Make your characters come alive! (tips)

Fiction writing is an attempt to replicate the real world. The writer observes his environment and tries to recreate it in accordance with his perception of the realities therein, bearing in mind the basic characteristics of the world of reality. The world is physical, with various geographical and social settings consisting of living and non-living things. It is punctuated by a chain of happenings from whose causes and effects lessons could be learnt. The writer expresses these in his work in form of settings, plots, themes, characters and so on.

Characterization is the most essential element, as living things, particularly human beings, are the main features that make the world a living world. For the fictional world to reflect the real world, therefore, the writer must ensure proper handling of this aspect. It is not enough to fill a work with characters, the characters must be chosen and developed with utmost care, presenting their attributes and behaviours in ways that make them credible to the readers. The choice of any character type should be determined by the role such character would play in the scheme of things. His actions and utterances must reflect his personality, must be in tune with his roles and the circumstances in which he is involved. There should be a reason, either good or bad, for the behaviour or attitude of each character; otherwise the incidents would appear stage-managed and artificial. Have you ever imagined a world populated by robots? A badly characterized work looks worse than that.

According to Michael Rothenberg of Columbia University, the ability to create compelling and believable characters is one of the hallmarks of the literary artist. This is quite true, because good characterization creates such realistic moods that easily absorb the readers, who readily become part of the story, sharing the characters? sadness and joy. The world of fiction could indeed be very interesting, at times even more interesting than the drab world of reality, if the characters are truly fictional rather than fictitious.

To further enhance the credibility of his characters, the writer needs to harmonise the interpersonal relationships of the characters. Harmonise, not in the sense that they should behave alike or agree on every matter, but in the sense that the behaviour of each character should interrelate naturally with those of others. The decision and actions of each character must be defined by the law of cause and effect. Just like in the musical stage where every member of the band contributes the appropriate notes and sounds to create a melodious music so should the characters interact to produce the right mood in the story. This gives life and meaning to the tale.

There are two major ways a writer could develop a credible character. It could be through direct description of the character?s traits and appearance or through exposition; that is, the writer simply let the character act out his roles, leaving the opinion about his manners or identity to the reader. The choice of any of these techniques depends largely on the writer?s preference and the nature of the story. It should be noted, however, that while it is advisable in most cases to let the readers form their personal opinions about the character, description could be a good option where the appearance of the character cannot be inferred from his actions or utterances.

Now, one may ask; does this talk about characters being real mean the writer must only use usual or natural characters? Not at all! As literary history has shown, the writer is free to use his fertile imagination to depict anything, from the physical to the spiritual, no matter how crazy it may appear. He could write fables to satirize certain personalities, as George Orwell did in his Animal Farm (1945). In children?s literature, the writer could also write animal stories to satisfy the child?s wild imagination as is it often practised in typical African communities in form of ?tales by moonlight?. In fact, the writer could even write mystery, ghost story or science fiction with unusual characters to explore regions beyond human experience. Yet, unusual characters could, and must, be made to look real enough to lend credence to the story. For example, if a pig is being used as a human character, he may be given human faculties and skills, but it has to remain basically a pig, maintaining its basic identity, attributes and mannerisms like moving easily on four legs and getting along with some difficulties when moving on two legs. In the case of using entirely strange creatures, as Edgar Allan Poe and Amos Tutuola did in their The Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841) and The Palm-Wine Drinkard (1952), respectively, the writer should be able to combine the real and the fantastic in an artistic manner that would leave no room for questions or doubts about the nature of the characters and, by extension, the credibility of the story.

Apart from creating characters whose appearances and actions are in tune with reality, in relation to the nature of the story being narrated, the writer should also be in full control of the characters. The bane of many writers is the inability to make their characters do the right things, the things that would convey the intended messages or ideas appropriately. Many a times a writer would set out to deliver a particular message, but due to improper handling of the characters, he would end up passing across a different impression. To avoid this undesirable outcome, the writer has to be focused. Characters have a way of going out of control, especially when the writer is not firmly in control of his emotions or is too particular about poetic justice. The writer may fail to ?kill? a character because of his sentimental attachment to the character or his personal bias on the subject-matter or his regard for poetic justice. But while these considerations may work in some cases they could at times deprive the story of the essential ingredients that would make it meaningful and worth reading. Poetic justice, for instance, may have a didactic value, but where it is applied inappropriately it may affect the narrative logic. After all, poetic justice does not always apply to everyday happenings. And it is not all fictions that must teach moral lessons; some are meant to make statements on given issues. The award winning Nigerian writer, Sefi Atta, made this point in an interview with me thus: ?I don?t think every literary work should be didactic.? In another interview with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, winner of the 2007 edition of Orange BroadBand Prize, the point was further stressed; ?I never try to impart lessons with my fiction. The beauty of literature, I think, is that different people will come away with different interpretations.?

The writer should also not allow his love for a character or what the character symbolizes unduly interfere with his message. Think of the difference Things Fall Apart would have made in meaning if Chinua Achebe had allowed the major character, Okonkwo, to live thereby inevitably submitting him to the wind of change that was threatening to sweep aside his people?s cultural values. Such resolution would have not only portrayed the entire black race as cowards and willing slaves to the British imperial power, the novel would have lost its historical value.

For a literary piece to really make a mark, characterization is indeed very vital, as evident in the works of great writers like Achebe, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens, who succeeded in developing fictional characters into ?real? personalities. Writers normally copy their characters from the real world, but these writers have developed what they copied so well that they have succeeded in reversing the process, so that people now make fictional characters reference points. When men of valour are being discussed today, especially in the Igbo community, Okonkwo readily comes to the minds of those who have read Things Fall Apart. William Shakespeare created Shylock in his play, Merchant of Venice, about four hundred years ago, but today, Shylock lives everywhere, as people refer to any mean businessman or woman as Shylock. Reference is also often made to Charles Dickens? character, Oliver Twist in the novel, Oliver Twist. (1837). When someone is always asking for more, he is called Oliver Twist.

These are great writers indeed! But, I believe every writer has the potential to become as good as any of them, including you; all it takes is the ability to create believable characters, good story line and attractive narrative style.

(c) Sumaila umaisha.

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