May 2025 …
It is often said that a good story shows a character undergoing a change – for better or for worse. The challenge of the author is not only to create the path for that change to happen but also to understand where the character has started. Doing this well requires an author to understand what motivates people and how people respond to the actions of others. This is empathy. In the development of my writing craft, I have been surprised how empathy has emerged as a valuable trait.
Creating good characters requires me to imagine an entire history – one explaining where they sit, emotionally, at the start of a story, and why they go on to behave in particular ways as the story unfolds. Articulating the state of a character in a more nuanced manner than ‘mad’, ‘bad’, ‘glad’ or ‘sad’ has led me to explore different aspects of personality traits.
From the Masterclass website, various authors, including James Patterson and Malcolm Gladwell, cite the need to look behind the façade of a person; to understand his or her history, perhaps the relationship with parents or childhood experiences, as integral in understanding him or her as a whole person.
One Masterclass I followed featured John Douglas, an FBI profiler who specialised in identifying serial killers. He attributed his success to his ability to imagine why a perpetrator would do specific actions in the execution of a crime. Like many people I had associated empathy as being the same as sympathy. Instead, I have come to understand that empathy is the ability to understand another person’s perspective – to understand why they might say or do things. Sympathy involves the feelings associated with caring about someone in need – and often arises because of empathy – but it is different from empathy itself.
Constructing a biography for a fictional character might sound relatively simple. The greater challenge is considering the interaction between two or more characters – each with their own unique background. One technique I stumbled across was to write out an interview with the character where I assume the role of a journalist or counsellor. This method provides the opportunity to test or challenge the character in a written question and answer session, to encourage them to talk about their own history and motivations. The character’s voice and behaviours can be developed and they become unique in a larger story.
Another technique I have started using recently, is to feature my characters in short stories. Writing to a theme set by a writers’ group presents the opportunity to imagine how the characters might respond to different predicaments – to allow them to be exercised and become more nuanced – an indirect way to create a character biography. The short stories aren’t intended to be part of a larger work or novel but, as an author, you understand your characters at a greater depth.
These reflections, allowing the creation of characters with plausible motivations, have been beneficial to me personally as well; becoming aware of how my history has shaped me. I understand it is important to recognise and challenge assumptions that I make about others so that I am more able to see the whole person. Thus, the discipline of writing, as well as understanding the process of empathy more fully, is allowing me to grow to be a more understanding person in my personal life. For this, I will always be grateful.