In The Elements of Writing–and in portions that appear in The Elements of Storytelling–we explore how to develop a whole cast of characters for your story.
We start with the Character Dossier, a complete inventory of each character’s traits and backgrounds. If you answer every question in the Dossier, I have found, you will create a character who is complex both internally and externally.
Then we move on to the Wheel of Character Types. The wheel contains eight universal types. We work with four pairs of opposites–hero and villain, sidekick and skeptic, mentor and tempter, and heart and mind. These character types reflect the essential qualities or tendencies that we all contain within us. A healthy person or community manages to balance these traits; most of us struggle to maintain this balance. Your story shows how this process occurs, from scene to scene.
What comes next is even more intriguing.
I call it “Spinning the Wheel.” Once we have established our cast of characters, we imagine the characters are their polar opposites. In other words, imagine the hero as the villain, the mentor as the tempter, and so on.
Geoffrey Maguire “spun the wheel” in his bestselling novel–which became the long-running Broadway play–called Wicked that turns The Wizard of Oz on its head. In this work, the good witch Glinda is portrayed as a bullying, narrow-minded mean girl. The wicked witch of the west is the victim of Glinda and others, who mock her and exclude her because of the color of her skin.
Consider another example–that lovable rogue Falstaff.
John Falstaff plays the sidekick in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I. But in Verdi’s opera, Falstaff plays the hero. Still an egotistical, irresponsible partier, Falstaff now takes center stage. In this tale, he seeks to recover his fortune by wooing a pair of wealthy matrons named Alice and Meg. When they discover Falstaff’s dishonesty, they plot revenge. Alice and Meg lead a group into the forest; dressed as spirits, they scare Falstaff. Falstaff loves a good prank, even when he’s the target. “Stupendous!” he cries when he discovers the gag. In the final scene, Falstaff joins the other characters in singing:
Jesting is a man’s vocation;
Wise is he who is jolly,
Ready to laugh upon slight provocation,
Proof against dull melancholy.
Each man makes fun of his neighbor
The merry world around:
Solace for pain and for labor
In gay laughter is found!
Say what you will about Falstaff’s irresponsible and manipulative behavior. You have to appreciate his forgiving spirit. And rather than continuing his deception, he overcomes it when he celebrates the practical joke.
Spinning the Wheel allows you to show all sides of the character. All of us have bright and dark sides. We are brainy and emotional too. We can be loyal, but also betray others. We can be wise but also surrender to temptation. make sure your characters are complex enough to surprise your readers. If they aren’t, they might not be worth writing about in the first place.
