This post is from my old blog, topazadine.com, but I think it can find a perfect home here. I’ve refreshed it a bit, but now you don’t have to go hunting for my other pages to see it! With that little aside, let’s go.

There are tons of great tips out there that discuss what you need to know about your characters; note that there’s nothing about their favorite drink or hair color, as many silly character sheets discuss.

However, I want to go beyond this with some exercises (don’t worry, there won’t be a test). The more that you think about your characters, the better you understand them, and there’s no better way to do this than to turn them into a big pile of wooden blocks.

Metaphorically, of course.

The Jenga test sounds dumb, and you’re wondering why the hell I labeled it that. Well, it’s because there’s a very simple question that leads to deviously deep character analysis. Here it is.

What Would Make Your Character Fall Apart?

I do not mean this in the “what would make them so sad that they have a mental breakdown,” though we love those too.

Rather, think of it like this. Your character, just like a real person, is made of building blocks (or Jenga blocks). As you get up to the top of the tower, things about them become more trivial; they can be removed with ease.

For example, I decided to change the hair and eye color of one of my side characters because there were too many pink-haired people, but nothing about that character himself changed in the least. He’s still Ono, just Purple.

But deeper down, there are aspects of a character that, if removed, would change them into someone completely different who did not function in the same way. And when you’re playing Jenga, there is a block you pull that destroys the whole thing. We want that one.

This cannot be a situational Jenga block. It cannot have to do with another person, a possession, a profession, so on. This has to be something innate to the character as they function for a plot device. Remember, though we want our characters to feel real, they are ultimately meant to influence and serve a storyline, making choices and being impacted in certain ways.

Let’s see why the Jenga test works!

Your MC’s Jenga Block Determines Their Actions

On the most basic level, the Jenga block test tells us how a chacter will respond to different things. If they didn’t respond that way, then we wouldn’t have the same character; we need them to do that in order to reach the conclusion we want.

As an example, Uileac Korviridi is incredibly competitive. Despite being a level-headed character, he has this compulsive need to be at the top. However, his pragmatism leads him to understand that he can’t be the best at everything, so he has winnowed his focus down to a few things, and he can’t stand the concept being of second best in those things. This need to win is essential to his personality, though it is tempered by his other traits.

If we removed this Jenga block, he wouldn’t do damn near half the things he does. For example, in 9 Years Yearning, he punches his future husband because he hates the idea that Orrinir is going easy on him.

Later, he falls in love with that same man because Orrinir is also competitive, and this leads to intense attraction that, at times, can be utterly combustible. Their relationship is interesting, because they both need to be the best, but they also both want to support their partner. The concessions and decisions they make in relation to one another drive very interesting actions.

You can see how this works by switching out someone else and imagining how the story would be different. If someone who wasn’t competitive was placed in the same situation, they would probably give up and lick their wounds in private, thus destroying the forward thrust of Uileac’s decisions. They also likely would not be so attracted to Orrinir; in fact, this alternate character may have been put off by Orrinir’s desire to succeed, as I would be.

Understanding a Character’s Jenga Block Creates Coherency

One of the most important things about a character is that they have to make decisions in line with who they are deep down. This does not mean that their actions must always be rational, understandable, or even good – they just need to be believable.

Consistency is not key; coherency is.

People are inconsistent, and characters can be inconsistent too. Like a real person, they respond differently to unique situations depending on their mood, the people around them, and whether they are in a clear mind.

A person who is generally pragmatic may act impulsively because their pragmatism is a secondary characteristic; there is something more fundamental about themselves that is driving them to abandon their usual modus operandi. This could be comfort, curiosity, independence, loyalty, or honor.

When you build a coherent character, they can still surprise the reader (and you) by making different decisions than expected, but these choices will still make sense and feel like them. Having a coherent but inconsistent character can be a challenge, but understanding that baseline will allow you the freedom to make bold narrative actions without it seeming to come out of nowhere.

This Fundamental Component Introduces Stress Points

Any story needs conflict – that’s the whole point. Conflict is when some story element threatens their equilibrium and forces them into actions, whether good or bad. This could be a werewolf hunting them down, a big storm, or an evil maniac on the loose.

What we don’t think about, though, is that often there is an aspect of the character driving them into the arms of conflict or forcing them to make mistakes that deepen the struggle. This is often the Jenga block element of their personality: it makes it almost inevitable that they would butt up against something and find themselves in trouble.

The Jenga trait may be curiosity; this is a common one in murder mysteries. Miss Marple isn’t a detective, but she is damn nosy about everything that goes on in her town, and it pushes her toward investigating things that really aren’t her business. If she weren’t curious, she’d just hear about a murder in the papers, go, “oh, that’s sad,” and move on with her life.

A Character’s Foundation Forms Their Worldview

Even if your main conflict is not Person v. Person, there will still be friction between characters, and this can come from how those Jenga blocks butt up against one another.

Our personalities define our worldview and how they help us relate to others. When someone says they’ve “found their people,” it’s often because, despite different packaging, they have met a person who has that same foundational element and can therefore understand where their friend is coming from. If you have two characters with totally different worldviews, they’ll have a hard time reconciling that disconnect.

As an example, my own Jenga block is a sense of justice. Yep, I’m the annoying Lawful Good character.

I cannot stand things not going according to my own sense of morality, which is often at odds with both other people and society as a whole.

Because of this building block, I struggle to understand people who believe the ends justifies the means or that might makes right. However, it also means that I am always looking for ways to shape the world into what I think it should be; I see the world in terms of solutions that fit neatly into my boxes.

This can, of course, be both very good and very bad. I can come across as demanding or entitled, even aggressive, when I feel I have been wronged, and I may write people off as “evil” when they don’t do what I want.

My Jenga block and its association with a worldview is more obvious, but there are others that also shape the way someone sees the world. Someone whose building block is independence may think everyone is out for themselves and that anything that impinges on personal freedom is a net negative. That, of course, would go against my building block and lead to some serious conflict if I were to meet such a character.

Key Elements of Identity Can Become Fatal Flaws

It’s entirely possible for positive character traits to become a negative in a situation, or even lead to serious consequences.

For example, someone with a strong sense of justice may, paradoxically, become a villain should their own idea of right and wrong fail to match with the world that they are in.

This can be an excellent choice if you’re planning a “fall from grace” character arc, as it will make their descent into madness both more believable and more tragic. Cough cough, Cerie Korviridi in the later parts of the series.

Even if your character doesn’t turn evil, their Jenga block may be the reason that they fail a given task, thus pushing the plot forward. The readers understand that there would simply be no way for your character to succeed because of who they are, which avoids the obnoxious trope of a character failing for seemingly no reason when they are otherwise quite competent.

Another reason why these flaws are important is that they allow other characters a chance to shine in a way that makes complete sense. Your MC cannot always fix everything, even problems that they caused, because this makes them overpowered and unrelatable.

For example, if the character’s fatal flaw is their pride, a more humble character may have to fix things for them because they’ll continue to wallow and refuse to admit anything’s wrong. Sounds familiar, almost like the entire plot of Pride Before a Fall.

How to Find Your Character’s Jenga Block

Just like playing Jenga itself, figuring out your character’s ultimate, core identity can be quite simple too.

Take a list of all your character’s traits, from the mundane to the profound. You could work from this enormous list of over 600 character traits, but many of them are quite similar to one another, so you may find it difficult to keep track.

ProWritingAid also has a list of 1,200 character traits if you want to be even more of an overachiever; this one is at least organized to make it easier.

This one, from Indeed (lol), boils it down to just 16, while this one is a little more comprehensive, but not as insane as the 600+ one.

Now that you have your list of traits, go through each one and imagine what your character would be like if you removed it. For example, if your character is a jokester, would they still react to things in the same way if they weren’t always wisecracking? After all, funny people generally are funny because of something deeper than just a sense of humor, whether that is insecurity or confidence.

You can also imagine taking another character and “inserting” a given trait into them. Would they react almost identically to Character A? If yes, this may be Character A’s Jenga Block. Otherwise, it is likely not that essential trait you are looking for.

Through trial and error, you can identify your character’s most fundamental trait, then use this as a baseline for their decisions, picking and choosing how they react to different situations depending on what this building block would require.

So, to sum up:

• A Jenga Block is the most fundamental part of the character.
• Understanding this Jenga Block enables you to determine character actions.
• It allows for coherency even with inconsistent actions.
• This Jenga Block identifies a character’s worldview.
• You can pervert this block to create a fatal flaw.
• Create a list of character traits, then try removing them to identify the Jenga Block.