Whoa Writing: Crafting Four-Dimensional Characters
Writing advice often stresses the importance of writing three-dimensional characters. These characters are “fully fleshed out,” which is a really creepy metaphor if you think about it for too long! They feel like “real people” because they have flaws and biases and personalities and backstories and all the other things that we know about real people in our lives. As an editor, I completely support creating these types of characters. And I suggest authors take things one step further and craft four-dimensional characters.
A four-dimensional character is one who exists fully formed when they are present in the story and also exists in time throughout the story. Because of how the character is crafted and the story is told, the reader gets to know the character’s own path in the story, understanding what the character is doing even when they are not involved in the narrative.
To understand this, let’s think about the movie Mean Girls. If you haven’t seen Mean Girls, the story centers around Cady Heron, a new girl in a big high school, who is recruited to be a member of the popular clique “the Plastics” and encouraged by her arty friends to infiltrate the group and get revenge on the clique’s leader, queen bee Regina George. Soon enough, Cady finds her sabotage works so well that she’s the new queen bee and has become the “mean girl” she never wanted to be.
In Mean Girls, we have two parallel narratives that need to conjoin in satisfying ways. First, we have Cady and her arty friends Janis and Damian. They meet to discuss the ridiculous things that the Plastics are doing and to strategize ways to undermine Regina. At the same time, we have Regina going about her regular existence and ruling the school, all while unwittingly putting foot cream on her face (thinking it’s a facial moisturizer), eating lots of carbs (believing it’s something that will help her lose weight), and being exposed for cheating on her boyfriend.
We need to understand Cady’s journey and the unexpected consequences of infiltrating the Plastics. Cady’s transformation is the crux of the film. But we also need to understand what Regina is experiencing, even though most of it happens off-screen. We don’t have a scene in which Regina says, “I am now using my new moisturizer! It’s great for faces! It is a bit thicker than I’m used to using, but my new friend Cady says it is perfect!” But we know what is going on because of narrative choices and interactions between Regina and Cady.
All of this adds up to Regina as a four-dimensional character. We can go back through the film (which takes place over a school year, starting on the first day of school and ending with prom) and know exactly what Regina is doing. She’s not sitting idly waiting until she is needed in the story to act. So when Regina enacts her revenge plan in the film’s third act, we understand exactly how she got there. (Side note: Regina’s plan doesn’t make a lot of sense. Mean Girls‘ third act is a mess! But that shouldn’t change our appreciation of Regina as a four-dimensional character.)
Contrast this with Voldemort in the Harry Potter series. Voldemort is a great villain with a compelling backstory, but he’s largely absent from the books. We know he’s trying to restore his corporeal form and then trying to bring back his Death Eaters crew to enact his final plan to take over the wizarding world. But what’s really going on? How is Voldemort spending his time before conveniently entering the books at the end of each school year (except for books 2 and 3, where he’s not around at all)? We may get to know Voldemort’s backstory, but we can’t place him in time. He’s three-dimensional, but not four-dimensional.
To avoid these issues, authors should plot out every character’s journey. Good guys are going on a journey, but bad guys are too. Even if their journey is happening off the page, the author should know what’s happening (and ideally work these moments into the story, a reward for re-readers). Bad guys shouldn’t just pop into a story to thwart the hero. We need to understand that their actions are arising at the time of their choosing, not just because the book demands a climactic scene.
To successfully plot this, outline, outline, outline! It’s my most common refrain. And then outline every character’s journey in the book, adjusting timelines and activities to create those climactic moments. Soon your characters will take form in space and time, and your work will be richer for it.
What are some four-dimensional characters you have appreciated in books? Have you encountered any challenges with this aspect of creating characters? Share your thoughts in the comments!