Why Character Sketches Don’t Work
Writing Advice Remix with PENITENCE author Kristin Koval
Welcome to the first installment of Writing Advice Remix, a new interview series where writers revise bad writing advice to make it actually useful. This series introduces you to new books and new, practical approaches to craft.
I’m so excited to kick things off with Kristin Koval, the author of Penitence1, a novel about a family tragedy and what it means to forgive. Since its release in January, Penitence has been a Barnes & Noble Discover Pick, a Book of the Month Pick, a People Magazine Book of the Week, and more. I first met Kristin in 2021 at the Sewanee Writers Conference. During our workshop, she shared a powerful short story about hikers on Mount Everest that I still think about now four years later.
Kristin joins us today to talk about character sketches. If you’ve taken a formal creative writing class or explored resources online, you’ve probably stumbled across character development exercises that are intended to help writers create dynamic characters. Today, Kristin is breaking down why these character sketches don’t always work and what we should try out instead.
Before we jump in, you know what to do: take anything that’s useful to you and your writing life and leave what’s not behind.
1. What’s the worst piece of writing advice you’ve ever heard? What problem is it supposed to solve? And why is this advice actually unproductive?
Most writing guides and writing classes (maybe all!) advise doing character sketches at the beginning of the writing process. This writing advice is meant to ensure we know our characters well enough to fully develop them on the page, but it’s unproductive for me because it’s impossible to know who a person is in a vacuum. We’re defined by our relationships—people exist because of other people (that’s how we’re born), and unless they’re a hermit living in a cave, they live surrounded by other people (family, friends, colleagues, people they stand next to in line at the grocery store or run with in a running club or go to school with, etc.). Character sketches might be appropriate at a later stage in the writing process, but at the beginning of a project, it’s not realistic to expect to know who a character is and how they exist in their world without understanding the people that shape that world.
That said, the worst piece of writing advice I’ve ever heard is probably not the same as the worst you’ve ever heard because every writer writes differently. I think one of the most important skills we can develop as writers is the ability to be open to all advice, but to have the confidence to only use what works for us and for the piece we’re working on.
2. Now that you’ve written, revised, and published your book, how would you reframe that advice into something that’s actually helpful for writers?
One way to give your characters definition while avoiding character sketches written in a vacuum is to draw pictures before you start writing. Not actual pictures of the people (if you’re like me, you’ll end up with useless stick figures!), but rather diagrams that show the relationships between the characters. Figuring out how your characters relate to each other—and what governs those relationships—will help you eventually sketch out who the characters are as people in the real world (well, in their real world!) rather than as if they were hermits living in a cave. Knowing they’re a mother to one character, the wife of another, and the past lover of another helps define their identity and will lead to a clearer idea of their most important characteristics.
An added bonus of this diagram is that it helps inform your plot by developing the character’s past, present, and future. As your story morphs into its full-blown self, the same will happen with your characters. Since you haven’t committed the character to being a certain person in your sketch (and in your mind) before you start writing, you’ll likely feel more flexible and willing to take that character in a different direction.
3. What are three concrete steps a writer can take to incorporate this revised advice into their writing process?
First, draw the character diagram that will govern your novel. Is there a central protagonist or problem all the other characters revolve around? This person or problem should be the center of your diagram. Who are the other important characters? They should radiate out from the center circle—use arrows! Are these other characters friends or lovers or rivals? Relatives? Did they go to third grade together? Do they have relationships with each other independent of the protagonist or central problem? Connect these other characters with their own arrows. How do these relationships shape each character’s choices and story arcs? If it’s messy, that’s good. That’s a sign the relationships aren’t too simplistic. Once you know who everyone is and how they might be connected, it becomes easier to figure out who they are as people and focus on technical details (age, background, appearance) and formative details (what their motivations and flaws might be).
Second, consider what this diagram can tell you about both your main plot (what you might refer to as the macro tension) and the minor plot points (your micro tensions) you’ll use to keep your reader engaged. This will help ensure you have a more fully developed plot with fewer plot holes. It’ll also makes sure your plot isn’t so singularly focused that it bores the reader.
Third, take this diagram and hang it next to your desk. Keep it in mind as you write. Maybe you thought Character A would be important, but you figure out that she’s pointless for your storyline. Take her out. Add someone else. Re-draw your diagram and hang it back up. It can be a touchstone that centers you as you write. Return to it again and again.
Hint: if you’re at the very beginning of the writing process and struggling to figure out a character structure that works for the story you want to tell, look at some concrete examples. Consider five books you’ve read and enjoyed recently (it helps if they’re in the genre you’re writing, but it’s not necessary). Prepare a basic diagram of how the main characters connect to each other. By examining those diagrams and figuring out what works or doesn’t work in each one, can you see how you might create a structure that might work for your own novel?
4. Let’s talk about Penitence. How did you integrate this advice into your own writing process?
My novel, Penitence, opens on the immediate aftermath of thirteen-year-old Nora having shot and killed her fourteen-year-old brother, Nico. Her shattered parents (Angie and David), struggling with blame, guilt and anger, turn to small-town lawyer Martine Dumont for help defending Nora, but Martine isn’t just legal counsel—she’s also the mother of Angie’s first love, Julian, a now-successful New York City criminal defense attorney. As Julian and Angie confront their shared past and long-buried guilt from a tragic accident years ago, they must navigate their own culpability and the unresolved feelings between them.
My goal in Penitence was not to focus on the crime itself but rather on the theme of forgiveness—whether and how these characters can ever forgive one another. With that in mind, I focused on which people I would need as major characters in order to effectively focus on that theme of forgiveness. Then I drew a diagram exploring how each of those characters were connected. Nico, the dead son, was at the center of my diagram. Radiating out from Nico were four main characters: Nora, Angie, and David (the three living members of the family), and Martine (the lawyer). I planned to write the novel from those four points of view.
After writing several chapters, I realized it would be more interesting to include Julian instead of David as one of the four major points of view. I re-drew my diagram with David as a more minor character and pulled Julian into the spokes as one of the major characters. The next steps were to draw arrows out to the minor characters and then draw arrows showing the relationships and interconnections of all of the characters. After I fully understood all the relationships, I jotted down very brief notes defining each of their characteristics (still working with my one page diagram). With that diagram and a timeline taped to the wall next to my desk, I began writing.
5. Looking beyond this specific piece of advice, what's the most important lesson you've learned about craft?
Read, read, read. Read often and read widely. I’ve learned as much from reading novels (and short stories and poems and essays!) as I have from creative writing classes. I read with a pen in hand, and I underline sections where I admire unique phrasing, a beautiful metaphor, or where I can learn something. If a writer manages to slow down the narrative and describe grief in evocative language while still propelling the story forward, I’ll note that in the margin and come back to study how she did it. Or perhaps the writer of a long saga manages to pass through a decade in just a paragraph or two without lingering on useless exposition. Again, I’ll note her techniques for future reference. For me, theoretical advice is all well and good, but seeing how a writer does something on the page is better.
Kristin Koval is a former lawyer who always wanted to be a writer but initially wandered down other paths. Her debut novel, Penitence, is a Barnes & Noble Discover Pick, a Book of the Month Pick, an Indie Next Pick, an Apple Books Staff Pick, an Apple Audiobooks Must Listen, a People Magazine Book of the Week, and a Goodreads Most Anticipated Pick and Hottest Debut selection. Kristin completed a twelve-month novel generator class at Catapult Publishing and is an alumna of Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Aspen Summer Words, and the Lighthouse Writers Workshop LitFest. She attended Phillips Exeter Academy, Georgetown University and Columbia Law School. She lives in Boulder, Colorado and Park City, Utah with her husband, two sons, and two Great Danes.
Where to Find Kristin Koval:
What are your thoughts about character sketches? How do you develop characters for your own stories? Let’s talk all things character development in the comments.
Until next time,
Kat
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I like the relationship diagram strategy. I did take a playwriting workshop that had us draw the characters- as in stick figures, or better if you can draw. We were asked to brainstorm physical things about the character, literally from head to toe. Perhaps in a vacuum, but some of it still informed the characters I created.
Nice piece. I do create brief character sketches before I write but they include more superficial and general things such as appearance, relationships to other characters, a little background. I agree the deeper stuff unfolds as you write and that you're always revising. I love the idea of creating a fluid diagram to illustrate relationships and plan to try that in the future.