I have already written a bit about characterisation. About the detrimental effects of over-description. And about how writers lying online for attention fail to create convincing fictional characters because their dialogues are shit. Today I want to take a more practical approach and tell you about my own process of characterisation, not in the hope that you do what I say but that you actively think about how your own characters come to life.
It’s tempting to think of characters as either inspired in real people or totally made up. The truth is that a character is always a mix of both. To me, the art of writing fiction entails the fictionalisation of realities. Even if we’re talking about a fantastical creature that exists in an alien world, this creature will have to refer back to reality to some extent. When I write my characters, I need to visualise them, give them a personality, a way of being in the world, and I need to believe (in) them myself. It can and must be a fabulation but I always seek for inspiration in the world around me.