Building characters who feel real is one of the greatest challenges that any writer faces. To paraphrase Stephen King's novel Bag of Bones, the most in-depth and intriguing character you will ever come up with is little more than a bag of bones compared with even the most boring and shallow person in the real world. And while a lot of us focus on the sweeping arcs, their history, their goals, and their drives, sometimes we leave the finer details out. It's those little details that can make a character feel organic, though, and which really stick in a reader's mind once they close the cover.
So take a moment to consider what quirks and tics your characters have, and how you're going to slip those details into your narrative.
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Quirks, And What They Add To Your Character
By definition, a quirk is a peculiarity of action or behavior. We all have them, and they can be caused by a variety of things that can inform little parts of a character's past. As an example, does a character always sit with their back to a wall facing the room? Do they do this because they're paranoid? Because they've been a criminal? Or simply because they know they still have enemies out there who wouldn't hesitate to sneak up on them? As a different example, does a character have a particular catchphrase people associate with them? Is it something they picked up from their family, does it clue in a listener about which branch of the military a character served with, or is it just something unique to this character and their experience?
For folks who need more examples, I'd highly recommend my recent publication Finishing Touches - 100 Quirks For Your Characters.
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| So how do you make character quirks work? |
Obviously, the first step in this journey is to figure out which quirks your characters have, and to decide if the quirks means anything, or if they're just part of who your characters are. After all, someone who bounces their legs when they're nervous, or who has a terrible poker face, might not have really interesting stories behind those quirks. Generally speaking, I'd recommend not giving a character more than 1-2 main quirks, with perhaps 1-2 secondary quirks... anything more than that and it's going to feel like you're just gluing on extra bits, and they'll get distracting.
For example, let's return to our reformed criminal who still sits with his back to the wall. Does he also have a habit of fidgeting? If so does he walk a coin across his knuckles, play with a Zippo lighter, or idly do tricks with a butterfly knife? Does his eye twitch when he gets angry? Does he coordinate his shirt with the day of the week, or always dress in outdated fashion? All of those things paint a picture of him as a person, but if you stack too many more quirks onto this list it's going to feel like you've got too many balls in the air. You don't want to give your readers too much to try to keep track of.
By the same token, you don't want to constantly remind your readers of a character's quirks every time they show up... and this goes double for your protagonist. Even if the quirk is part of the character's appearance (heterochromia, double-jointed, ambidexterous, etc.), there's no need to bring it up every time they show up, or to tag it onto every action they take. Because unless the quirk has some kind of meaning the audience is supposed to pick up (such as a brawler who always cracks their knuckles right before they start throwing punches), then constantly mentioning the same, repetitive action is going to start to annoy the reader. Mention it every now and again so the reader doesn't forget, but don't make a big deal out of it.
However, when a character is not performing their quirk (or it isn't physically present, if it's something unusual about their physicality) that is often a good tip off to the audience that something has changed. Just a little recommendation for folks writing stories about shapeshifters, face stealers, and body snatchers.
Lastly, if you want more inspiration for your characters, consider picking up some of the following supplements, also written by yours truly:
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