As a writer, one of the most difficult things to maintain is consistent character depiction. I know for a fact that other writers, both professional and otherwise, struggle with the same thing to some degree.
“Oh but not me, Chris! I know my character like the back of my hand.”
Read this and come back. It’s okay, I can wait. (It might be cheating referencing my own post, but it’s still valid dammit.)
It’s important to recognize the difference between character growth and character inconsistently.
Growth is a character reacting to and be acted upon by the events of the story, changing in ways that can be defined in the context of their universe: Luke Skywalker, from the original Star Wars trilogy, went from a whiny farm boy to a master Jedi over the course of the story because of his training and the circumstances that affected him.
Character inconsistency is often character derailment. I’ll derail a character as an example: Aragorn, from The Lord of the Rings, deciding to go all “YOLO” and taking the One Ring for himself. That’s something he would never do as it would betray his character and fly in the face of his decision to atone for his ancestor’s mistake.
There are multiple ways to keep track of your characters’ depictions, anything from apps and websites to good old fashioned pen and paper. Having used most every method, here are a few I’d personally recommend.
Dungeons and Dragons Character Sheet
You read that right. Look, it has “character sheet” right in the title and it helpfully tabulates every aspect of your character. What they typically carry on their person, weapon of choice, race and name, languages they speak, background and motivations, and anything not listed can be written on the backside. It’s worth giving a try, you don’t even have to put in their attribute points (but it’s really fun so try it anyway.)
Notebook.ai
Here’s the link. This one is really in depth because not only does it keep track of every physical, mental, and emotional aspect of your character it can also keep track of every organization, nation, city, etc. you can think up in excruciating detail. It’s all linked together too, you can assign characters to organizations and organizations to cities, nations, cultures, etc. It’s easy to pick up and mostly free (the really in depth stuff is behind a pay wall) but frankly I find everything about it exhausting. Still a solid recommendation, especially if you are detail orientated.
Vignettes
This is something I do myself, write down little vignettes of my characters in a scenario and/or what I call “defining character quotes,” a quote that tells you everything you need to know about that character. It’s a helpful way to keep track of how your character exists in their universe and, as an added bonus, these vignettes can be rolled into a larger work if you have one. Here’s an example quote from one of my many characters, from a project I have shelved: “I would burn the entire world for one moment of satisfaction.” A chilling quote from a man deeply disturbed, wouldn’t you say?
Here’s a longer quote from Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, it’s self-explanatory I hope and defines the character of Percy without need of context: “Hades raised an eyebrow. When he sat forward in his throne, shadowy faces appeared in the folds of his black robes, faces of torment,as if the garment was stitched of trapped souls from the Fields of Punishment, trying to get out. The ADHD part of me wondered, off-task, whether the rest of his clothes were made the same way. What horrible things would you have to do in your life to get woven into Hades’ underwear?”
God I love Percy Jackson Not every method works for everyone and, while I highly recommend any one of the above choices, you’re going to end up finding something that works best for you.
illuminatus.blog 