The best characters, like their creators, are flawed

What do we strive to achieve when we write? Some may want to convey excitement, others tension, others emotion. The key to getting those right, I suggest, is plausibility. And that means creating characters that are flawed; not in a black and white, cartoon kind of manner but in the shades of grey that mark out us all.

Character development for me is usually done on the train. I will go into a journey with one particular character and their broad involvement with the plot in my mind. I will know their gender, their approximate age and their general build, whether they are short or tall, athletic or stocky, clean shaven or bearded. And then I will look for somebody on the carriage who comes close to my mental picture. Once I've found them, the task is then all about creating their personality. This can be from the mundane but important -what newspaper they read, what car they might drive, what music they are listening to on their iPod - to more specific information: what is going through their mind? What is exciting them at the moment? What is worrying them? Where are the tensions in their relationships? What happens when they get home in the evening and they shut their door on the world? And how might these factors influence the way they react to a given set of circumstances. By now I'm beginning to feel as if I know them. I will know in my mind how they will take their coffee, what snack they will grab on their way into work and, most importantly, how they might react to the circumstances in which I intend to place them. There may be specifics relevant to the plot - their politics or issues in their private life - that also need to be explored, though the extent of these will differ from character to character.

Building this picture is essential for me; it's the only way I have found that works for me. It helps me develop characters I believe  are as recognisable as anyone you might come across in your everyday life. It's the only way i have found to create characters that hold up a mirror to the readers' own lives. Nobody is wholly good and nobody wholly evil. Nobody is totally devoid of emotion or untouched by fear or regret. Revealing these frailties, slowly and subtly, is what makes both their character and the situation in which they are operating things with which most readers should be able to identify.

Ultimately, of course, the proof is in the reading. Other writers will work in different ways and I'm always looking for new directions in which to travel. But next time you find yourself reading a book and then looking at your fellow commuters in the context of its characters, spare a thought for how well the author has done his job.

To read the first few chapters of my new book "Micah Seven Five" click here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/123464996/Micah-Seven-Five