Edit like an Editor: A Wattpad Featured Guide ✔

Part ix. Keeping Characters Consistent

This part was requested by Animeluver44.

You may still be in the drafting stage. You may be in the writing. Or you may have completely finished your draft and are in the revising and editing stage. No matter what stage you're in, if you keep the following advice in mind, you'll be one step closer to having consistent characterization throughout your book.

The simple truth is that the more time you spend getting to know your characters, the easier it is to know what they will say and do in every situation and the easier they are to write.

8 Ways to Keep Characters Consistent

1. Many writers create character questionnaires—a list of standard questions that they apply to each character they create. Good questionnaire address many different aspects of the character, such as physical appearance, background, current life, personality, relationships, etc.

I highlight a questionnaire in part ii. of this section thanks to the NaNoWriMo team. Questionnaires not only help you develop a strong sense of your character, they also help you keep track of choices you have made about a character. For instance, if you are writing chapter 12 and can't remember what color eyes a character had in chapter 2, you can check your questionnaire.

2. Another way to get to know your characters is to spend some time writing from their point-of-view. This helps you understand what they think and feel about things.

For instance, it's one thing to assign a character a Myers-Briggs personality code. But it's far more illuminating to write a diary entry that expresses that personality.

Author Darcy Pattison has five more ways to keep your characters consistent:

3. Create a Bible for your character. It doesn't have to be complicated, but have one file, or a couple note cards that list characteristics. Left handed, blue eyes, lopsided smile to the right, hates licorice, loves flannel sheets, wears a cross necklace, right ear is pierced, etc. It's surprising how such little details can escape your notice. In one of my picture books, a character suddenly changed from left-handed to right-handed and the illustrator had to redo that bit of art.

4. Create separate dialogue files for each character. More than anything else, a character's dialogue needs to sound consistent (unless, of course, you're using it to indicate character changes). By creating separate files, I can read straight through just what a character says and edit, then put it back into the novel.

5. If there are long spaces between writing and editing sessions, then be sure to re-read the previous sections. It sounds obvious, but it's easy to neglect.

6. Immerse yourself with a character for a day. For an entire day, walk around and think about what your character would say, do, feel about the world around you. Immerse yourself in your character's outlook on life. Then, go back and re-read and tweak. (It makes for great conversation: Why are you so weird today? You don't usually like gingerbread. Today, I'm being Gretel/Hansel!)

7. Write an obituary of your character. It's another way to focus on the main character traits, dreams, hopes, goals. What DID your character accomplish during their lifetime? Then go back and make sure your character more or less consistently works toward that goal.

8. Finally, characters will grow and change in the writing process as you discover more about them and see them in action. The revision process is an opportunity to go back and make the characters consistent or clarify their arcs.

Keeping Your Characters Consistent During the Revising Stage

Keeping your character('s) traits consistent is very a important step in polishing your manuscript, especially if it's written from multiple points of view (POVs).

For example, if you have one character who constantly swears, and has a tendency to lose his/her temper at the drop of a hat, you do not want your other characters behaving in the same way. If this happens, your characters will blend together, and your readers will have trouble being able to tell them apart. You don't want your readers having to back track to be sure they have understood who is speaking/narrating. They should just know. And readers know by identifying your characters from the way they speak, move, and behave.

For instance, if you are familiar with The Lord of the Rings, you definitely know when Sam's talking, and you never confuse him with Pippin or Merry even though they're all Hobbits...

You might think you have sorted this out during revisions, but it's possible you have missed a few nitpicky things. If you want to master the voices of your different characters, you cannot rely on revising your work from beginning to end (or end to beginning as some do). You need to isolate each POV and work on them separately.

Jessica Bell, a thirty-something Australian-native contemporary fiction author shares a true story to prove how important this step is even when you think you have your characters down pat:

"While I was giving my latest multi-POV manuscript a final editing pass, I discovered that each and every one of my characters' answers began with 'Um ... .' Yikes! Not good. So I chose one character to assign the 'Um ... ' to and deleted it from the rest. How had I not noticed this before? Because I was lazy to take this step. (And, embarrassingly, I wasn't the one who noticed: a beta reader did.)"

Print out your manuscript, isolate all the POVs into different piles (make sure your pages are numbered!), and skim through them one at a time. While you are doing this, make a list of their prominent character-defining traits and behaviors, and any phrases they use regularly.

For example, let's say your story is told from the perspective of three different characters: Bob, Jane, and Doug. And after skimming their pages, you are left with the following list (this is very simple and refined for the sake of demonstrating my point):

Bob:
• Uses a lot of slang and doesn't pronounce the -g on words that end in -ing
• Often says, "Dude!"
• Elbows the person next to him when he thinks he has said something funny

Jane:
• Snorts when she laughs
• Always says "No way!" to express surprise
• Chain smokes

Doug:
• Never smiles
• Speaks articulately and intelligently
• Often bites his nails

Okay. Now that you have your list, thoroughly read through each POV separately, to make sure these character traits are consistent from beginning to end. Similarly, eliminate any behaviours that belong to the other characters. I can't stress how frustrating it is reading a multi-POV manuscript where every single character has the same repetitive traits.

On the other hand, please don't over-do it with the repetitive traits. Just because Doug bites his nails, it doesn't mean he has to bite his nails on every single page. Use your better judgment.

Here's a quick checklist for your convenience:

1. Print out your manuscript (with page numbers).

2. Isolate all the different POVs.

3. Skim through them one at a time and make a list of repetitive character-defining traits.

4. Thoroughly read through each POV to check for trait consistency.

5. Eliminate any traits that belong to other characters.

6. Ensure you aren't overusing the traits.

If you believe you know better tricks for keeping your characters consistent, be sure to vote on this part!