Know your characters

The men you see in the photo above are then Lt. Col. (later Gen.) James H. Doolittle and the men who made up his crew on the April 18, 1942, raid against Japan that bears his name. Jimmy and his crew just happen to be characters in a historical novel sitting high and dry in my computer. If it were an experimental aircraft, it would be a "hangar queen" (i.e. a plane that just sits gathering dust in a hangar); a key reason for this is because I don't know my characters that well. This is after I have read everything I can get my hands on about the famous mission!  

Yes, Jimmy Doolittle left behind a wonderful memoir, but when I shared some of my manuscript with the memoir's co-author several years ago, I was bluntly informed I was off the mark as to who Jimmy was. Things quickly went back to square one big time; I admire Jimmy Doolittle like crazy and want to "get it right" as to who he was! No scenery-chomping caricature like that yutz Alec Baldwin did in Pathetic Harbor for me, man.  

How this writer envies Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks! When they produced "Band of Brothers," they had a good idea who the cast of characters in the show were like as people, especially since most were still alive at the time. No blundering about half-blind for them.   

The character development woes I face here bring up an important point: Unless you are going for one-dimensional characters in a novel that puts style over substance, knowing who who they are as people is vital. Otherwise, the novel will not have characters developed to the point they are different people changed by events that take place in the plot.

One answer is developing a character questionnaire. If you are creating characters from scratch, the answers are in your court. If they are historical ones like mine, you could send it to an expert or two on them for their feedback.   Come to think of it, had I done that with Jimmy Doolittle's co-author, I would be well on my way with my "Band of Brothers" meets Thirty Seconds over Tokyo manuscript.

Image courtesy Maritime Quest.