Characterisation - Dick, a Case Study.

The men surrounded the palisades, archers at the ready just behind them. The levy soldiers then heaved the ram into place... and started to batter the walls down. I was behind them, heart beating in my throat, my knuckles white from gripping my gladius. The men behind the walls did not rain arrows upon our head like the last siege I've been in, and for that scant comfort I was grateful. The wait that ensued however was almost unbearable.

I began counting the seconds until the wall gave way. One, two, three, four, and five turned into twenty, thirty, fifty.

It was only then that the wall finally came down. Behind it was a wall of shields, held by the town guard. Some of them were younger than I am. My resolve shook slightly, till I saw their eyes.

It was then that I realised that each and every one of them were ready to kill me the moment I hesitated.

Our Centurion sounded the attack. Our century was the first to charge. I hefted my pilum in concert to my brethren as we had practiced, and threw. The soldiers in the opposing side were shaken by the attack, and most of those in the front rank fell from one or more of our pila. Then came the order to advance.

Shields first, left shin below shield, our gladii held just at the right edge of our shields, we advanced.

I stared at the young man, my age, right ahead of me as we advanced.

We closed the distance between us, carefully over the fallen ruins of the palisade as we advanced.

The pounding in my ears was almost painful as we advanced...

...and our shields clashed.

Without regard, I stabbed and stabbed hard with my gladius, hitting shield, flesh and bone, my head focused on the man in front of me till he fell and the next came to replace him; it became a cold, detached feeling soon, with none of the glory associated with the romance of war and making it. A man fell, another man came, and I killed him again. Soon we were ordered to withdraw in formation, and we backed away until there was sufficient room for the next century to advance. However, something happened then.

"Hieracosphinx! Above us!"

I looked up and saw the large paws of the birdlion bearing down on us.

We won the battle. But only at the cost of five hundred of our men.

Characterisation is a very good subject. Characters are the pen of the story as the setting and plot are the paper. They are the 'writers', so-called, as they are the ones supposedly dictating the actions that the reader sees. And if they're good characters, I believe they have to have several things:

Good, believable backstory.
-This does not mean a long and convoluted one.

Good character development throughout the story.
-A single character never remains the same throughout the book - they develop and grow, like all of us.

Behaves as if he belongs in the world.
-This however does not mean he has to absolutely follow every custom, just that he has to believably interact with the world. (See Otto and the Talking Eagle in one of my previous posts.)

Has links with the other characters in the book, or establishes links with them in the course of the story.
-This means your character has to have a friend or several in the story, or he has a contact/acquaintance/SOMEONE to talk to. Even Mario had Princess Peach, and the obvious example for this is Harry Potter and Ron Weasley/Hermione Granger. It makes for far, far more interesting dialogue aside from the angst and simmering hatred within your character *coughEmocough*.

Last but not least... They have to have a good, believable personality.
-That means no Mary Sues/Gary Stus - people who have a one-dimensional personality, everybody loves them, always gets the guy/girl at the end, etcetera. I don't believe such a person could ever exist, and so, they shouldn't. After all, with someone as perfect as that, there's no conflict there whatsoever, and so it turns into a boring soap opera.

Alright, now that I got all of them laid out, here's a case-study: Dick.

Let's make a character!

Name: Dick. The name is the most important, and at the same time the least important characteristic of the character, and I tend to do this part last instead of first. For example, Harry Potter has a mundane name, but everyone knows him for what he did just after hearing his name. However, take care that the name fits your world's naming conventions. Just for this case-study exercise however? Screw naming conventions!

Age/Sex/Location: Not important unless if it ties in with his backstory somehow. Age is slightly more important, since he will act differently when he's old than when he's young. Gender is sometimes already determined when you make up the name (Unless if you like the androgynous look).

-Let's say he's around... 25. Male, obviously, and lives in Newark, Fantasyland.

What he is and What he does: Two important questions, as it directly dictates his personality.

-Let's make him a dinky normal human like the rest of us. Let's also make him a caravaner, a person who drives trade caravans between cities and towns (Basically a trucker. See what I did there?).

His Past: Important somewhat. What was he before the story started? What happened to him? This is sometimes only applicable for the main characters or the main antagonists, and, at most, the supporting characters. Nobody wants to hear about the backstory of a random guy who appears in the middle of the story... unless if there's a very, and I stress very good reason for it.

-Let's make him... an everyman, a normal guy with a normal past. Caravaner who comes from a long line of caravaners, but with a brother who is incidentally an adventurer. Let's say the story starts with him on a caravan train to the province where he heard of his brother last.

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Okay, I stop now for a while. See the above? That's your plot-line developing already, just by characterising your first character! And we already have another character out already. Isn't that incredible?!

Let's move on.

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His Motivations: What makes him do what he does? What makes Dick the caravaner want to be a caravaner?

-Maybe he wants to go on with the family business, the whole 'my dad was a caravaner, my granddad was a caravaner, and so was his dad before him' thing. But maybe he's also worried about his wayward brother, whose whereabouts have been unknown. Maybe that's why he's going to where his brother has last been seen.

His Personality: What is he like? How does he act towards other people? Some people like to do this first, and some like to do this last. It all depends on what you're used to and what you like.

-Let's say... Dick is a good, jovial man, who's genuinely interested in his brother's well-being. He's still quite young in the business, and is wet around the ears, so he's very enthusiastic and listens to his elders. Almost a goody-two-shoes type of person.

His Description: The details are not very important to me at all, really, but still his description could have important, defining traits about a character. Taking another example from Harry Potter again, his scar has a lot of bearing on what happens in the story. But, I don't recommend giving your character two eye-patches. Unless, of course, if it's a goblin pirate.

-Dick is a plump man, rosy-cheeked most of the time and clean-shaven. He looks very much like a greenhorn in the caravaning business, and that might get him in trouble on the road.



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And there you have it. A new character, tailor-made for all your caravaning needs! Of course he sounds a lot like the guy who'd die first in a bandit attack, or a background character... but who knows, maybe he'll pick up a sword in the middle of it and start defending himself out of desperation. Maybe he'll become an adventurer like his brother Bob!

Finally, I'll end with this little note.

'Why did the goblin pirate cut off his left arm and left leg?'

'Because he wanted to be all right.'

Thoughts? Flames?