For me, before I write a word of the story, I must know at least a few of the characters well. I like to be able to picture the person in my head for a start. I find, in the real world, that the way a person looks gives many clues to the kind of person they are.

Things like the stance of their eyes, the position of their stand, do they lean against walls, where are the wrinkles (young people lack wrinkles so character traits need to be found elsewhere), what kind of smile do they have and stuff like that.

When I picture the person it becomes easier to develop the person within the frame.

I consider their state of mind. Do they like people or not? How many friends do they have and are they close to many people. What is the normal mood, how do they view the world?

For me, the creation of a character in my mind is a relatively simple event. The person is made fairly abruptly and clearly.

BUT…. moving the person to the page is the real challenge. It is usual to write something about a person and for me to become annoyed with the words because they fail to explain the detail of the moment, thought, depth or lack of depth in feeling. Sometimes I think it is better to remove the detail and allow the reader to deduce the mood of the character.

I also try my best to display the person with actions and with the talking. I try not to explain anything at all if possible. But this is a tough ask because I like to over explain things a lot, give the background that explains the motive behind an action.

People who know me understand that if I start a story, it can be a longer than required story because I give the background to everything.

Hell, it annoys me sometimes.

So the trick is to explain more using fewer words. Doing this while explaining a full blown character is the trick.

The same thing goes for describing the surroundings, but that is for another post.

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