Review Checklist pt 4 – Characters

Well… I must admit, I was surprised to see how short my section on characters was in the checklist. I find myself checking to see if something was deleted. But, nope. It was just that skimpy…

• Were the characters interesting?
• Did they grow and change?
• Did they affect each other, or did they more or less exist in a vacuum. Classically, the main character will grow and change the most, and they will be impacted by all the secondary characters surrounding them, but in turn will also affect said characters. Did that happen?
• Were the characters distinct from each other, each one staking out some distinct philosophical ground, usually in some degree of opposition to each other, and taking actions sprung from said stance?

It’s been about a year since I put the checklist together, and I’ve been doing some reading here and there. A few more points that I know I could add to the “Character” section:

• Character Introductions:
  • Were they memorable?
  • Were they active, or just talky?
  • If active, were they active appropriate to who they are as a person, and also what their growth will be throughout the story?
• Character Exits:
  • The last scene the character appears in, is it memorable? Or do they just stop appearing in the story with no resolution?
  • Does it feel like his or her story has been told, even if they’re not the main character.
• Does the character feel vital enough that an actor would actually want to play him/her? Protagonist, certainly, but even secondary characters?
  • Does the character display a range of emotions? Or is he one-note?
  • Were subtextual opportunities available? Were they taken advantage of?
  • Are there layers to the character that reveal themselves over time?
• Were secondary characters distinctive enough with “character tags” that they stood out on the page in some way? Catchphrases, extreme attitudes… think “limp and an eyepatch”.
• Are there aspects of the secondary characters that are reflective of the protagonist? Either as something to aspire to or to avoid…

There is easily so much more I could add to this. Clearly.

One reason I don’t go into too much depth here is that there are aspects of the character development that I’ve also put into Dialogue and Structure. Those I’ll cover in upcoming posts.