Building Characters: The face behind the face behind the face
Alright, alright. I know this all seems incredibly vague and repetative, but there’s a point behind it. Keep reading and I’ll explain, one face at a time.
When we’re building a character for a novel, and I don’t mean just romances but any kind of character, we build them starting from one single spark. A spark could be something as simple as a past you have planned out for them, a character trait, a specific way they react to certain stimuli. I mean, the list goes on and on. The spark to a character could be anything, but it’s always there. I don’t want to speak for the whole world about this, but for me at least, and my author friends, we see these people that we write, these people who have sparked in us, as more than just fictional things that live between the pages. These beings are literally a part of us, and split from just a tiny part of our DNA. They’ll always be part of us. I’ve written two dozen books so far, including series’ but also single reads and I remember and love each of those characters like cherished little memories. Like people that I used to know.
My husband makes fun of me (in the nicest way) because I’ll talk through plots with him and he thinks it’s hilarious that I talk about these characters and their lives like they’re real people and not just figments of my imagination. And while yes, they’re just imaginary things I made up, they’re still mine, and they feel real while I’m writing their stories.
So while I get on with it because you don’t want to hear about me, I’ll say this. The best characters I’ve ever read, and the characters I’ve seen myself reflected in, have been the kind of characters that are grungy and a bit tarnished on the edges. Gritty, real, and used.
I can’t take total credit for this, because I got this idea of a person’s 3 faces from a book I read as a teen. I couldn’t tell you for the life of me which book it is, but when I read it, it changed me. Since then I’ve always looked at the face behind the face, and tried to glimpse the face behind that. If you know what book this is, please comment below because I’d love to read it again now that I’m all grown up!
Alright. I’ll get down to it.
So, the first face is this. It’s the face that we show the world. This is the face we show the old lady at the library, or the checker at the grocery store. It’s the face we put makeup on. It’s the face that smiles even though you don’t want to. It’s the face that we wear as armor because the world is full of good, but also dangerous things and people. The first face is the mask we wear out like a hat. It’s the face we leave at the door when we get home, and don when we pull on our coat and shoes to leave. This is the face that most of the world will see.
The second face is the face we wear around our friends. It’s the face we show when we get comfortable. It’s the face we finally let peek through after a few dates and you fart in front of the person you like for the first time. It’s the face you wear when you’re happy or sad. it’s the face we will wear most of the time. This is the face your family sees, you friends, your co-workers and acquaintances see. This face is what others would distinctly define as you.
This is the last face.
This is the face we don’t talk about.
This face is the one that we hide. It’s the one filled with sad, broken things. It’s the one that we store our horrors, our traumas, our essence all wrapped nicely behind the other ones. This face is the ugly one that we want to forget. It’s the one that we hide from the world, and sometimes, we even hide it from ourselves. This is where depression lives. This is where anxiety waits. This is where those dirty little secrets cower. The third face is the one that rears its ugly head at the worst moments, and it’s the one that only select people in the world have seen. The last face is not necessarily the ‘real’ face, but it’s part of you.
People are 3D. People have many sides, emotions, motives, and traits. Whether we’re talking about real folks or the made-up variety, they all share those aspects. A character should have moments where each of those faces show, and a good writer knows when to show each one.
Oddly enough, we creators of these faces are just displaying small aspects of psychology. People-watch enough and you will find this out for yourself. (And no, I don’t mean stalking. That’s kind of against the law.) I mean go out to the mall, the park, to friggin’ Walmart. See people in their natural state. These small glimpses of each face will show if you pay close enough attention.
Now, the last thing I want to touch on is this. A character is not entirely made of the psyche. These masks show in body movements. They show in facial expressions. They show in word choice, personality, and attitude. Think the 7–38–55 rule of communication.
If you want a character that is humanoid and imperfect in that wonderfully gritty way, this is a good starting formula to get you there. Realism sells no matter what genre you write in. A horror is way more terrifying if you feel like you could be the lead character. A sci-fi is so much more adventuresome if you can see yourself there.
People want to connect. That’s why they read. People want to connect to the character and if they do, they begin to evolve with them. This is the tipping scale that makes an okay book into a great book.
Next time you’re struggling to write a character with depth, start a character log and give them all three faces. Watch them turn fathomless.
