by Mayv 'SpearBourne' Amaia

Created on: March 20, 2010   Last Updated: June 16, 2010

When we, as writers, create fictional characters, we not only imbue them with certain traits, we give them life. In that sense, we give birth to the characters we create.

When I work on a fictional story, and I have begun developing a character, I can envision what she would wear, the way she walks and the way she does things. And I can also tell what she absolutely will not do.

This is not because I am the artist creating her, but because I have given birth to her being, fictional and only in writing though it may be.

Take, for example, a woman I envisioned for a series of fan fiction that I write based on the medical drama, House. She started out somewhat abstract in personality, similar to a baby, without set biographical details, features, or speech patterns.

As a little time went on, and I developed her background, her appearance, and her moods, I got to know her.

You may be asking how I could "get to know" her when she springs from my own mind and imagination.

All I can say is that she is who she is now. I couldn't make a major change to her now without drastically altering her past and changing the story as I have written it thus far.

But I can't do that either.

I gave birth to her from my thoughts and psyche. She is not a static character. I can see the girl she was, the wife and mother she is, and the developments that will shape the woman she will become.

Once I named her and worked out the major details of her life, she told me the minor details. There have been times that I have written several paragraphs only to realise that did not fit with who she really was. It was then that I had to edit and rewrite as was fitting for her.

This is the case with all the characters I have created, whether they be entirely original stories I write, or the fan fiction whose basis I borrow from someone else, with due credit being given, of course.

How often have you read a book series or watched a television series and thought that something someone did was out of character?

These constructed people take on a life of their own, and there are certain actions that we know they would not take. Even if we are merely in the audience and not the creator, we often also know how they would react when placed in certain situations.

Creating a fictional character is very much like giving birth to a living child. Writers toil painfully to make them real, or, at least, realistic, and give them life. We watch them grow from a simple idea to fully fledged personalities that evolve over time.

After the struggle to bring them into being, we become quite protective of what we create and even grow to love them as our own children and not merely a creation.

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