During the Festival of Words, award-winning author Marina Endicott joined Saskatchewan Writers Guild president Jack Walton for an informative workshop on in-depth character building titled “Inners and Outers.”
The key to taking characters from a flat image to a three-dimensional personality, Endicott shared, lies in some detailed prep work that takes place before the first draft of a manuscript even begins.
“I think this is the most useful in the early stages, when you’re first creating characters, as it's useful work to do when you begin to think about them and inch your way forward in figuring out who this person is,” said Endicott.
Developing deep characters requires considering the inner and outer aspects of their personality — which Endicott aptly refers to as “inners” and “outers.”
Inners are the integral aspects of a personality that are innate and sometimes hidden on the inside, whereas outers are the forward-facing traits that can be more adaptive — but are also deeply influenced by the inners.
As both a former actor and director, in addition to being a writer, Endicott explained how training she received in the theatre has helped shape the way she approaches character development in her writing.
“As they approach a script, actors have a whole suitcase of exercises that are all about expanding imagination, about memory, about delving deeper into a character’s history, going beyond psychology to emotional and physical understanding of another human being,” said Endicott. “And that's the same work we have to do when we’re working on a novel or a short story or poem.”
Endicott begins by considering the character in terms of not only their physicality but also their individual aspects. She finds looking at a character through the lens of the popular Twenty Questions game can be handy in creating a base list of personality traits and idiosyncrasies.
She recommends taking time to create a long list of traits and adjectives — describing her own as “embarrassingly large” — and noting which handful of traits are the most important and influential.
“Anything you do that makes you do more work is going to make that character richer and deeper because you’ll know more about them and that will insidiously infect the way you write about them,” said Endicott.
Once writing begins, Endicott shared, sometimes that extensive list of adjectives can shift, but she finds that any changes that happen are usually small and caused by a writer’s developing understanding of a character in the context of their story.
“I think [adjustments] happen more from the initial thinking and planning rather than when I get into writing,” said Endicott. “There’s a natural alteration in the inners and outers and the way you think about the character as you write, as you progress from one scene to another and the logic of the character takes over.”
She finds that by doing an extensive search of a character before even beginning to write a manuscript, she enters the narrative with a clearer grasp on how to shape that character’s voice and actions — and, she admitted, the first draft can be the toughest stage for many writers, including herself.
“My favourite part is once the character is there and all their idiosyncrasies are there, I love the editing process. I love to try and make it better and make each scene and sentence reveal the character more clearly and more truly, organically,” said Endicott.
The Festival of Words continues until July 19, with a full schedule of events available here.
Stay tuned for coverage of the festival as it progresses through the week.
