The Short Story Character
Because you don’t have a lot of room in a short story, most of your characters will be defined by a few specific traits, or defining characteristics.
Examples of traits for a character could be: messy, carefree and thin.
When showing a reader the traits for each character, avoid using narration. Instead, show them the traits through the character actions.
Show, dont tell.
We could show one of the traits above using action, as in:
“Mary made her way to the door, carully stepping in the few small patches of carpet that were still visible through the sea of clutter on the floor.”
This is much stronger than writing – “Mary had a lot of clutter in her apartment.”
I tend to bring out traits over time, by working the details into the story at different points. “She tightened the band to its smallest setting, but it still hung loose on her wrist.” This sentence implies that the character is thin – you don’t have to spell it out.
Once you have defined a characters traits, try to find short phrases or words you can use to refer back to those traits. I call these character tags. Remind readers of which character you are referring to by using the tags .
In a short story, where there is not time to develop characters fully, you must remind the reader of these charcter traits, using simple actions to reinforce the traits that are impotant to the story, and to remind them of who is who in a crowd.
Present most short story characters by describing them using only the traits, or hooks, especially ones that are not primary characters.
Tom smiled broadly, a corncob pipe dangling from between his cracked lips. He had only three teeth.”
These odd traits give Tom a unique character, and provide you with a hook. For most characters, this is all you need. Later you can remind the reader of the character by referring to one of his traits.
“He smiled warmly at them, and tamped his pipe on the back of his shoe.”
One habit that you should cultivate is to pay attention to people around you, looking for memorable traits that you can use in your characters. Some writers will write particularly strong traits down, keeping note cards or a notepad nearby. The last one I wrote down, and used succesfully in a story, was a gentleman in a restaurant. The only way I could decribe him was that he seemed “always poised to speak”. This trait struck me as memorable and strong, and had I not written it down, I would have lost it.
One of the most powerful tools you can use to bond your reader with your character, and clearly tag them as a “good guy”, is self sacrifice.
The mother who risks her life to save her ailing son is immedialy embraced by the reader, and labled as a caring mother – few tools can label the antagonist so quickly.
Importantly, draw on personal traits and personal experiences to lend you characters credibility.
If you use characters from a different time frame, such as a Roman soldier, be sure to research the armor, weapons and background of the character. I typically use google and spend a few minutes reading up on things.
While most readers would not take offense if a Roman Centurian carried a trident (Roman centurians carried short swords and spears, from recollection, not tridents), some would. These readers, which might include your editor, would immediately loose faith in you as a story teller. Lack of research will damage your story.
Consider this sentence. “Tom sat in the clearing, absent-mindedly scooping brown needles, long seperated from the branches above, into a pile.”
If there are no pine-trees in the area where the story is taking place, you will loose credibility. This is true of characters as well as setting.
Don’t be afraid to use dialog. Good dialog can make a story.
When using dialog, do not try to make the person talk exactly like a real person would talk. Consider these two examples of the same sentence.
“I suppose we could go to the mall. What do you think?”
Um, hmm, there’s the mall, um…the bowling alley, but we had our gas bill due today, and I don’t want to spent ten bucks on shoe. I don’t know, I don’t know. What do you think?”
While the second sentence may be more true to a characters normal speach, the short story attemtps to convey the idea more than the the exact words. While you can develop a character using speech, unless you are comfortable developing dialect and choppy speech patterns, try to stick to more simplistic, direct speech. Tricky dialog can cause a story to become awkward.
Mark Twain is an example of an author who used dialect well in his passages. There are many authors who try to do the same thing, but it doesn’t always come across so well, if not done correctly.
Remember that the character is the center of the story, not the setting. Stories are about change in people, and movement is created by the objectives of the character.
Ensure the objectives of the character make sense, and are based on thoughts that the character has. You must put yourself in the characters shoes, understanding what makes him or her “tick”. Be sure that the conclusion the character draws from an action is in line with their beliefs, and their consequent decision makes sense in the context of their beliefs.
Exaggeration of character traits is your friend in the short story. Memorable characters are generated by using exaggeration.
Reference:
- An on-line writers commuinity: www.literalminded.com
