§        After I gave this talk in the Poconos, writer Joelle McClure suggested that I add “FLAWS” to the chart, and indeed flaws are an essential part of an interesting and realistic character. But I think flaws are more a function of behavior than they are of values or philosophy, which is what my chart was originally meant to ponder.

§        So I’m revising the chart and dropping the “Tastes” section completely, because while it’s nice to know what your character’s favorite color and food is, that usually doesn’t have much effect on the plot of the novel

§        Instead I’m adding a “Behavior” section with the following categories:

·        Virtues

·        Flaws

§        As with Needs in the Values Chart, you must resist at all costs the temptation to tell us readers your character’s flaws. Instead let us discover them as they come to influence her actions and choices.

·        Interests

o       Hobbies, favorite pastimes, common activities

·        Quirks

o       Example:  I never leave my apartment without wearing my watch and ring. The watch is a silver Fossil with a blue metallic face, always worn on my left wrist. The ring is sterling silver engraved with the words “In my beginning is my end,” which has multiple meanings for me:  It’s a Christian religious reference; it’s the first line of T.S. Eliot’s “East Coker,” which is part of his “Four Quartets,” probably my favorite poetic cycle ever; and it’s quietly clever and postmodern (“In my beginning is my end,” and it’s a ring—get it?). The ring is worn on my right ring finger. The watch and ring are the last things I put on before leaving the apartment in the morning, marking each day’s debut of Public Cheryl, and the first things I take off when I return at night, marking my return to Private Cheryl.

o       A very few quirks go a very long way. Choose them carefully and use them sparingly.

·        Key phrases, vocabulary or sayings

o       Example:  I started saying “Damn and blast” while reading Dorothy Sayers in college, and I still use the phrase “Bloody hell” a lot. I also say “Y’all” thanks to a church trip to Arkansas in seventh grade, and also because it’s fun to watch New Yorkers do a double take when I drop it into a conversation.

§        And I’m adding two more categories under “Values”

·        Religious outlook

§        This is certainly not something that needs to be explicitly discussed in the novel, but if your character believes in a Higher Being That Judges Us All, he will act one way; if he believes in a Higher Being That Neither Judges in Heaven Nor Interferes on Earth, he will act another way; if he does not believe in a Higher Being or believes in multiple Higher Beings, he will act in third and fourth ways; and if he believes he IS the Higher Being, that’s something else altogether. So religious outlook is worth thinking about as an indicator of or influence on your character’s morality.

·        “The most important thing in life for this character is:”

§        Honor; fame; being a good person; doing good acts; money; love; sex; taking care of her family; taking care of his friends; having a laugh; being respected, etc.

§        If you ever doubt what the character should do next, take a look at this and write forth accordingly.

·        And ask the “WHY?” question in every single category to see what it might turn up about the character's personality and history. For example:

o       NAME: Cheryl Beth Klein. WHY? My mother’s best friend was named Cheryl; “Beth” sounded good with it; the family surname.

§        Note what these choices reveal about my parents:  honoring a best friend; aesthetic effect; my mother chose not to keep her maiden name and not to hyphenate mine, so she wasn’t that kind of late-1970s feminist, if she was a feminist at all.

o       LOVES: reading. WHY? My entire family reads all the time; my grandfather was a children’s literature professor; books are friends that are never too busy and will never abandon you; exploring new worlds and having new experiences while sitting in the comfort of my own home, etc.

o       WANTS: To own my own apartment in New York City. WHY? To earn equity rather than paying rent; to have a place that’s truly mine; to be able to paint the walls hot pink (not really).

·        The complete revised character chart as it stands: