First, I put the above clip in because I feel bad that I forgot to mention Mystique on Wednesday. Totally slipped my mind, which is shameful. How can anyone forget a naked blue woman who’s also a redhead? If that’s her real hair color.
In Beginning of a Hero, Gabriel the God of Destiny states that he is responsible for the good and the bad. He plays a never-ending chess game with himself where he cannot play favorites. I think this describes writing perfectly. Think about it, my fellow authors. You create your heroes, your villains, your supporting cast, and your monsters. They are in your head and you have to shift them from mind to paper. There has to be a connection to your characters instead of them being nothing more than words on a page. If that’s how you see your own characters then a reader will see them the same way.
One important thing here is to not play favorites, even if it’s a main hero and a bunch of supporting characters. The reason for this can be explained by imagining you’re watching a play. Is it more fun to see one with a cast of vibrant characters or one guy talking to some cardboard cutouts? The supporting cast is supposed to be supporting, so they require effort and some depth. Same with the villains. You need to give personality to them and make them an interesting threat. This is why you need to shift characters while writing and give all of them some attention.
I write a series where there’s an ensemble cast, so I have to jump around and shift my mind a lot. This doesn’t make me an expert, but I’ve found some tricks to avoid merging characters together. Mostly importantly, take a break when you have to jump focus. Not a major break, but a minute or two. Grab a drink, hit the bathroom, stretch your legs, or any small thing to prepare your mind to jump into a new mentality. This method is not perfect because stronger personalities stick around. Combine this with pushing for character depth during an editing run. Read through focusing solely on characters and making them different. Add quirks, speaking patterns, dreams, goals, jokes, and anything that might not be main plot related, but flushes them out. The more you do this, the easier it is to shift from one character to another.
I’ve said this on a lot of stuff and I’ll say it again. PRACTICE! Very few people can naturally shift tracks and characters without stumbling. Write test scenes or short stories with your characters to get a feel for them and bond. Similar to raising children, you have to get a feel for the temperament and personality of the character. Yes, you’re in control and these aren’t organic creatures. Not exactly. You see, the author is an organic creature and there’s that pesky subconscious working around. Things will slip out and new ideas for a character will click from that area of your mind that was working on your idea while you were focusing on something else. Ever hear of letting an idea marinate in your subconscious? Well, characters are ideas. Kind of off-topic here.
So, don’t be afraid when dealing with multiple characters in a book or scene. Learn to flow and shift from one to the other. This way there’s a sense of depth to every character and not only your leads. You might even find a supporting character who is more interesting than you ever dreamed.
Legends of Windemere 
Good advice, Charles. I’m writing a book with three point-of-view characters. I have to take a break, sometimes two days when I switch characters. Otherwise, they start to sound the same. But I need to add more quirks as you mentioned. I’ll think about that today.
LikeLike
I jump POV a lot because I have 5-6 main characters. I always have that focal character for a chapter section, but I have to mindset jump a lot. It’s become almost second nature.
LikeLike
Great advice Charls. I am loving the character sketches that Scrivener is set up for. They seem so real to me and I can go into the character sketches and change them up a bit. And when writing, there is no way for me to lose track of all of their quirky little details because it’s right there for me to refer to.
LikeLike
Scrivener lets you make character sketches? I thought it was a writing/organizational tool.
LikeLike
There’s all kinds of cool stuff in Scrivener. Take a look at this post. It demonstrates some of the neat features.
If you click on the screenshots you can see up close how you can set up your character profiles with pictures (you could so do this with you many illustrations, and you could put their individual poems on the index cards/synopses in the Inspector pane). This was just the beginning for me. My character sketches are much longer now and I keep all of my relevant info in there so i have a reference for details the writing is actually done on the editor pane instead of the corkboard pane, but this is really a lot of fun, and I can change the scenes around in the binder on the left if I need to..
LikeLike
I remember that post. See, I thought you meant there was a drawing feature like MS Paint or something. Most of my information is in physical notebooks, so I have them piled next to me for when I need them.
LikeLike
No but GIMP is good for that I have heard.
LikeLike
I have no artistic ability in any form. My stick figures tend to look like Dirk Diggler.
LikeLike
LOL…mine too, which is why I steal pics for my private use. One of those character profiles I actually used a photo of an old boyfriend…well, he was cute.
LikeLike
Paul Walker?
LikeLike
No…Tim, not his real name, but a lawyer/engineer I used to date who was a real serious player and had a few girlfriends (one I could have probably murdered) he is also a big political figure in Orange County Government. I just couldn’t resist posting his picture up there. We have a good friendship relationship now, and I am sure he wouldn’t mind and would probably love the publicity. I can’t say anything about him being a player really, because I was a player too and played him just as much as he played me. Another era in time. 🙂
LikeLike
Sounds like it. Funny how Tim gets picked as a fake name so often.
LikeLike
Hi real name was Jim Harrison, so Tim Morrison seemed a suitable choice, and his personality is one that is playing out as a character in my book. I am evil like that.
LikeLike
Hope he’s a good guy. 🙂
LikeLike
wish I could have read this before setting out on NaNo… my story has turned out to have a complex web of characters and oddly no main character though some do a little more in moving the plot along than others… not too hard during the introductory chapters but now in the middle it becomes a minefield to navigate…
LikeLike
Maybe you have an ensemble cast instead of a central figure.
LikeLike
closest to a central figure is the Drow Queen who appears in about twenty percent of the chapters I have written…
LikeLike
Definitely sounds more like you have characters on the same level instead of a central. Not bad, but it alters the mindset a bit.
LikeLike
it becomes a tap-dance when they begin interacting… lol…
LikeLike
Very true. Occasionally, it’s like ping pong or dodgeball.
LikeLike
yup… and it makes it more difficult to achieve the effect I want the story to have where it feels less like a story and more like a history…
LikeLike
Wish I could help there. I aim for the opposite, so I don’t know much about making it sound like a history. Though history tends to not have a central character. Romance of the Three Kingdoms would be a good example.
LikeLike
Great advice Charles. I’ve only recently started writing short stories for characters that have yet to gel in my mind, and it is incredibly helpful.
LikeLike
It’s fun too. Doesn’t even have to be big stories. Just a scene or two.
LikeLike
Exactly. For me it’s also an opportunity to try out another voice or another style. It can be a nice break from editing/writing, too.
LikeLike
Experimentation is where we grow. 🙂
LikeLike