A Method for Character Finding

By Scott T. Barnes

I’ve heard of a lot of different methods for creating characters. I’ve used extensive character sheets which ask questions both about the physical attributes of the characters, and also about their tics, their family, their psychological underpinnings, their flaws. I’ve read numerous how-to books, taken in-person classes and Zoom classes. I once went to a writer’s conference here in Southern California where the speaker, a successful romance writer, said she designs all of her characters after the protagonists in A Wizard of Oz. There’s a scarecrow, a tin man, a cowardly lion, a lost girl, a poser magician … and that’s how she starts every novel. She said that by the time she’s done with all of her revisions you can’t tell that every character starts as an Oz character, but that’s how she starts.

I have not resorted to that method, but it is a method.

When I was writing my young adult fantasy Memories of Lucinda Eco, the heroine came almost fully formed in my mind as did her best friends Mateo and Eva. But I was having a really hard time with the villain. I asked my friend John Robinson for some help. John was an accomplished actor; he played starring roles in a number of musicals, and now he’s a business coach, teaching people that if they want to be successful in certain aspects of business, then it helps to put on a role. Their role might be someone who gives great speeches, even though that’s not really what they normally do—they’re playing a part.

John invited me over to his house and introduced me to something that might loosely be called “method acting.”

The first thing he did was simply take me into a powder room where there were lots of mirrors and where he had laid out various hats and various theater masks. I thought this was weird. He said, “I want you to stand the way your villain stands. Just look in the mirror and take some time. Think about it; stand the way he would stand and then come down when you’re done.” He left me alone there in the powder room, and it was quite an experience to look in the mirror and realize that the way a person stood can tell volumes about them … or not, of course. I suddenly became aware that you can tell a story by simply cocking your hips a little bit, setting your shoulders at a certain angle. Not just the obvious things, your arms and the facial expressions, but all the little things matter a lot. Of course, it’s difficult—but not impossible—to describe these little nuances of posture in writing, but tackling it is a fun challenge.

I had bought books on gestures such as The Writer’s Guidebook to Facial Descriptions and Body Language by S. L. Lethe), but these books always describe the obvious ones. Helpful, yes, but here in the powder room I was working with something much more subtle.

I tried on different hats, not knowing at first if the villain wore a hat or not, and wore a few of the different masks. After about 45 minutes I had an idea that this villain slouched but with confidence, and I had it down to where I could stand the way he stood. This was quite different from the way Scott T. Barnes the author stood, and my reflected transformation was fascinating.

Afterwards, I went downstairs and John asked me a lot of questions about the story and about the villain, and eventually I took on the villain’s persona and John interviewed me. I spoke in first person about what I thought, what I believed, what I was doing, what my goal was, and how I meant to achieve that goal. We went at this for another three hours or so.

That four hours was the most invigorating and possibly the most productive I ever spent. By the time it was done, I had my villain nailed. When John asked me about my relatives and family, I came up with answers on the spot that as an author I didn’t know.

If you are having trouble with your characters, I would encourage you to try this. Start with the very basics: How does your character stand? Don’t move on until you have it nailed. It worked great for Memories of Lucinda Eco, and it can work for you.

If you have questions, I’d be very happy to answer them in the comments.

Scott T. Barnes is the author of the young adult novel Memories of Lucinda Eco, which BookLife by Publishers Weekly calls “…a spellbinding blend of magic and mystery, alive with tension, laughs, and real emotional resonance.” Join Scott at www.scotttbarnes.com.