Five Dimensional Characters
Jul 3rd, 2008 by Patricia
There is a weird kind of alchemy which makes characters come alive on a page. It has to do with what I think of as the “five dimensions of character.”
In geometry, the four dimensions are breadth, depth, height and time. In writing, this translates to the following:
- Physical setting–does the story take place in one location, all over the globe, in some alternate universe or “in a galaxy far, far away?” The breadth of a story is determined by the breadth of the setting. It doesn’t matter if the setting is Asimov’s Empire or the March’s kitchen, just so long as it is clear to the reader what the setting is and how the character functions within it.
- Personal history–Is the character old or young, part of a large family or an only child, a public figure or a non-entity, well loved and parented or an orphan? No matter what happens in the story, if questions of personal history aren’t answered, the character has no depth and becomes a mere chess piece moving around a board. A character’s history can be filled in at length or merely implied, but, as writers, we need to know what that history is and how it is affecting the character throughout the story.
- Relationships–Who is a friend and who a foe? Why? Will these relationships stay the same or change over the course of the story? How does this impact the characters? This can only be seen by gaining some height and distance from our characters. No matter what voice we choose to tell the story in, our view needs to be omniscient. Our characters actually are, to a certain extent, chess pieces. The trick is knowing this without making it obvious to the reader.
- Time–When the story takes place is crucial. This seems self explanatory, but is actually trickier than you’d think. To have a character who is both true to his or her time–be it contemporary or historical–yet is also universal enough to be interesting to readers over time requires a great deal of attention to detail. Grounded in a particular time is desirable. Dated isn’t.
So, if you have done these four things well–which is a huge accomplishment–you have laid a good foundation for well-rounded characters. But, it’s not enough. I’ve read any number of books where all of the above were well done yet the characters in the story left me cold. And I’ve read other books where some or all of the above were sketchy, at best, yet the characters grabbed me and held me and didn’t let go until the last sentence.
This is because there is a fifth dimension that is absolutely key to creating a memorable character. I call it the “humanoid dimension” (since many of the most memorable characters I’ve run across were not, categorically, human; for example, Charlotte of Charlotte’s Web.)
The humanoid dimension has to do with the fact that, as a friend of mine puts it “there is never any great loss without some small gain.” And there is never any gain without loss. Memorable characters are aware of the gains in the losses and the losses in the gains, and manage to make peace with both. Wilbur mourns Charlotte’s death, then honors her memory by taking care of her eggs. Frodo saves Middle Earth and, realizing he no longer belongs there, departs with the elves. Mary Lennox lets go of her delicious secret–and the walls that have kept her safe–and chooses to share her garden with Dickon and Collin.
It is this fifth dimension–this balancing act of light and dark, yin and yang, advance and retreat, joy and sorrow–that makes the characters we write about come fully alive.
Make sure your characters have all five dimensions–but especially the fifth one–and they will be utterly unforgettable, I promise.
Good writing!
