Which comes first, the character or the plot? For me, that’s an easy question to answer. There are so many characters roaming around inside my head that I would have to admit characters are my first love in fiction writing. And from my characters, my plot evolves. All I need to do is put my characters in difficult situations and watch them work their way out and—voila!—instant plot.

Even so, many writers love their characters a little too much; a writing crime of which I’ve certainly been guilty. It’s painful to watch a character you’ve developed, someone you feel a genuine fondness for, suffer. Yet your characters have to run into some trouble if you’re going to tell a good story. And above all, they must be “human”—they’ve got to have flaws.

Give your characters flaws, especially flaws that keep them from reaching a goal that is pivotal to your plot, and watch the sparks fly. We can think of many examples of such conflicts:

• A teacher whose timid nature prevents her from disciplining her class
• A teenager who stutters and is so self-conscious he drives away potential friends with his caustic attitude
• A grown man who can’t stop lying, and loses many a friend and lover when his lies are uncovered

All these characters will have some redeeming traits. While we don’t necessarily need to love them, we do need to identify with them somehow, and we do need to care about what happens to them, or we won’t continue reading. But it’s the flaws that make the character multi-dimensional.

You’ve probably practiced writing character sketches. They’re those little outlines writers often make as a sort of roadmap to their character. They often look something like this:

Name: Jane Doe
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Auburn, wavy, shoulder-length
Height: 5’ 8”
Build: Slender
Clothes: Casual. Jeans, t-shirts, tank tops…

While it’s nice to have that sort of perspective on your character, it’s far better to know your character beyond her vital statistics. I’m going to encourage you to dig deeper. Really get to know your character before you start writing about her.

I don’t outline or sketch my characters, and you might find it useful to skip that archaic method, too. I write my character sketches as though I’m giving a description of someone I’m getting to know, someone I care about. A character sketch I created for one protagonist, named Maddie, looked something like this:

Her hands are tiny, fragile, with bird-like bones. She is careless about keeping her nails manicured, but they grow long and perfect nonetheless. She likes her hands–even holds then up occasionally to admire them.

She feels a little like “white trash”–under-educated, even though she’s sharply intelligent and hungry for knowledge, as evidenced by the pile of books beside her bed. She wishes for a high IQ, and the means to talk brilliantly on subjects she feels she should know more about, like current events and politics.

Her long black hair hangs in ringlet curls that sproing like bedsprings when she rakes them with her fingers.

Here eyes are the color of good, dark rum.

She wears clothes that reveal her cleavage–which is less intentional than accidental. She’s always a little surprised when men take an interest in her.

She’ll strike up a conversation with a perfect stranger in line at the grocery store, but she’s afraid to socialize at parties, or talk to people she’s expected to talk to, for fear she’ll say something foolish or unintelligent.

She eats voraciously, but stays slender anyhow. Like a hummingbird, she’s always flitting around, unable to sit still. People are stunned by her ravenous consumption of food–without a shred of self-consciousness.

She’s hesitant with men–unsure what to say to them. She’s hopelessly inept at flirting, which makes many men believe she’s a little odd.

When she sits, it’s often with her legs crossed, one leg dangling over the other and in constant, jittery motion. When she does this in heels, she often jangles her shoe right off her foot. She often slouches, both when seated and when she walks. If she would stand tall she would be quite beautiful.

Does Maddie have flaws? You bet. She has a confidence problem. Will Maddie’s lack of self-esteem keep her struggling to reach some important goal? Of course! That’s part of plotting through characterization.

Character sketches should be organic works-in-progress that grow as your character grows.

TRY THIS!

You’ve seen my character sketch; now it’s your turn. Write a character sketch. Pick a person who’s been inside your head. Think of a character that intrigues you, somebody you won’t be able to stop writing about. Your goal is to find yourself hopelessly fascinated with this person, because then, perhaps your readers will be, too.

Remember to make your outline more like a conversational description and less like a WANTED poster hanging on a post office wall–tell us about your character as though you’re giving us a very thorough (not to mention personal) introduction. And don’t leave out the flaws! Your character has to have some sort of glitch. If perfect people don’t exist in real life, they certainly can’t exist in fiction.

How long should your sketch be? Write until you run out of things to say about your character. (And don’t forget to give your character a name!) Don’t worry about length so much as content. Read and reread your sketch. You may find you’ve written in some traits that, upon careful scrutiny, don’t exactly fit with the rest of your sketch. If anything looks out of place after you’ve finished, take it out. Don’t get too caught up in quirky personality traits and keep them in your sketch just because they’re “interesting.” If they don’t fit your character, discard them. Be ruthless. And most of all, have fun!

Art source: Mark-Langley.com