Keeping Tabs on My Characters

One of the challenges of writing a crime novel is keeping track of all the characters — who they are, where they come from, what motivates them and how they fit into the story.

As I've explained in my previous Author Insights, my writing system is based around loose sheets of paper, pencil, coloured stickers and Treasury Tags. It may not be the most conventional system, but it works for me.

And when it comes to my characters, I use spidergrams.

I start with a circle for the character and then throw out questions in pencil around it.

What's their background?

What motivates them?

What is their personality like?

What do they want?

What might they be hiding?

And what else do I need to know about them?

I don't necessarily answer all these questions at once. The character develops as I write, just as the story does.

That's one of the reasons I prefer working in pencil. I can add to the spidergram, change something, rub something out or take the character in a completely different direction.

Keeping character details close

I also use my coloured stickers to flag each character.

That means that when I'm writing, I can quickly find the relevant character information without having to search through notebooks or folders.

Everything stays on my desk.

And it stays there throughout the writing and revision process.

For me, that's important because characters don't exist in isolation. As the plot develops, I may discover something new about a character that changes how I see them — or changes what they do.

So my character notes need to be flexible too.

The spidergram gives me a starting point, while the pencil and loose pages allow the character to develop as the novel develops.

It's another small part of the writing system I've evolved over the years.

It may look a little unconventional, but it works for me.

And when you're writing a crime novel with multiple characters, suspects, victims, motives and secrets, being able to keep tabs on who's who is rather useful!

Watch the Author Insight

In my latest Author Insight, I show you how I use my spidergrams and coloured stickers to keep track of my characters while writing and revising a crime novel.