CornerScribe

Get to Know Your Characters: Family Tree

You’ve written one or a few diary entries for each major character, and you know your characters’ physical characteristics. So, what next.

You need to flesh out (I’ve seen some write it “flush” out, but let’s hope your characters don’t come to that) your characters’ backgrounds.  While most of this information will never make it into your book, it will help you know your characters a lot better. Maybe your heroine is terrified of spiders because her uncle used to tease her with them, or maybe your hero doesn’t trust anyone who reminds him of his mother because she left when he was ten and very sick. You get the idea.

Here are some prompts to get you started.

• Parents. Are they living or dead? Are there any family issues that relate to the character’s development? Is she used to a loving, stable family or a dysfunctional one?
• Siblings. How about some sibling rivalry? Do problems with siblings extend into his current life?
• Extended family. Here’s where you can think about the crazy uncle or the aunt who ran off with the trucker. What events with extended family shaped your character’s development.
• Childhood friends, teachers, neighbors. Does your character keep in touch with any of these people? Who was the biggest influence? Was your character bullied, betrayed, abused?
• Family traditions. Holidays are a great way to bring in some background material without making it seem too forced. Maybe your main character can drop everything to attend that yearly get-together, or do everything in his power to avoid it.
• Neighborhood. Where did your character live as a child? What was the neighborhood like? What did kids do outside all day in the summer or after school?
• Finances. Was she poor? Did she have to babysit to make enough to buy next year’s school clothes, or did her parents buy whatever she needed?
• Events that shape the character. Think about things that happened to your character, whether good or bad, that somehow shaped who he is now.

I think that’s enough to get started. I’m sure you’ll think of other things as you write. The point is, childhood profoundly affects who we are as adults, and the same is true of your characters. If your character is stingy, chances are something in his formative years gave him the tendency to be stingy.

While you won’t want to burden the reader with lots of backstory, a little here and there will make your character seem more real. After all, real people have a history, and so should your characters.