero has a lot of preparation and growth to experience before the book's end. 

SAD SACK/GLOOMY GUS is the next type. This person mopes around, slouches, sighs a lot, complains, has a "poor me" attitude, never seems happy, and generally drags everyone around him into a funk almost as deep as his own. Be ultra-careful with this character! In real life, people like this are hard to put up with. I know one of these people, and I avoid her like the herpes virus. This character is not only unsympathetic, she's down-right toxic. Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh might suffer from a bit of this, but he's sympathetic because he genuinely cares for his friends and will do anything to be helpful, even while he's grumbling. If you use this character trait, couple it with positive traits to balance her negativity, or she'll be nasty.

(This image courtesy of wikipedia)

The next two personality traits are INTELLIGENT and IGNORANT. I'm pairing them because they both have the same danger: they can lead to stereotypical characters. The brainy nerd who wears glasses and is socially awkward. The ditzy blond who couldn't find her way out of a paper bag with a map and a flashlight. The bumbling, naive country boy who's built like a John Deere tractor but can't spell CAT if you give him the C and the A (I stole that one out of a Robert P. Parker book). Intelligence or lack thereof can be an important part of your character, but avoid the stereotypes. To do that, pair the intelligence or ignorance with other traits that you don't expect to find together. Bumbling but loves sports. Intelligent with a secret belief in UFOs or astrology. Bookish, but loves punk music concerts. The more variety you add, the better the character and the further away you get from stereotypes.

I'm also listing BORING and ECCENTRIC together for the same reasons above. A boring personality talks a lot about himself or about other mind-numbing subjects, has poor listening skills, might be prone to babbling, speaks in monotone (remember that teacher from Ferris Bueller played by Ben Stein?), never changes his routine, and is afraid of change. On the flip side, the eccentric is weird, original/individualistic, doesn't care what others think, could be mad/insane/deranged, enjoys excess and extravagance, and may enjoy shocking people with unconventional behavior. These characters make great comic relief in secondary characters because of their uniqueness. If used for the protagonist (or antagonist), pair these traits up with something more normal/likable like a devotion to pets, exceptional generosity with money/time, or immense compassion. 

I'll stop here. Did you find anything interesting to use? Can you come up with examples from books you've read where the author took one of these toxic personalities and created a fabulous character?

-Sonja

Personality Traits: Introvert/Extrovert, Cold, Domineering

I'm studying  Building Believable Characters by Marc McCutcheon and passing along the good stuff to you. I began in my last post with the first sections of the book. The chapters aren't numbered, which makes it difficult to let you know where I'm at in the book (if you care about such things), but I'll do my best. Today I want to start on Part 2 of the Character Thesaurus: Personality/Identify. There's so much good stuff in here, I may have to use several posts to cover it all. 

(These personality traits courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net)

It begins with the words PERSONALITY TRAITS INVENTORY, then jumps right into the difference between introverts and extroverts. I've covered this before, but I will re-state it here because it's important. 

An introvert is not necessary a shy person. I'm an introvert, and I am completely comfortable performing in front of massive crowds. Meeting a stranger is a different beast altogether. I can get nervous speaking to a person I don't know. The key to introverts is they need alone time to recharge. When an introvert is stressed out, they will retreat to a quiet place, usually home, and do something solitary: read a book, listen to music with the headphones on and eyes closed, play a musical instrument, crochet/knit, that type of stuff. Introverts get their energy from being alone, and being with others sucks energy out of them.

An extrovert, in contrast, needs to be around people to re-charge and de-stress. When life gets rough, they need to be with people, any people, even complete strangers will do. My teenage son is an extrovert, and he craves the mall when it's crowded. A crowded mall sends me into a full-blown panic attack. County fairs, rock concerts, loud parties, these are the go-to venues of the extrovert. They don't always crave crowds, though. Sometimes extroverts like quiet time with their best friend, or spouse, or mom. The key is that they don't want to be alone. They get their energy from others, and being alone drains energy from an extrovert.

Keep these differences in mind when you create your character, because you will definitely be putting them into one or more stressful situations. How do they want to deal with it? Do they want to find a quiet corner, or do they crave their best friend's company? You can also use this personality trait to create more stress: your introvert is desperate for some alone time, so don't let her have it. Push her beyond her comfort zones, stress her out to her utter limits, and you'll have an exciting story to tell, even if she's just trying to get out of a folk music concert that's gotten wild.

The next personality trait covered is simply labeled COLD. This person is undemonstrative, doesn't like to be touched, seems remote or distant, maybe rude or grim, needs plenty of personal space, and may seem to be uncompassionate. This character could be either introverted or extroverted, although a cold extrovert would definitely be a challenge to create. You could also mix and match from this list and create a character who hates to be touched and needs plenty of personal space, but is otherwise caring and polite. The key is answering the question What Made Her Like This? There will be something in her past that has shaped her personality this way. It could be as simple as having non-demonstrative parents, or it could be as devastating as an assault. 

DOMINEERING/OVERBEARING is up next. This character interrupts frequently in conversations, tries to finish other's sentences, gets loud and bossy, is seen as willful and pig-headed, likes to take over, is always right, and enjoys making others feel uncomfortable or unworthy. This isn't a nice person, and if you make your hero a domineering guy, you've got to find a way to make him sympathetic immediately, or the reader won't stick around to see if he becomes a better person by the end of the story. What could make him sympathetic? A domineering mother he cowers to; he was bullied as a child; he has such a low sense of self-worth that he's in danger of committing suicide. Whatever you come up with, make sure it comes out in the story eventually (probably early on) so the reader can bond with this character.

I'm calling it quits today. I'll continue in my next post. Comments? Questions? Observations?

-Sonja

Building Believable Characters

I took a necessary mental health break (read: I was lazy), but now I'm back to my three-posts-per-week schedule. Unfortunately, my laziness extended to my novel-writing discipline, and I haven't written squat in about three weeks. There's no sense feeling guilty about it. I am a pre-published author, there's no deadline hanging over my head, and my bad habits at this point in my career hurt no one but me (and maybe you, if you really missed my blog posts). After analyzing my lack of writing, I came to this conclusion: I was hesitant to write anything new because I didn't know one of my main characters well enough to know what he'd do in the situation I put him in. What I wrote was somehow OFF, but I didn't know why or how to fix it. That revelation sent me back to the basics of creating characters via a book on my resources shelf: Building Believable Characters by Marc McCutcheon. It's on sale, at the moment, if you want to zip over to Amazon.com and pick it up. Or stick around and read my blog for the next umpteen posts. Yep. I'm diving into a new series.

This book starts off in a rather strange place, in my opinion: naming your character. I rarely start with a name, but maybe there are writers out there who do. I've blogged before about names and the process of choosing a good one, so check the archives if you're interested. I find naming my characters a fascinating process. I like looking up the meanings of names--I fact, I almost always choose a first name based on the meaning. Sometimes it's a completely fitting name (a hero named Alex, which means "defender of man") or it's ironic (a hero named Melinda, which means "gentle," who's brash, head-strong, and self-rescuing). McCutcheon doesn't spend enough pages on this fascinating part of the process, as it's easy to write an entire BOOK on this subject, but all of this section is devoted to quoting famous authors and their tricks of the trade. 

The next section (they're not numbered, for some reason...) is a lengthy character questionnaire for getting to know your character. I find it too burdensome. Do I really need to know what kind of car my hero drives? Maybe, unless he takes the bus everywhere or rides a broom or is stuck in space. Eye color/hair color might come in handy. I find myself scouring the Internet for photos of actors/singers/Facebook users to use as inspiration for my main characters. What grades he received in school? Military experience? Past occupations? These may or may not be important to his personality, but I find it kind of boring to sit and try to fill in the questionnaire on the fly. It's more fun to make it up as I go (I'm a hard-core outliner, so little surprising things like these make writing fun). Then the questionnaire gets into more interesting things: introvert/extrovert; eccentricities; temperament; admirable traits; negative traits; bad habits; prejudices; pet peeves. These types of things could easily lead you to finding your character's inner flaw, the fear or trait he must overcome before he can reach The Goal. I'd like to go more in-depth on this in a later post, so stay tuned. First I want to finish this questionnaire. It wants opinions on controversial subjects like abortion, the environment, homosexuality, etc. What are your hero's fears, manias, physical afflictions, mental disturbances, hobbies, interests, favorite past-times? I once had a character who had a favorite movie, and it was brought up in the text, but only because there was a quote from the movie that increased tension in one part. Do I always know my hero's favorite movie/TV show/book? Nope. Favorite meal, favorite book, sexual turn-ons and turn-offs, pet sayings, speaking style, philosophy of life... it goes on and on, page after page of in-depth questions designed to help you know your character better. You can fill in the entire thing, spending hours on it, but I find it's too much. I pick and choose which questions to answer, and sometimes they lead to great insight.

The Character Thesaurus is the final section of the book, and it's massive. Part 1 is Face and Body. Need to find the perfect wording for your hero's complexion? It's in the thesaurus. Don't like the word blond? Find a different word in the thesaurus. Feel an overwhelming need to describe your hero's nose but can't think of the right term? Yep, it's in chapter three. Hair styles, facial hair, head shapes, body types, you can find them all in this chapter. It's a nice long list, and that's all I want to say about it.

(Mighty Men and Monster Maker by Tomy, a brilliant toy from the '70's that mixed/matched heads, torsos and legs to create new characters. Photo courtesy of chrisroberson.net) 

In my next several posts, I want to discuss Part 2 of the Character Thesaurus, which is Personality/Identity. It's a full and satisfying chapter that has too much Good Stuff to gloss over it like I did the first three chapters. So stay tuned--same Bat time, same Bat channel.

Question: Do you find the character questionnaire's useful, or are you like me and find them burdensome? Share your opinion in the comments section below. I love hearing from you! Seeing comments makes me think I'm not alone. Oh, and if you remember that Monster Maker toy, or had a similar one for girls, please tell me about it. I wanted the Barbie version when I was a child, but Santa never brought it to me. I probably would have been bored with it, anyway. I was always a tom-boy, never interested in fashion or accessorizing, so a power tool was probably a better choice of gift for me then. Now, too.

-Sonja