So I have a problem with characterization

[Wocalich]

Hello, everyone. I'm Gokce/Wocalich. My problem is this:

When I write short stories, my characters are fine but when I write something longer they all start to sound the same. Is it because I'm not focused enough on what they should sound like, or do you think there is another problem?

Do you have a similar problem? How do you combat it?

[scribesunlimited]

Please refer to a character sheet idea we worked out. We think it will be VERY helpful. =)

Allow us to share one of our favorite tools for writing about and describing characters. Your goal obviously is to visualize near-perfectly how your characters will look - but there's a lot more to do. So here’s a very useful character sheet that should enable you to really know your people inside and out. Name: Obvious. What's in a name? And you'd be surprised how hard it is to come up with. the name means something to you. Giving your character a name gives it life, and you can then create f…

[Wocalich]

Thank you. I'll take a look right now

[cherrystark]

That can be a challenge for sure. I think it's a common issue for a lot of people. What I've been trying to do is develop each character's individual voice when they lead the scene. My 20-21 year-old, female thief describes things a lot differently than her 50-something surrogate father/the team's bodyguard. This helps me focus on developing/remembering their backstories.

[scribesunlimited]

Thank you. I'll take a look right now

It's mission is to help writers know their characters inside and out, and make them stand out. Judging from what you told us here, your characters might sound the same because you made them too similar to one another. This article might help you to establish your characters more, and help you perfect a true personality for them all, and in turn, sounding quite different from one another. =)

[DiegoPalacios]

Do you use more characters for your longer stories?, if so, maybe you need a bit longer to figure out their characterization.

Also, on longer stories you often need to dig deeper on your main cast. This can come in many forms. Character development, the reveal of a hidden facet or secret, and their actions or reactions to achieve what they want.

[alexlcuri07]

I find it helpful to have varying sentence structures and one or two words only that character would say. Listen to how different people talk and you'll find they have certain consistencies in how they speak.

You can also think about a specific scenario and come up with one liners on how they would respond. For example, a sucky situation:

One MC I have says the word "totally" because they're one of the youngest characters:
"This is totally going to suck."

The other MC would never use the word totally, but is much more likely to use seriously (or cuss, which is not something the others do):
"This is going to seriously suck."

Another MC I have wouldn't respond that way at all because they're not as whiny and tend to be more sarcastic. They would more likely say something like:
"Honestly. I suppose this will have to do."

Think of their speech as part of their character.

[carreonaiwille]

I'm not sure if I'm having the same problem because there is not much feedback, but what I do notice or try (at least when I'm conscious) is vary the level of politeness and directness of words between characters depending on their background.

It reminded me of a story where the POV trio are so, so, distinguishable from each other. Granted, there is the power of language on his side, cause the story is meant to be understood by bilingual readers. The speech is distinguishable because you know who speaks in English most of the time, the other uses mostly code-mixed English, and the other speaks mostly in Filipino.

He had one character who had the most cussing in different languages and generally sarcastic, and mostly has almost rhyming, good-sounding dialogues.

The other character is polite, more asking than demanding, and speaks the least English.

The other speaks almost like a dictionary, cold, and overly-logical in his speech. Uses the most English, I think.

This person tried writing out only dialogue without naming who is speaking and you could immediately tell who is speaking what. Could that be a good exercise? Or at least a way to assess yourself? Just a random thought.

Building on what @cherrystark said, an artist might notice the composition and colors when entering a room while a penny-pinching person might mentally calculate the cost of renovating the room.

[jcmraz]

The reason they start to sound the same is because you haven't defined them beyond a few speech traits. Usually when this happens the author is using them as a voice for themselves rather than the characters.

You need to parse them. A good way to do that is take aspects of your own personality and make that a characters primary attribute. It doesn't have to be unilateral for them. But it should influence how they respond to people and their environment. That's why we have character tropes and I'm not 100% but I think a lot of writers do this. Another way is to decide on an attribute and make THAT their primary trait. A great example of this is the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. His main characters all have a specific trait that also becomes personified. So t=both the characters and the readers see the truest form of who the characters are and a big part of character growth is them dealing with the complexities behind that. What does it mean to swear an oath of honor and be bound by that honor as a type of code? What does it mean to each individual character? and how does it effect how they grapple with who they are and who they need to be?

Keep in mind, never make that trait literally everything. A sarcastic jokester isn't going to be constantly dropping one liners. A hot-headed character won't always jump into a fight they KNOW they can't win unless something else is at stake that is more important to them. But the starting point is to find a trait and always think about that when they're acting and speaking. Then build from that

[Wocalich]

Reading what all of you said, I feel like my story needs to go through a major edit or rewrite...

[scribesunlimited]

Reading what all of you said, I feel like my story needs to go through a major edit or rewrite...

Hmm. Well, it might not be too dire to do THAT, but we would recommend having a handle on characters, for sure.

[rajillustration]

Yeah, yeah I feel you on this. One of the biggest changes I make in my revisions is making sure the characters sound distinct. I get into this zone when I write stuff and often write for such a length of time, that in my desire to just put what's in my head onto paper, I'm accidentally writing in my own voice instead of another.