Hey, it’s Emily! Last week in Gabrielle’s post “Building a Personality,” we discussed developing character traits and learned more about Honey Heimsol. Check out that blog post to catch up on Honey’s story, or visit our Instagram page for a quick recap! Today we’ll continue the journey of creating a character as we discuss character skills!
Why Character Skills are Important
(@ArtbySpiris)
Every person has things they’re good at and things they’re not so good at. Take me, for example. I’d say I both enjoy and excel at singing, yet I cannot dance to save my life. You have your own strengths and weaknesses across different activities, as does everyone else, so giving some to your characters will make them feel more real and rounded! Niche hobbies can also make your characters distinct from characters of other stories, so consider brainstorming some unconventional skills as well!
Furthermore, character skills can emphasize character traits. For example, in Gail Carson Levine’s Ella Enchanted, Ella has a knack and passion for languages. Throughout the story, she learns at least snippets of Gnomic, Elfian, Ogrese, Abdegi, and Ayorthian. Not only does this emphasize Ella’s intelligence, but it also demonstrates her curiosity for the wide world and her innate talent to connect with those of other cultures. On the other hand, Ella is not very gifted at needlework—a skill requiring patience, precision, and artistry—which shows Ella’s restlessness and brashness. The activities Ella does well or poorly reveals the person she is.
Character skills also provide the opportunity for engaging subplots, such as in the Harry Potter series. Harry is a natural at Quidditch from the very first book, and Rowling uses Harry’s interest and skill in this wizarding sport as an extra storyline. Readers become nearly as invested in the Quidditch subplot—watching Harry learn, improve at, and face challenges and victories in the sport—as they do in the main plot! This skill even becomes relevant to the series’ main plot as Harry uses his flying abilities to overcome various challenges.
Finally, character skills can color your novel’s world and how your characters interact with it. In Ella Enchanted, Ella’s linguistic skills give readers the opportunity to learn more about the various fantasy races and cultures in Kyrria, and they see how Ella navigates these cultures using the knowledge she’s cultivated. In Harry Potter, Harry’s kinship with the wizarding world deepens with his passion for its most celebrated sport, and through his eyes readers see how Quidditch is as big a deal to witches and wizards as football teams are to muggles in the real world.
In short: having your characters find things they are good and bad at makes them more realistic and rounded, emphasizes their personality, grants the opportunity for engaging subplots, and expands your novel’s worldbuilding. Take a moment later today to jot down some skills that fit your characters!
Levels of Skills
(MiraPau)
Now, characters don’t just have to have a clear cut list of things they are good at and things they are not. Skills are a spectrum! Here are four categories where I rank my own characters’ skills:
1) Things They’re Good At
This category is self-explanatory. Sometimes, a character will possess a skill where they already excel. They start the book good at this activity and don’t require much or any growth for this activity. Take Cinder in Marissa Meyer’s Cinder. At the beginning of the story, she is a skilled mechanic. She has a reputation throughout the city for being able to fix nearly any machine, and even Prince Kai pays her a visit at the beginning of the story to request her aid. Throughout the book, her mechanic skills do not falter nor grow. It’s not the point of the book. Yet, this skill characterizes Cinder as clever and resourceful and gives her moments to shine and solve problems in the story.
2) Things They’re Good At But Can Grow In
Like the above category, these are skills where characters already excel, but can improve upon as well. In Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne, Kyra has a natural talent for stealth and thievery. She can slip into the Palace nearly undetected and pick locks and pockets with hardly any effort. However, her challenges throughout the story become more difficult, pushing her to grow this skill. She receives aid from the Assassins Guild as well as a mysterious friend from the forest, and by the end of the book she is so adept at stealth she is practically invisible. Readers watch Kyra as she puts in the effort to grow her skill, which makes her accomplishments that much more rewarding.
3) Things They’re Bad At But Can Grow In
Now, we reach the category where characters have their failings. Often, characters start a story with a lack of skill. Maybe it is something they want to be good at but just don’t have a knack for, or maybe someone is pushing a responsibility onto them that they do not have the skills for. But they need to, so they learn. This can be very effective for a character, especially in getting readers to root for the underdog and celebrate their gradual victories. In Princess Academy by Shannon Hale, Miri begins the book failing in her studies. Tutor Olana constantly berates her for talking back and Miri becomes exceedingly frustrated. However, she refuses to fall behind and, after some dedication, she begins to excel at her lessons and even uses her newfound knowledge of Commerce and Diplomacy to aid her village and make amends with Tutor Olana. Readers can track Miri’s growth throughout the story and cheer on her resourceful use of new skills.
4) Things They’re Bad At (And Stay Bad At)
Finally, we reach our last category—another that is rather self-explanatory. While readers love seeing characters conquer their weaknesses, realistically not every person or character can do so. Sometimes, however, this can increase a character’s likeability and realism, causing readers to sympathize with and appreciate them for the things they can do. Like in Elizabeth Lim’s Spin the Dawn where Maia, though an excellent tailor, admits she’s not as skilled when it comes to embroidery. It is a skill she never gets the hang of since she prefers painting fabrics instead, and readers can both marvel at Maia’s skill but appreciate that she’s not perfect and has shortcomings that stay shortcomings.
Blending the Levels
It’s important for your characters to have a variety of levels when it comes to their various skills. Readers don’t want Mary Sues who are good at everything, but nor do they want characters who never grow and never succeed. Try to find a balance for your characters. Furthermore, try not to overburden your character with too many skills. Readers will find it difficult to focus on who your character is, and the surplus of skills will not only be overwhelming but also wash out what makes your character distinct and memorable. A good place to start is finding just one skill your character excels at (whether it’s improvable or not) and one skill they can just never seem to master (whether they want to or not).
Now let’s see how Honey fares.
Honey’s Feats and Failings
In “All About Naming,” we established that Honey’s family weaves tapestries for a living. Honey herself grew up hunched over a loom, lovingly selecting colorful thread, studying and mimicking her mother and father’s careful handiwork. Her earliest attempt—the clumsy dinner-plate sized tapestry of her little brother, which looks more like a strangely shaped gourd—hangs on the wall of her father’s study. Honey hopes to one day weave a tapestry worthy enough to hang in the palace of some faraway ruler, where silk-dressed ambassadors from every country can gaze upon it and read a story from its threads.
However, while Honey is already a skilled weaver, she unfortunately does not have her friend Flint’s prowess for animal handling. While he seems to have no trouble riding and guiding any of the village’s livestock, Honey can’t even get her brother’s dog to like her. Flint has tried time and time again to show her how to whistle a bird call, but laughs every time she scares them all away leaving the forest silent. “You’ll find an animal that’s featherheaded enough to befriend you one day,” he always teases. Honey figures she’ll leave the animals to Flint. She’ll stay indoors and work on her tapestries anyday.
Building Your Characters Further
Hopefully our example of Honey and from other, published works has given you an idea of how important character skills are! Character skills aren’t just a way to give your character an interesting gimmick, but also to characterize them further, support their personality, make them relatable and likable, and even expand your world and plot.
If you want to brainstorm characters—or anything else story related—feel free to reach out to us here at Honeycomb! We now offer consultation calls where we’ll chat with you on an online call and ask questions to help you get back on track! Check out our Instagram updates or our website for more info, or contact us on our Contact page. We can’t wait to hear from you!
Till then, bee brilliant!
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