Making Characters Lifelike

In William Faulkner’s novel The Sound and the Fury, the fictional character Quentin Compson wanders around Harvard College obsessed with time, the decaying South and his formerly aristocratic family before drowning himself in the Charles River. A plaque on the Anderson Bridge over the Charles commemorates his suicide:

QUENTIN COMPSON III

Drowned in the fading of honeysuckle.

1891 – 1910

How do some characters in literature effectively achieve the stature of actual people? Sherlock Holmes comes readily to mind, as does Anna Karenina. Indeed, the character who speaks the words “sound and fury” – Macbeth -- is one of those larger-than-life literary icons.

Universality has something to do with lifelike status, I think. We can all relate to what these characters are or do. But exceptionality also plays a role. Holmes is especially observant, Karenina particularly tragic and Macbeth exceptionally evil. Compson is unusually introspective, sensitive and neurotic.

A third factor, I believe, is the skill of the author in crafting a well-rounded portrait of the person rather than a stock character or cartoon. Shylock is clearly the villain of The Merchant of Venice, but Shakespeare moves us by also making him unjustly injured, proud and sympathetic.

I hope that my characters Mike Dimon and Britney Pettifor will be lifelike.