Q

Does altering a person’s background mean that their characteristics must change or can a separate reason be used for making them like they are originally written?

A

The short answer is that, yes, altering a character’s background will change their characterisation in big or small ways depending on the alterations. Psychology states that everything we experience affects us and that our history moulds us. The same is true for well-written fictional characters. 

If we take Hermione as an example, a small alteration to her background could be that she grew up with a Golden Retriever.

It seems like nothing, but it changes everything. Hermione will still be intelligent and willful and studious, but her childhood will have been less lonely. She’ll probably enjoy the outdoors more and spend less time in the library. She may have learnt to appreciate fun sooner and seem less stuck-up. Dogs require patience, so she may have developed that skill, too. The list goes on.

Each of these things will affect how she interacts with people and how she looks at situations. Would she have adopted Crookshanks? Would she have been less harsh about the death of Lavender’s rabbit? Would she know the value of kindness even if the person’s/creature’s intelligence doesn’t match her own?

The smallest things will change everything.

Depending on the alteration, it can be challenging to make the character act as they do in canon. Giving a plausible reason for making them as they’re originally written will work at a push, but it won’t be thorough.

That doesn’t mean that every writer who turns Hermione into pure-blood nobility should choose to write her as though she were a female Draco.

Her main personality traits can remain intact so long as you examine each and figure out where they come from. Why does she study so much? Maybe she has something to prove. In which case, what? Is she still socially awkward? Does she fight for the rights of house-elves? What made her realise it was akin to slavery?

The finer details of her personality will change. She’ll carry herself differently, and she won’t see things the same way because her entire worldview will have been altered.

Building a character or rebuilding parts of a character is a long cycle of ‘FACT’followed by an endless cycle of ‘WHY?’.

FACT: Hermione is socially awkward.

WHY? Because she grew up without any friends.

WHY? Because no one her age understood her.

WHY? Because her intelligence is above average and she’s capable of magic.

If you want your pure-blood Hermione to be socially awkward, some of those answers need to change. She would have grown up surrounded by people who understood her, so why can’t she communicate with them?

You don’t need to state in your story every piece of information you find while answering these questions. This exercise helps you understand the characters you write so that you portray them as truthfully as possible even in an AU.

People—and characters—are made up of their past experiences. When crafting a character, one of the most important aspects we consider is her past.

Skye Fairwin