Saw this thread in the recent happenings of the forums and immediately rubbed my hands with how much of a field day I'd have trumpeting on about this.
Similarly to Syaoran, creating characters mostly comes naturally to me, but I have a level of mastery over it as well and can USUALLY tell when my mind is wondering one way or another. With that said, when I'm making a character I tend to base them off of a specific concept/personality and go from there. Due to this, a lot of the strengths and weaknesses of my characters tend to be based off of real personality strengths and flaws of real people, which I usually pull off due to one of three things:
1. Observing behavior in other people I know and picking apart their strengths and flaws in my mind.
2. Extensive research into how different kinds of people think and why.
3. Drawing comparisons between characters in other media and people I know in real life to get a better idea of how that kind of character is represented and how to use it for my own purposes.
From there, it's not difficult to exaggerate these strengths and flaws to make them more understandable to your average reader, while still keeping the character themselves pretty complex and interesting. I also tend to see strengths as flaws and flaws as strengths. Because OOC, thats how it works. Flaws will make a character more relatable while strengths will make them seem more alien.
I'll walk you through an example of using these strategies.
I'll start with a concept. Say, a compulsive liar with a lot of streetwise on them who gets a real kick out of besting people. Note how my first concept wasnt actually anything particularly good for the character. It was two flaws and one strength. Meaning, they're already more bad than they are good. That tends to be how a lot of my first drafts for characters go.
Now I need a reason why they'd lie all the time and why beating people at things would make them feel so good. If I can hit two birds with one stone, then that's great. So let's turn to real world examples and some other examples in fiction. First, let's start with fiction.
Meet Manley Tinderstauf, one of the antagonists of the game Pyre.
He's a character who is excessively nice but has a much darker side. He's a compulsive liar and goes out of his way to be malicious wherever he can, for his own personal gain. Why?
Spoiler Warning: It could be speculated that it's because he came from a rich family that succeeds simply because they're really good at looking squeaky clean and sucking up to anyone who has more power than them. In short. He's a sycophant.
Now let's look at some real world examples of people who are similar (WITHOUT NAMING ANYONE). Many people who consistently lie and feel good when they win do so because theyre compensating for something... NO NOT THAT FFS. Compensating for something emotionally. They were often the middle child who received next to no attention and didn't exactly have great parents either, so they had to earn respect in the most brutish way possible. Due to how they were raised, they were essentially and unknowingly
trained to be sneaky as hell. And because they lacked the attention they needed, they would get a huge kick out of winning at something and still do, even as adults.
So, how can we incorporate this into our character to make them interesting? Let's list off the things we know about them so far.
1. They lie a lot, and chances have it they're exceptionally good at it.
2. They lie because they feel like if they don't no one will like them and they are deathly scared of no one liking them.
3. They weren't the most successful in early life and so
live for that rush of dopamine they get from winning, causing them to lie more.
4. They may be quick to kneel down to anybody who seems to at first be better than them at something... and equally as quick to knock them down as soon as they get the chance and rub it in their face.
This is great. We already have an amazing character with a compelling backstory and if that weren't enough they have amazing strengths and flaws. But there's one issue: How do we use them? Manley Tinderstauf is an antagonist in Pyre, and a lot of other characters similar to this are as well... So why not make them a good guy?
"What? But that's a recipe for a bad guy!" I hear you saying. Yes. But making them a good guy is an excellent opportunity for character development and will make the character more interesting and relatable. People will be more likely to get attached to this character and with more screen time, there will be more time to explore their personality and expand on their flaws. We could make it so that rather than just being a forever sycophant, this character slowly starts to realize that people like them more when they're
not lying, which creates a very nice and rounded internal conflict.
That's how I make characters. Live up to expectations, then pull back at the last second and go the opposite direction, basically.
