Character Matters
I had the oddest sensation yesterday realizing that it was March 4 and, therefore, Margaret Bunch’s birthday. Why does this matter? Because Margaret isn’t a real person. She’s a character in my current work in progress Beneath the Surface, a character whose exact birth date is never mentioned.
There are lots of things I know about Margaret that will never be revealed in print – nothing secret or lurid, just experiences she had, conversations she overheard, lessons she received. In short, the things that form a person’s character.
Because of the timing of events in the novel, I wanted Margaret to have a spring birthday, and I like the way March 4th can be read as “march forth” because that speaks to her habit of forward progression. Margaret makes decisions and moves forward.
When teaching, I had my students create characters using magazine pictures as inspiration. They would determine a character’s name, age, and occupation, but more importantly decide what the character wanted, how the character typically acted, and what actions the character would never take. The answers to these prompts helped them form an idea, a picture, of their character, how they might behave in a story, and why they behaved as they did.
Why is one person inherently honest, where another lies continually? Why is one person charitable and another punitive? Why is one person outgoing and another reticent about social interaction?
How is character formed?
Psychologists tell us that character formation is a lifelong dynamic process. Certainly our genetics, home environment, and family situation play a role in shaping our moral structure, but so do the choices we make.
We can choose to go along with the crowd, dressing and acting like “everyone else,” or we can choose to stand apart, making decisions based on personal style, comfort, interests, or beliefs. I’m not suggesting one way is better or worse than another, but repeated actions and thoughts become habits, which contribute to our sense of who we are or who we are becoming.
Character growth is desirable and, perhaps, necessary as we move through the challenges of our lives. How many times have you heard that difficulty builds character? The truth is that adversity both builds and reveals character. How a person responds when the chips are down reveals a lot about them.
In real life, we can intentionally develop our own character by choosing actions which help us grow toward desirable virtues. On the page, authors place characters in situations, often traumatic or adverse, that act as turning points forcing growth.
In today’s world, character discernment is both a desirable and necessary skill. We must look past the surface to discover the true motives and moral qualities of those we elect and those we encounter. Two questions may be of service when judging another person’s character.
What does this person want? How does this person treat people with whom they disagree?