I want to start a new ongoing series on my website called Character Under A Microscope. There are so many things you can consider when creating characters that I think it needs an in-depth study. I don’t want to burn my readers out on all things character though so I’m starting with just three posts. In the future, I’ll swing back around and do a few more.
The first aspect of character I want to focus on is character reactions—how a character responds to things happening. Threats, challenges, praise, etc. Everyone reacts differently to them. Does your character fight, run, or freeze when faced with a threat? Does she feel beaten and give up when faced with a failure or does she dig in and try again? When she is complimented, is she the type to get a big head, blush and ignore it, or feel obligated to give a compliment back? Having a plan for something as small as character reactions will help you determine how your character will react throughout the story, and it will help you stay consistent.
When developing character reactions, you need to think of them in two layers. Each character should have a simple and a complex reaction.
Simple Reactions
A simple reaction is the character’s gut reaction to something. It’s more instinct than mental. If a man holds a gun to the character’s face, does she freeze, take the gun, or duck? When someone tells her she looks pretty, does she smile, say thank you, or look away first? These simple reactions say a lot about a character. Work in these details a few times in your story, and you’ll add more character depth than the reader realizes. They’ll leave the story thinking the people felt realistic and not quite understand why.
Complex Reactions
Complex reactions are how the character chooses to react. Maybe our protagonist ducks when the man held the gun up. Her mind will catch up with her action, and she’ll realize he could just point it down at her. So, she punches his stomach and goes for the gun. The ultimate reaction was to fight, but her initial reaction was avoidance. Complex reactions add another layer of depth to your character because it shows more personality. She may be afraid of the gun, but she is the type to face her fears. This characterization will tell readers about the character’s choices and what kind of person she wants to be in life.
Final Thoughts
I know this is a short post, but I didn’t want to hammer the topic too hard. There are a million scenarios you can run through for your characters’ reactions. In order to not bog yourself down in characterization, just pick general situations. Here are a few to get you started: threats, compliments, disagreements, opportunities, tragedies, recognitions, failures, successes, and disappointments. You can add more, or just pick your top five. Any will be a step in the right direction. It’s the little details like character reactions that make readers think the characters are realistic.
Thanks for reading!
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