History SoYouWantTo / DevelopCharacterPersonality

"Pegasus should always have an attitude when he's flying based on what he's doing, why he's doing it and how he feels about it. He is a [[LivingProp not a taxi.]]”

The importance of personality in a character is undeniable. Some fictional works are only considered interesting because of just one character’s personality. For example, the popular show ''Series/{{House}}''. If it wasn’t for its MainCharacter the show would be a generic MedicalDrama. [[TheWonka Jack Sparrow]] is the main reason ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' is successful. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean:_On_Stranger_Tides#cite_note-Depp-14 Disney even admitted that without "Captain Jack Sparrow" the franchise would be "dead and buried".]] Good characters will make people care about everything else in your story.

At the most basic level we have our biological needs: food, water, air, shelter, clothing etc are the most basic level. Humans are social creatures, so things like family, friendship and love are among our most complex ones and from a literary point of view the most essential. Finally there's the slightly more individualistic and variable needs of self actualisation: the desire to be who we are meant to be, to be respected, to accomplish our goals. These complex set of relationships are what constitute human nature and the essence of our very beings.

At the most basic level we have our biological needs: food, water, air, shelter, clothing etc are the most basic level. Humans are social creatures, so things like family, friendship and love are among our most complex ones and from a literary point of view the most essential. Finally there's the slightly more individualistic and variable needs of self actualisation : the desire to be who we are meant to be, to be respected, to accomplish our goals. These complex set of relationships are what constitute human nature and the essence of our very beings.

# To be accepted by others. Characters can behave differently between certain people. For example TheBully may pretend to be a good person in front of a teacher. A guy with a libido may know not to hit on coworkers so as to maintain a healthy work environment.

A the most basic level we have our biological needs: food, water, air, shelter, clothing etc are the most basic level. Humans are social creatures, so things like family, friendship and love are among our most complex ones and from a literary point of view the most essential. Finally there's the slightly more individualistic and variable needs of self actualisation : the desire to be who we are meant to be, to be respected, to accomplish our goals. These complex set of relationships are what constitute human nature and the essence of our very beings.

A the most basic level we have our biological needs: food, water, air, shelter, clothing etc are the most basic level. Humans are social creatures, so things like family, friendship and love are among our most complex ones and from a literary point of view the most essential. Finally there's the slightly more individualistic and variable needs of self actualisation : the desire to be who we are meant to be, to be respected, to accomplish our goals. These complex set of relationships are what constitute human nature and the essence of our veryr beings.

t. Biological needs--food, water, oxygen, shelter--are easy ones; and humans are social creatures, so things friendship, family, love and sex go on there too. And then there's the slightly more abstract desires: the desire to be who we are meant to be; the desire to be respected to the degree that we ought to be; the desire to have satisfying work and to leave something behind. These complex set of relationships are what constitute human nature and the essence of our veryr beings.

This article's aim is to help better understand what makes a character human; to point their soul in a literary sense.

So, what ''is'' a human character? The answer is, one that has the essence of a human nature.

"Human Nature," according to TheOtherWiki, is "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_nature the distinguishing characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling and acting—which humans tend to have naturally, independently of the influence of culture]]." Of course, the article goes on to admit, "The questions of what these characteristics are, how fixed they are, and what causes them are amongst the oldest and most important questions in western philosophy," but we can all probably think of things that people want. Biological needs--food, water, oxygen, shelter--are easy ones; and humans are social creatures, so things friendship, family, love and sex go on there too. And then there's the slightly more abstract desires: the desire to be who we are meant to be; the desire to be respected to the degree that we ought to be; the desire to have satisfying work and to leave something behind. These complex set of relationships are what constitute human nature and the essence of our beings.

So, what ''is'' a human character? The answer is, one that is consistent with human nature.

"Human Nature," according to TheOtherWiki, is "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_nature the distinguishing characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling and acting—which humans tend to have naturally, independently of the influence of culture]]." Of course, the article goes on to admit, "The questions of what these characteristics are, how fixed they are, and what causes them are amongst the oldest and most important questions in western philosophy," but we can all probably think of things that people want. Biological needs--food, water, oxygen, shelter--are easy ones; and humans are social creatures, so things friendship, family, love and sex go on there too. And then there's the slightly more abstract desires: the desire to be who we are meant to be; the desire to be respected to the degree that we ought to be; the desire to have satisfying work and to leave something behind. These are all part of human nature.

And here's the thing: ''human nature is unchanging''. The things that we want, and the things that we are, are basically the same today as they were when the very first ''Homo sapiens'' stood up on the savannahs of Africa a hundred thousand or two hundred thousand years ago. If you were to somehow hunt down that very first human being and ask them what they wanted (and could get over the language barrier), they'd say basically the same things you would.

"No," you respond, "that can’t be right. Surely mankind has evolved since then. Surely man doesn’t want exactly the same things today as back then." And to that we answer... Why, yes, you’re absolutely right. That is, after all, why nobody reads ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh'' any more: its {{aesop}}s--to live LikeYouWereDying, that people often want what they can’t have (like [[WhoWantsToLiveForever immortality]]), that YouCantFightFate--are completely irrelevant to modern man. ''Literature/TheBible'', which is at least 1800 years old, is likewise completely deprecated; we don’t need to TurnTheOtherCheek because people don’t screw each other over anymore, ForbiddenFruit is irrelevant because everyone resents temptation, and so on. Remember Creator/WilliamShakespeare? Why? Nothing he wrote is relevant to us, even though he died a mere 400 years ago; people [[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet never do stupid things for love]], [[Theatre/{{Macbeth}} never do stupid things for ambition]], [[Theatre/MuchAdoAboutNothing never do stupid things to attract the attention of the opposite gender]]. All these works have ''nothing'' to do with life as people live it today, because human nature has changed past what it was when those works were written. And now that we’ve proved that it has ''not'' changed very much--with a heaping dose of SarcasmMode--let’s move on to the business of making sure your characters reflect it properly.

[[caption-width-right:350:[-You are special! ...[[YouWillBeAssimilated unless Mr. Smith assimilates you.]]-] ]]

The importance of personality in a character is undeniable. Some fictional works are only considered interesting because of just one character’s personality. For example, the popular show ''Series/{{House}}''. If it wasn’t for its MainCharacter the show would be a generic MedicalDrama.

To give an example, [[TheWonka Jack Sparrow]] is the main reason ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' is successful. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_the_Caribbean:_On_Stranger_Tides#cite_note-Depp-14 Disney even admitted that without "Captain Jack Sparrow" the franchise would be "dead and buried".]] Good characters will make people care about everything else in your story.

*** It is important that theme characterization isn’t a pitfall when it is caused by technical issues. For example, anime characters' rooms are often devoid of anything personal (often due to budget restrictions) and they often all wear the same school uniforms; at least some characterization of this sort does not hurt.

Using a popular example from media, {{Spiderman}} [[{{Trickster}} is a superhero that is famous for making fun of his enemies while fighting]]. What some people don't know is that he does this because he tries to hide his fear. The mechanism of defense used here is humor. As you may have already noted, this is a good way to give depth to personality without emotions.

[[caption-width-right:229:[-A badass butchered into a Disney Princess.-] ]]

-->''When you make a character, make it/him/her '''human'''".

[[caption-width-right:229:[-Girly isn't a synonym of weak!-] ]]

[[quoteright:260:[[Series/SesameStreet http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/puppetlol_7940.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:260:[-[[VisualPun Puppet Busters! Say no to puppet characters.]]-] ]]

* Extraversion. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extroversion_and_introversion#Ambiversion These kind of characters are mostly identified by their happy and positive dispositions]]; they enjoy being around people. On the contrary, being alone is very unpleasant for them. This kind of character can be best described as "enthusiastic," "talkative," "assertive," and "sociable."[[WhenSheSmiles They are hardly ever seen alone or without a smile.]]

** Examples of common character types that are introverted: ShrinkingViolet, TheStoic, EmotionlessGirl, UncannyValleyGirl, SugarAndIcePersonality, etc.

It's important to note that a shy or lonely character isn't necessarily introverted. An introvert is alone by choice, whereas shy and lonely people are alone because of fear. However, both introversion and shyness may overlap. It's also important to remember the fact that it's impossible for a human being to stand completely on their own. [[TheFourLoves All humans need the love of others]].

First it's important to differentiate between how a character behaves with other characters (the image they give of themselves onto others) and what they really are on the inside. In RealLife people use masks to hide their real selves mainly for two reasons:

# To be accepted by others. Characters can behave differently between certain people. For example TheBully may pretend to be a good person in front of a teacher.

[[quoteright:283:[[Franchise/TheMatrix http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dibujo_1071.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:283:[-You are special! ...[[YouWillBeAssimilated unless Mr. Smith assimilates you.]]-] ]]

[[quoteright:187:[[Series/{{Smallville}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/boosterlg2_2041.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:187:[-I have horrible self-esteem, really!-] ]]

[[quoteright:328:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/extroverted_1977.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:328:[-Extraverted: Always happy and very sociable!-] ]]

*** It is important that theme characterization isn’t a pitfall when it is caused by technical issues. For example, anime characters' rooms are often devoid of anything personal (I have read that this is because of budget restrictions) and they often all wear the same school uniforms; at least some characterization of this sort does not hurt.

[[caption-width-right:229:[-Girly isn't a synonym of lame!-] ]]

The main issue when creating female characters is that they are, most of the time, defined by a stereotype or a role instead of a personality. When women are the protagonists of a story they a typicality or how people wished women acted. Typically they have the roles of a typical girlfriend, [[AcceptableFeminineGoalsAndTraits Mom]], “TokenGirl” or sex symbol. In other words they are defined by what society expects of them instead of having a true personality.

Finally, it’s important to note that both making characters defined only by his good traits or by their flaws are signs of bad characterization. For example, a villain could hate revenge, while a hero doesn’t. [[CharacterDevelopment Part of being human is not being devoid of flaws but overcoming them]]. Consequentially, having moral flaws will not make a hero less admirable -- on the contrary, [[AntiHero antiheroes]], heroes with flaws uncharacteristic of the archetypical hero, are more fascinating in modern fiction than [[TheMessiah heroes who have very few/no noticeable moral flaws at all.]]

Interestingly, the word "personality" originates from a Latin word that means mask. This is relevant to us because it will help us to understand the [[BeneathTheMask concept of social masks]].

[[quoteright:283:[[Film/TheMatrix http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dibujo_1071.jpg]]]]

# If your character could have unlimited power/anonymity, [[WhatYouAreInTheDark would your character remain the same person]]?

# If your character could have unlimited power/anonymity, would your character remain the same person?