It was a burning school bus that ended the heart-surgeon’s career.

His hands saved many lives on the operating table and now they were dulled and imprecise from saving those many children on that burning bus.

That little passage above is supposed to give us a glimpse into character. A heroic man who has made his life about healing people is now spit into a new world where his old skills can no longer fulfill his inner drive.

What is our surgeon going to do with himself?

If I were writing that story it would end with him finding a way to save people that did not involve such acute dexterity with his hands. Maybe he becomes a fireman and breaks down doors with axe in his gloved hands. Maybe he becomes a professor to teach the next wave of surgeons or stays in a lab for research.

But building his character would be all about showing his resilience in the face of adjusting to his new reality.

This is character.

Does he despair and quit?

Maybe.

Does he try again after despair? That is the choice that separates him from other characters.

Choice is building character.

This is not characterization.

Characterization is whether your character is sarcastic or genuine, religious or secular, cargo shorts or business suit. Are they loud or quiet? Do they have an eye-patch?

The wallpaper is all characterization.

We’re going to go back to Braveheart for a minute.

All the men in William Wallace’s village rolled over for King Edward the Longshanks. They all chose to obey.

They made that choice.

Not William.

He chose to rebel.

His choice to fight back and refuse to quit until Scotland was free is what separated him from any other character in that movie. He was witty but so was the Irish guy. He was strong, but so was his best friend. He painted his face blue, but so did all the Scottish! William chose to fight and do so without compromise on any of his principles (unlike Robert the Bruce).

See the difference between character and characterization there?

Let’s look at more character choices.

How does William Wallace deal with men who betray him?

Does he take them to the public square to be tried and punished or does he kick down their doors in the night and kill them?

How does he deal with the romantic advances of a beautiful princess?

He could marry her and gain her army and entangle himself in growing alliances.

But, it was the murder of his wife that started all this, so he is going to stay true to her and respectfully reject a princess.

Now what about a range of protagonists all in the same situation? They’ve got food and come across two hungry, homeless children.

We will look at Aladdin, William Wallace, Captain Jack Sparrow, Conan the Barbarian, and Sherlock Holmes.

Aladdin gives his food to the kids, no questions asked, right after we see him work so hard for that food. He sees the kids are hungry and he gives.

William Wallace would notice if these kids were Scottish or English or French and give them the food while also entertaining them with a witty remark that would also disparage Longshanks.

Captain Jack Sparrow would probably offer them the food in exchange for rum or information. He’d puff himself up as the greatest pirate they’d ever meet and he’d get the rum and the information whether the kids knew they gave it to him or not.

Conan would likely deny them the food and then teach them how to target the most susceptible merchant.

Sherlock Holmes would give the food over after a quick conversation where he learned all he needed to know and more.

So we see here choice, motivation, and characterization from the same situation with different protagonists. Nearly all of them gave the food, they all helped, and they all probably got closer to their objective.

What about bad guys?

They don’t give the food and might even hurt the kids.

Supporting characters?

Depends on what you want to highlight with your protagonist.

All of this is to say your characters are the choices they make.

What do they do to defeated bad guys? Frightened allies? Straying allies and repentant enemies? How do they choose between the lesser of two evils? The better of two goods?

Continuing to ride on and push forward is fine, but variety is the spice of plot.

Thanks for reading and happy Friday!

P.S. - don’t forget, you’ve got until July 1st 2026 to submit sci-fi short stories to Panopticon2032 [at] protonmail.com