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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #16: Make Your Characters Multifaceted

#16: Make Your Characters Multifaceted

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Jane Austen Writing Lessons. #16: Make Your Characters Multifaceted

The only time when Mr. Darcy is a flat character is when he is a life-sized cardboard cutout in the film Austenland.

Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet, and all of Jane Austen’s other main characters are three-dimensional—they feel as if they come to life off of the page.

This is one of those moments that makes me love the film Austenland: in rage, a boyfriend walks out, punching the cardboard Mr. Darcy, which Jane Hayes then fixes. And kisses.

A flat character is simple, uncomplicated, does not change or develop, and is often uninteresting.

A round character, also known as a three-dimensional character, feels like a fully developed real person, with nuance and complexity, and the ability to experience real change and development over the course of a story.

A round or three-dimensional character is what I like to call multifaceted: she has multiple sides, aspects, or features, that fit together to create a character. Yet this is not just a collection of multiple elements squished together: like the facets or sides of a gemstone, these elements have been carefully crafted, cut, and polished.

Gemstones with many facets

Let’s look at some of the basic features and characteristics of our two main characters from Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy:

Elizabeth Bennet:

  • Plays the pianoforte
  • Likes reading
  • Likes walking
  • Good at dancing
  • Clever
  • Witty
  • Judgmental
  • Idealist
  • Has many friends

Mr. Darcy:

  • Rich
  • Good at letter-writing
  • Caring brother
  • Loyal friend
  • Likes reading
  • Expects much of others
  • Well-spoken
  • Proud
  • Unforgiving

These attributes, interests, skills, and personality traits are inherently interesting in combination, but in themselves they are not what make Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy complex, multifaceted characters.

You could assign a character dozens of attributes and personality traits, and spends months writing countless pages of the character’s backstory and history, and yet still not create a character that feels alive.

Then how do you create a multifaceted character?

In the craft book Story: Style, Structure, Substance, and the Principles of Screenwriting, screenwriter Robert McKee makes the argument that the core component in a round or three-dimensional character is “inner contradiction.”

Story by Robert McKee

As McKee writes, “Dimension means contradiction.” And dimensions are what fascinate an audience, riveting us to characters as we attempt to understand their complexities.

Real people are filled with contradictions, and at its heart, a powerful story is about a character wrestling with their inner contradictions and the world.

Here are five of the main types of contradictions that can create a multifaceted character:

  • Contradictions between a character’s wants and needs

  • Contradictions between the character’s inner self and the world in which they live

  • Contradictions between how the character interacts with some characters versus with other characters

  • Contradictions between the simultaneously-held ideals of a character

  • Contradictions between a character’s ideals and how they live

I’ve written a number of flash fiction stories—all less than 1000 words—where the main characters feel multi-dimensional. In one of these stories, you really only learn two things about the character: 1. She absolutely loves music and listening to vocal performances; 2. She applied multiple times to vocal performance degrees in college and was rejected each time, and has since given up on singing. Her love of music but her rejection of her own musical self as inadequate creates a contradiction within herself, which sets the stage for the story.

What contradictions has Jane Austen created in Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy?

A Few of Elizabeth Bennet’s Contradictions:

  • Critical of Mr. Darcy’s pride but holds fast to her own.
  • Wants to avoid Mr. Darcy, yet finds herself drawn to him.
  • Only wants to marry if it is for love, yet she is pressured by her society and mother to accept any eligible match.
  • Instantly trusts Mr. Wickham and accepts his story, yet distrusts and judges whatever Mr. Darcy says.
  • Wittily expresses views that are not always her own.

A Few of Mr. Darcy’s Contradictions:

  • Prideful yet kindhearted and generous.
  • Despises spending time with people he does not know, yet willingly goes to events with Mr. Bingley because he values their friendship.
  • Feels the need to save Mr. Bingley from a connection to the Bennet family, but unwilling to do the same for himself.
  • Expects Elizabeth to see and accept his virtues, yet says hurtful things to her.

Sometimes I consciously plan a character’s contradictions, yet often, these contradictions develop as I write. Either way, as I enter the revision process, I refine these facets and how they fit together: this is the cutting and polishing of a gemstone.

A few additional notes on characters:

  • The core characters should be the most multifaceted characters in a story. Any and all characters can have contradictions, yet if those of a minor character more compelling than those of the main characters, readers can lose interest in the main characters.
  • Supporting characters can help reveal the different facets of a main character. Robert McKee writes, “In essence, the protagonist creates the rest of the cast. All other characters are in a story first and foremost because of the relationship they strike to the protagonist and the way each helps to delineate the dimensions of the protagonist’s complex nature.”

Multifaceted characters are complex and three-dimensional. After all, it is our complexities that make us human, and it is unravelling and dealing with these complexities that makes a story.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1: Choose one of the following characteristics, attributes, or skills that could belong to a character:

  • Charitable
  • Athletic
  • Loves to read
  • Hates traveling
  • Good at cooking
  • Prone to procrastination

Create a contradiction that could relate to this characteristic or attribute. It could be aspects of this characteristic, how a character applies it in some situations but not other, how it combines or conflicts with another characteristic, or a contradiction between this characteristic and society.

Exercise 2: Choose one of your favorite characters from literature. What are some of their contradictions? If you’d like, share in the comments below.

Exercise 3:

Option 1: Brainstorm a new character that you might use in a story. First, write a brief physical description, assign them several personality traits, give them interests, decide where they live/their occupation, etc., and choose a few key moments from their history/past. Now decide on one or two key contradictions that can make them come alive.

Option 2: For a story that you’ve already written, figure out what the key contradictions are for each of your main characters.

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#5: Make Things Hard for Your Character

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In the film Austenland, the main character, Jane, goes shooting with the other guests at an Austen-themed resort. On the way back, her horse refuses to budge, so the others go on without her. She waits alone, and then begins walking back by herself. To make things worse, it begins to rain. Actually, pour.

Mr. Nobley comes to rescue Jane, but her troubles are not over: her skirt’s in the way (he helpfully rips it for her); when they get back, she has trouble getting off the horse and falls awkwardly over Mr. Nobley; finally, Lady Amelia Heartwright ignores Jane and then, once she notices her, she is appalled by her appearance.

The film is delightful and hilarious, in part because there is no end to Jane’s troubles. It’s not just horse trouble, or the rain, or the skirt—it’s obstacle building on obstacle, with small triumphs interspersed (she does, after all, manage to get off the horse).

I used to be afraid to hurt my characters, which greatly limited my stories. Challenge creates the potential for growth.

A great example of a character experiencing hard things is Anne Elliot in Persuasion. She is taking a long walk with a number of family members and friends, including her ex-fiancé Captain Wentworth (who still isn’t over the fact that she broke up with him a decade before), and his current love interest, Louisa Musgrove.

At one point, Anne decides to rest on the hill. Her location accidentally places her in a spot where she is forced to eavesdrop on Captain Wentworth and Louisa’s budding romance. This certainly qualifies as making things hard for your main character.

As we analyze this scene, we can see Austen implementing three different techniques that are used to make things difficult for characters:

  1. Provide external obstacles and challenges that require action and must be overcome
  2. Give the character successes or triumphs which lead to complications or other difficulties
  3. Use the character’s internal flaws or challenges to make it harder for the character to succeed

External Obstacles and Challenges

External obstacles can be created by other characters, nature, animals, society, technology—in other words, by anything outside of the character’s self.

Anne Elliot still loves Captain Wentworth, so in this scene the external challenge is caused by the romance between Captain Wentworth and Louisa, and by the fact that Anne is forced to witness it. At one point, Wentworth praises Louisa in a way that Anne knows is a direct critique of Anne’s own character and past choices:

“My first wish for all, whom I am interested in, is that they should be firm. If Louisa Musgrove would be beautiful and happy in her November of life, she will cherish all her present powers of mind.”

Anne does not take immediate action against this obstacle, but it is an obstacle that she must overcome over the course of the novel.

Successes or Triumphs

Seemingly good things—successes and triumphs—can also make things harder for the main character. This is counterintuitive because we expect good things to yield good results, yet good things can have a myriad of challenging results, including shallow victories, greater expectations/responsibilities, complicated relationships, and distractions from the real goal.

Not long after Anne eavesdrops on Wentworth and Louisa, the entire group reconvenes and begins the arduous journey home. Captain Wentworth goes out of his way to help Anne by securing her the only spot in a carriage for the ride home, and physically lifting her into the carriage, which could be considered a success or triumph for Anne. Yet this makes things more difficult for her:

This little circumstance seemed the completion of all that had gone before. She understood him. He could not forgive her, — but he could not be unfeeling. Though condemning her for the past, and considering it with high and unjust resentment, though perfectly careless of her, and though becoming attached to another, still he could not see her suffer, without the desire of giving her relief….[It] was a proof of his own warm and amiable heart, which she could not contemplate without emotions so compounded of pleasure and pain, that she knew not which prevailed.

The novel Persuasion provides many examples of how successes and triumphs can lead to further complications or other difficulties for the main character.

Internal Flaws and Challenges

Internal flaws and challenges also make it harder for characters to succeed at their goals.

During the first half of the novel, Anne’s internal flaws dominate: she still loves Captain Wentworth, but she is not assertive, and she does not make any clear attempts to show her affection to him.

Throughout this scene, Anne places herself and her desires beneath those of others, and she goes out of the way to avoid moments of interaction with Captain Wentworth. Despite her love, she intentionally avoids opportunities which could lead to them rekindling their friendship and romance:

Anne’s object was, not to be in the way of any body, and where the narrow paths across the fields made many separations necessary, to keep with her brother and sister.

Internal flaws and challenges are often harder for characters to overcome than any external obstacles.

In Conclusion

Making things hard for your character creates tension and conflict. It also makes the ultimate triumph of the character more compelling, because of all that they have had to overcome in the process.

In crafting hard things, it is important to avoid making the hard things too big or irrelevant. This scene with Anne Elliot and Captain Wentworth doesn’t need an earthquake or an angry villain to make things harder for Anne, because in this scene, these little challenges are emotionally relevant. Austen doesn’t shy away from big events and challenges—for example, Louisa’s terrible fall later in the book—but building to these larger events with other smaller challenges makes them more emotionally resonant.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise #1: Consider what external challenges a character might face when purchasing vegetables. Make a list of at least two large challenges, two medium challenges, and two small challenges they could face. Now choose a few of these challenges and write a paragraph about this character purchasing vegetables. If you would like, share this paragraph in the comments.

Exercise #2: Make a list of some of your own characteristics that might be considered flaws (being prone to anger, perfectionism, etc.). Write a paragraph about a time in your life when one of these characteristics made doing something more difficult for you.

Exercise #3: Take a scene that you have written. Underline or circle all the things that are hard for your character, and label each of the things as an external obstacle/challenge, a success/triumph which leads to other difficulties, or an internal flaw/challenge. Now read through the scene again and consider whether or not you need to add more challenges, big or small.

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#3: Use an Inciting Incident to Set the Plot in Motion

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One of my all-time favorite films is Austenland. It’s a comedy about a woman named Jane who spends her savings to stay at an all-inclusive, Jane Austen-themed resort. At one point in the film, she and another character, Mr. Nobley, find themselves running.

Mr. Nobley asks, “Why are we running?”

Jane replies, “Because a man and a woman should never be alone unless they are in motion.”

Just like characters in the Regency period (or anyone in an immersive Jane Austen experience), stories themselves should not be at rest.

Stories are generally about motion, they are about change and development, both in terms of character and plot. Yet as humans, we are stationary beings. We do what we have been doing: we stay still, or, if we have a path, we stick to that path unless something changes.

An inciting incident is an event that carries weight for the main character and creates the opportunity for change, both internally and externally. An inciting incident often introduces forces outside of the main character’s control, and is a disruption that requires the main character to adapt and grow and interact with others in new ways. An inciting incident often relates, in some way, to the main themes or conflicts of the novel.

1884 cover of Sense and Sensibility, from the British Library

In Sense and Sensibility, Mr. Dashwood’s death changes everything for Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters, Elinor, Marianne, and Margaret. Yet for a time, they stay in stasis, continuing to live on the estate that has been their home. Yet it is no longer really their home: Mrs. Dashwood’s stepson, Mr. John Dashwood, and his wife, Fanny Dashwood, are the new owners. Fanny in particular makes the elder Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters unwelcome, especially once she notices that her brother, Edward Ferrars, is interested in Elinor. She rudely confronts Mrs. Dashwood on the subject, and Mrs. Dashwood decides that they will withdraw from the estate:

To quit the neighborhood of Norland was no longer an evil; it was an object of desire; it was a blessing, in comparison of the misery of continuing her daughter-in-law’s guest: and to remove for ever from that beloved place would be less painful than to inhabit or visit it while such a woman was its mistress.

As they leave, Marianne wails a lament:

“Dear, dear Norland! when shall I cease to regret you!—when learn to feel a home elsewhere!—Oh! happy house, could you know what I suffer in now viewing you from this spot, from whence perhaps I may view you no more!….you will remain the same; unconscious of the pleasure or the regret you occasion, and insensible of any change in those who walk under your shade!—But who will remain to enjoy you?”

This forced eviction takes the Dashwoods on a physical journey—to a new county, where they live in a cottage and meet a whole set of new people. In addition to a physical journey, it’s also a journey to try to find home and to see if they can survive losing almost everything that they find dear. This journey starts both Marianne and Elinor on internal journeys; Marianne is full of sensibility and unrestrained emotion, but must learn how to let more than her emotions govern her; Elinor has a bit too much sense, and keeps too much inside her, not allowing herself to want and hope for the things she really desires.

While some inciting incidents lead to physical journeys, like in Sense and Sensibility, a physical journey is not required. For instance, in Emma the inciting incident is the marriage of Emma’s governess. Emma’s internal and external journeys are captivating, but they do not require her to leave her home (the furthest she goes is Box Hill, which is only seven miles away).

Change is at the heart of interesting plots, and the possibility for change is why we root for characters. A good inciting incident sets the plot in motion and paves the way for the rest of the story.

Writing Exercises - Jane Austen Writing Lessons

Exercise 1: Choose one of your favorite books or movies. What is the inciting incident? How does this event change things for the main character and start them on a journey? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Exercise 2: In the following paragraph, a character is pursuing something she wants: the opportunity to be the pianist for the high school musical. Add an inciting incident, something that will disrupt and change things for Luciana. For the purposes of this exercise, keep it short—anywhere from a sentence to a full paragraph. Once you’ve written the inciting incident, consider how it would change the character’s trajectory and what sort of story might result from it.

Luciana ran her fingers up and down the keys of an imaginary piano. She had been preparing for this audition for months, and now the time had finally come. She closed the book and looked at her hands. They were warm, they were flexible, and they were ready. She would be chosen as the accompanist for the high school musical this year, surely. She waited impatiently for her turn on the grand piano, but she need not have worried. Luciana played the music flawlessly, and the music director gave her an assuring smile as she left the room.

Exercise 3: Take a new story idea, one that you haven’t yet developed. Spend a few minutes brainstorming an inciting incident, or, if you prefer discovery writing, write an opening scene and see what inciting incident will put your character in motion or change her direction.

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