Make Your Characters Memorable with Character Tokens, a Post by R. Clint Peters

When I first started reading the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald, I was drawn to the book, first because of the titles, which all contained a color, and second, because of the character tokens Mr. MacDonald had given his hero.

What are character tokens?  How do they make a character memorable?

Character tokens create the mosaic of the characters.  Character tokens make the character memorable because the reader is given a glimpse into the character.  They help to fill in the biography of the character, create photographs that become the character, and paint the tapestry of the character with two or three words.

To look at a few character tokens, let’s examine Travis McGee.

Anyone who has read the series knows Travis lives on a houseboat dubbed The Busted Flush in honor of the poker hand that gave him the boat.  You might not remember the slip or the marina, but you know it is in Florida.

He has an economist friend named Meyer who lives on a houseboat near The Busted Flush.  Meyer occasionally assists Travis in his salvage operations.

Finally, the readers know Travis is a salvage consultant.  He retrieves valuables for half of the value, if retrievable.  Those valuables could be a stamp collection, the title to a mansion, or even a reputation.

So, what are the tokens?

The Busted Flush Florida Meyer Salvage Consultant

If Travis says he is going back to the flush, the reader knows exactly where he is going.  The tokens replace a paragraph or two and give the reader an instant picture when they are mentioned.

What makes a good character token?

Anything that can focus the reader on the character will make a good token.  Perhaps the character has long hair.  Perhaps the character is a former SEAL, as is the case of Oliver Pendergast II.  Perhaps, as in the case of Ryce Dalton in The Alberta Connection, the character misses hotcakes and his girlfriend.  I don’t suppose I will expose anything if I let you know that Ryce dreams of his girlfriend wrapped in hotcakes.

A character token helps the reader keep the characters separated if you have a large number of named characters.  And, few readers can remember a characters description from one chapter to the next.  Use the token to help the reader build his or her own description of the character.

As characters are developed, and tokens assigned to each character, be careful to introduce dynamic character tokens, tokens that leap off the page and into the readers lap.  The more dynamic the token, the more memorable the character will be.  Create tokens to indicate to the reader that the character is important.

Because many of my characters exist in two or three different series, I have been extremely careful to keep track of character tokens.  It is important that Oliver Pendergast II (O2) have the same qualities in The Pendergast Prerogatives that he does in The Alberta Connection, a Ryce Dalton novel or in Pegasus Rising, a Nixon French novel.  I have a 3 x 5 notebook where I keep, obviously, notes of my character.

So, what constitutes a good character token?  A good place to start is physical traits.

‘Ken watched as Linda slowly entwined her long, dark brown hair between her fingers.’   (The token is Linda’s long hair.)

Later, bring the token back into focus.

‘As Linda angrily attempted to pull her brush through her long, tangled hair, Ken could sense that he was going to be late for the meeting.’  (Again, long hair.)

A predominant and easily recognized token is a physical trait.  He’s short, she’s tall, he walks with a limp, she stutters.  If it is a prominent character, introduce the limp on page two and then reintroduce it on page ten.  If it is a minor character you are bringing into the spotlight, use a token on page twenty, refocus the reader on the token on page sixty, and create a complete character thirty pages later.

Remember, you can create as many tokens for one character as you wish, but be very careful to keep minor characters in the role of minor characters.  The more minor the character, the less delineated the character should remain.  If it is a character that is pumping gas and will never be mentioned again, the character needs no name, and does not need any description other than a function.  Use your character tokens for the main characters.

I am in the initial stages of the final edit of The Dakota Connection, a Ryce Dalton novel.   I have discovered some of the characters I want to eventually develop into main characters are flat.  They have no depth, no dimension.   They are, unfortunately, trying to get on the bus without a token.

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