Diving Deep: Exploring Character Psychology
“There is nothing harder than the creation of a fictional character.”
--James Woods from How Fiction Works
On my novel-writing journey, there is nothing I have found to be truer than this quote. I included it in my first post for this blog, just over a year ago, but it is a topic that warrants revisiting. When I was teaching, I found that complex topics were best approached through cyclical or spiral learning: circling back around to a concept again and again, each time diving deeper. I’m circling back to this topic now, after recently attending a class at Grub Street, Creating Authentic Characters, taught by nationally recognized family life expert and author Lynne Griffin.
Early on in the evolution of my novel, I took another class at Grub Street called Novel in Progress, taught by talented writer and teacher, Jessamyn Hope, author of Safekeeping. (It was in this class that I met the amazing women in my writer’s group, with whom I share this blog!) Jessamyn taught us many valuable lessons, not least of which was to establish your character’s yearning from the get-go —what is it that he or she desperately wants? She also had us fill out the Gotham Writers character questionnaire, which I highly recommend for fleshing out characters. Mine went from static snapshots to moving pictures, like the magical photos in Harry Potter’s world. I could see my main character brushing her fingers impatiently through her straight-as-a-board red hair, preparing her hard-boiled eggs for breakfast in her hopelessly messy apartment, books lining every shelf, piled like end tables around the sofa. I had a stronger sense of who she was, but like a reserved friend, I still didn’t feel I understood her deeply.
When I took Lynne’s class on the psychology of character, the information she presented wasn’t necessarily new—much of it had been in the character questionnaire—but this time it clicked on a different level for me, maybe because, having grappled with my characters for a while, I was ready to dig deeper. Or perhaps it’s because Lynne, who is a practitioner in the mental health field as well as a writer, took a very analytic approach that resonated with me. She broke the psychology of character down in three main ways:
Nature/Nurture
She began by pointing out that, just as with real people, fictional characters are a blend of nature and nurture: that interplay between the characteristics and traits one is born with and those acquired through life experiences. On the nature side, Lynne noted, are such qualities as a character’s intellectual capacity, temperament (is she shy, anxious, moody, etc?), physical capabilities, and body language/mannerisms. These are the raw material that human beings are born with. On the nurture side are elements such as a character’s physical environment, family history, relationships, influences and personal experiences. It is the chemical reaction, if you will, when the two intersect that makes each person (and character) unique. Creating tensions between nature and nurture lends to more dynamic characters.
Elements of Temperament:
Lynne discussed at length one of the trickiest of traits—temperament, which is really a lot of different characteristics bundled together under one term. She provided a chart of 9 different elements of temperament (activity, adaptability, distractibility, intensity, mood, persistence, physicality, reactions, and sensitivity) and asked us to consider where our characters fall on the continuum for each element. For example what is the character’s activity level (high energy or low energy)? How adaptable is the character (highly flexible or completely inflexible)? What is his/her general state of mind (pessimistic or optimistic, laid back or anxious) Varying their temperaments can help differentiate characters and heighten conflict.
Domains of Learning
Another helpful aspect of Lynne’s presentation was the notion of characters’ Domains of Learning: the primary way in which characters relate to the world. She explained the three domains of learning using the main characters in the Wizard of Oz, who represent the three domains: Cognitive (head, thinking)--Scarecrow, Affective (heart, feeling)—Tin Man, and Psychomotor (hands-on, doing)--Lion. Every person has each of these, but most people are dominant in one. The characters in Wizard of Oz each bring out their primary mode in Dorothy. Consider which domain your protagonist is most dominant in, Lynne advised, but be sure to represent all 3. (Have you shown how your character thinks, how s/he feels, and how s/he acts?) Also be sure you have supporting characters who are dominant in different areas and can challenge or bring out your protagonist’s latent domains.
Analyzing character psychology in this way—separating out the various elements and examining how they interact—offered helpful insight into creating more complex characters. I think the reason my characters haven’t felt three-dimensional is because I created consistent sets of traits, thinking this would make my characters believable. But real people are not consistent, nor are their motivations always clear. Real people have layers—their life experiences sometimes enhancing, sometimes thwarting their natural tendencies, causing them to behave in unexpected, contradictory ways, especially in times of stress.
This brought me back to a book Jessamyn first introduced me to— Story by legendary screenwriting teacher Robert McKee. “Contemporary attitudes,” McKee posits, “tend to favor mono-explanations for behavior, rather than the complexity of forces that’s more likely the case. . . . the more the writer nails motivation to specific causes, the more he diminishes the character in the audience’s mind.”
What really makes characters compelling, McKee argues, is dimension, “the least understood concept in character . . . Dimension means contradiction: either within deep character (guilt-ridden ambition) or between characterization and deep character (a charming thief). Characterization, according to McKee, is “the sum of all the observable qualities of a human being,” (much of what is included in the aforementioned questionnaire) while true character is only “revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure.”
In other words, there is no way to create “true character” by making personality charts, devising elaborate backstories or describing physical traits. These can all contribute to compelling characterization, especially when used to create consistent contradictions. But as in life, it is only when characters are forced to make choices under pressure that we discover their “true character.” And like real people, true characters will inevitably surprise us. “A hidden nature waits concealed behind a façade of traits.” (McKee)
