I tend to write the sorts of people that I (fancy that I) understand, many of which are therefore necessarily variants of who I might be with different foundational life experiences (and favorites-I-have-known from copious reading). No doubt this gives my books a certain recognizable feel but also not nearly as much variety or surprise as I might wish to explore.
Now, just because I favor certain personality types and stories doesn’t let me off the hook. Even in the biggest possible vanity projects, I could use much more variety and surprise in my casts. And even the readers who enjoy my characters would no doubt appreciate more room for them to breathe as they interact, as well as some space for surprises.
So, how can I work on this, realistically?
Well, it starts by putting plots together that have some breathing room. I like to “write into the dark” in general, where I have a few important plot points roughed out when I start, like a basic compass plot, but with a lot of potential wiggle room for how to get from start to end.
Of course, real life never works this close to plan. There are unexpected encounters, unanticipated failures, surprise opportunities, and ghastly disasters. But then, that unexpected path makes for a gripping experience, and it can be just the same for your readers to look forward to.
For me, step number one is to stay on the lookout for characters that are a surprise to me, that never came into my initial casting or plan. They appear from left field when the plot makes almost accidental room for then, and then their wisecracks or their hapless moves or their fond parenting… whatever… gives them a way to burrow into the story and make a place for themselves. If you like them, then it’s up to you to redirect the plot to keep them around and involved in the action.
What do you do to kick yourself out of your comfortable limitations, to the benefit and greater complexity of the end result?
Mad Genius Club 
5 responses to “Personalities — Wildcards”
I hold a kind of mental casting call, first: what do I need this character to do, and what should be their sex, age, general condition and characteristics. Then I use a method that I used to use when writing up yearly personnel reports: what is the first thing that comes to mind when I consider this person? That was always my lead sentence: what was their outstanding characteristic? Were they creative, reliable — or something else? That key characteristic was the cornerstone for building the rest of the required report. It’s the same for creating characters – what is the one thing about them that stands out at first consideration? Start with that, and the rest of character creation falls readily into place.
I occasionally try a different genre. Either completely, or adding, say, a mystery to my usual.
Or a different age/gender/social class in my usual Multiverse.
They all still seem a lot alike to me. So I’m not sure it’s actually working.
What do you do to kick yourself out of your comfortable limitations, to the benefit and greater complexity of the end result?
This question implies that I consciously do anything of the kind, which is…not applicable. Honestly, getting a series written and released is about all my conscious mind can swing. The unconscious mind, constantly yearning after greener pastures, complicates my life by picking out new settings, new genre mashups and new character archetypes to run after.
Sometimes I try to assign character traits to non-entities. (I use the Olympians to try to orchestrate them.) This has interesting effects.
I usually start with a scene in mind. And the scene tells me who’s in it, and then I have to figure out how to get them there, and what they do afterward. But then as I get them there, inevitably, I flesh out the world and people it. Sometimes I have someone in mind, sometimes I make someone up and they don’t fit, and get remade, and sometimes, they walk in and take over their chapter, and the worldbuilding that comes with them makes the whole thing that much better.