No.
It depends on the genre.
In an all-action thriller focused on pace and plot, everyone but the key players can be wafer-thin. They’re disposable.
The same is often true of detective fiction, even the quality sort. In John Dickson Carr’s famous ‘locked room’ mysteries, the only rounded character is the sleuth, Gideon Fell, and he’s larger than life. All the other players are pawns on a chessboard.
But what if we do want to bring our characters alive–make them colorful?
Here are eight tips that will help you to create memorable characters.
1. Use Character Labels
Do we remember characters who are introduced with a bald description?
‘He was a short man, stubby, with a protruding chin.‘
Probably not.
So why mention those details at all, unless they’re important to the story?
Because we can use them later as labels.
‘His face appeared at my elbow‘; ‘The stubby man entered‘; ‘He poked his long chin at me.’
And so on.
However, characters who are identified by labels alone have no personality. That’s just as well if they quickly vanish from the tale or meet a nasty end.
But what of the others?
A fast way to make characters – minor or not – more memorable is to dress them in a metaphor as soon as they appear.
‘My first impression of Fergus Lafferty was of a furze bush. Tall, prickly and bent by the wind.‘
Then keep playing on that metaphor whenever you refer to the character:
‘The furze bush glowered’; ‘He walked unsteadily, bent by the wind.’
The first visual snapshot usually defines the character, just as first appearances do in life. Of course, first appearances can be deceptive. (Jess, a squint-eyed shrew, really has a heart of gold etc.)
Language then expands the character snapshot.
How often have we read stories where everyone uses the same bland idioms? A great opportunity for characterization is lost.
But we don’t have to push language to the point of quirks and caricature to distinguish a character. A mere change of cadence can do it.
Here’s a puritan vicar, described as ‘lank, shabby, proudly erect:’
“Who was the thief I cannot tell, and it is not for me, a priest, to seek him out.”
His short block-like phrases replicate his rigid mind. They contrast with the breezy speech rhythms of the detective he’s addressing: Reggie Fortune, a whimsical man.
‘Reggie laughed. “My dear chap! Oh, my dear chap!”’ (H. C. Bailey, Mr Fortune Explains)
Character labels can be great fun, especially if we add descriptions of dress, mannerism, occupation, and the like.
Then we’ve created rounded characters, haven’t we?
Not yet. Only flat characters.
They may be memorable, even colorful, but they lack life.
So how do we raise our game?
Here are seven far more subtle tips. All depend on ‘shadow’ characterization, the ability to say important things obliquely.
Read more here.