Do I need a character list?

Yesterday, I had a talk with one of my coaching clients about characters. Not so much characters as those character sheets that writers are always filling out. The ones that ask what their favourite colour is or whether they prefer hard rock or classical music. One course I took had me filling out six pages worth of detail. As my client noted, “jeez, I don’t even know myself this well!”
 
Does it help to know that your character likes bananas but only when in banana bread and in no other form?
 
It depends. Does it say something about his behavior? Does he not like bananas because they mean sticky fingers? Or is it something that fills in a character form?
 
I’m not knocking someone else’s process. For lots of writers, these forms are helpful. But what if you’re like me or my client and find these forms a great big, time suck?
 
What do you need to know about a character? 

What are the essentials?  

• Their motivation. What gets them moving in the morning? Is it the passion of a paycheck or the threat of imminent death? Or are they going through the motions?
• What do they want? Everybody wants something. It can be a new boyfriend who goes further than the 5km radius of his house, or a new job that isn’t populated by sexist geeks. It can be anything– but they’d walk barefoot over hot coals over and over to get it.  
• What’s their story? Everybodyhas a story – life is tough like that. If your character ended up on a therapist’s couch, what would their story be? 
• Their flaw. There will be that one character flaw that trips them up, time and time again. How are they their own worst enemy?
• Their own voice when speaking or thinking. Maybe they phrase things in a certain way or like to use a certain word. 
• A name that fits them. Names can be destiny. 
• AGENCY. If your romance hero or heroine is reactive, your story will die a premature death. Make decisions!

 
What are the nice-to-haves?  

• A quirk or trait that makes them relatable. Maybe they are Buffy the Vampire Slayer mega fans? Or they think a shark lurks at the bottom of the swimming pool. 

 
It doesn’t matter if your character is a six-foot-three god with flaming red hair if you haven’t got the above sorted out. Knowing that he prefers red wine to beer and trucks to sedans will only tell you so much about who he is. But the part that will have him drive the plot forward with his decisions and actions? Now that you HAVE to know.

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