Sometimes we add life to our stories by creating different avenues by which the reader comes to understand the unique nature of the character. Sometimes we express background through dialog, sometimes by narrative and sometimes through the view of other characters. The magic to characterization is conflict that falls within one of three distinct categories:
(a) there's how the world sees us.
(b) there's the way we see ourselves (self image).
(c) there's who we really are and who we choose to become (self-esteem).
When who we really are is consistent with what we think of ourselves, point (a) above, loses both its' appeal and its' power, therefore the beholder is empowered.
If you can write a story that expresses this principle you will have created great characterization because the reader will have followed the character through her points of conflict, through bad choices and will have prevailed through its consequences. This process guides one to the point of it all: self-actualization.
Has your main character been self-actualized?
Employ a catalyst to trigger character development
I like to expose character by having the reader pursue an article (on the internet or by newspaper), or they might pursue a question or challenge an existing set of assumptions which causes one's character to unfold. A useful catalyst can be any event that prompts your character to action or to respond. It is usually a binary expression, a relationship between to entities, persons or ideas. A binary relationship means if a particular thing happens then your character will likely do or say a particular thing. Below is an example expressed through dialog.
"Did you know that Janice is going to the party?"
"No. But I know what it means. Do you."
"T-r-o-u-b-l-e. Big trouble."
Sometimes, a poem or a letter -even if written to oneself -may be equally effective. To ensure magnificent impact of character it is good to display inner conflict. Here's how.
(1) Establish inner conflict, preferably of a moral nature.
(2) Write from the abstract, leaving readers with small hints of the character's likely resolution.
(3) Allow the conflict to evolve around the character's need to resolve it but be sure the conflict grows with every attempt to resolve it.
In the below example, you will notice elements of both conflict and the abstract. You can make it mean whatever is right for your character. The below example is based on the feelings this writer experienced at the beginning of a new and meaningful relationship. The character is expressing feelings that only you, the writer can interpret.
Tell me, please, what you think is happening within the higher conscious ( the sub-conscious mind )which is inferior to nothing except God. I humbly submit that we may find the so called sub-conscious mind is superior to present awareness. Present awareness has to be inferior because life is a process that has not yet been completed.
The Silent Drummer
Do you think that I'm expressive or, do you wonder why I beat my drums?
Because there are rooms in my heart. What's behind the doors? Those doors are reservedly closed, a place where the most expressive of men falter, closed, yet unlocked.
What are those rooms like?
When I get to know you, the existence of that very discussion will speak to the elevation of our relationship. I know what lurks behind the door and how it is likely manifested.
Is it something bad?
It is not judged. It is simply a child's vision of the world, part of which remain with us forever,m a sensitive door at times whose bell does not always ring to relevance, where fear despises reason and courage excels them both; courage given legs not in spite of fear but invigorated by its' presence. Courage, the only antidote to fear; A silent room in spite of the beating of the drums.
There is a place in the soul, a place scarred and healed, remnants of a broken heart...the process of life filtered by pain, the ingredients of self-actualization, a place where the voice of the whisperer within is given base and the genius of wisdom flows, like a typewriter in your head, you read and remember every sentence, every promise of God regarding you and it seems a stroke of genius.
In reality you have become empowered by the need to love again.
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