Character consistency involves two things: 1) point of view and 2) character traits. Whether you are writing fiction or nonfiction, consistency keeps your reader from feeling confused. It also, especially in nonfiction writing, supports your professional qualifications as someone to whom the reader should listen.
Review for Consistent Point of View.
I’ve written a series of articles dedicated to dedicated to Point of View (POV), also known as viewpoint. Review these if you’re uncertain as to which POV you should use. Once you’ve chosen a POV, you need to read through your work to ensure you’ve remained consistent.
I’ve had clients who are telling the story from first person perspective, who used the third person form in their ‘he/she said’ dialogue identifier. They had forgotten who ‘I’ was and had used the character’s name instead of, “I said.â€
Another inconsistency can slip in. You forget whose character’s mind you’re in as the author. You may be writing in third person subjective viewpoint, which limits you to revealing only the thoughts and feelings of one character. From this POV, the internal thoughts of other characters are off-limits.
If you have chosen to switch POVs between characters, you need to review your work for bridges that transfer the perspective from one character to another. See more on this in Third Person Subjective Viewpoint.
Review for Character Consistency
A book where every character seems like a clone of the others is not going to be effective. Each character must be distinctive. Your goal is to have each character so unique, that readers know who the character is without using ‘he/she said’ identifiers.
If you haven’t already done this, list every character in your book. Under the character name, describe the character. For example:
Niva:
- Never gets the joke
- Anything she says is always spoken in a serious tone
- Only smiles around closest friends
- Can’t resist putting picture frames straight
- Organizes things compulsively
- Dresses elegantly
Danny:
- Always the life of the party
- Everything he says sounds like he is telling a joke
- Uses words like ain’t purposely
- Wants to quit smoking
- Attracts children
- Dresses in fancy cowboy gear
Jerry:
- Never speaks unless spoken to
- He speaks with understated humor so listeners aren’t sure if he’s joking or not
- Stays on the fringes of any group
- Rubs nonexistent hair on head when thinking
- Never shows teeth when smiling
- Looks like he buys his clothes in a thrift shop
Notice that while some characters do have some overlapping qualities, the composite package is different for each character. This replicates real life and brings your characters to life. Feel free to go in depth with each character, especially those that play major roles in the story.
Once you’ve established what characters act like and how they look, go through your manuscript to ensure you have remained consistent. Work one character at a time, using Word’s search feature to find each name. Compare that character’s words, actions and descriptions to the word sketch you’ve drawn up for that character. This will help you catch those times when you have lost track of which traits matched a specific character.
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The following links take you to articles on the other tips for polishing your writing. Note: It the link isn’t active, I haven’t written the post yet.
Character Point of View (POV) Consistency & Switches.
Clean Up or Clean Out Dialog Tags.
Tighten Descriptions.
Choose Chapter Endings Strategically.
Cut the Fluff.
Identify and Replace Overused Words.
Clean up First Person and Third Person Pronouns.
Check Verb Tense Consistency.
Edit by the line.
