Nanomwrimo characters take the plot by storm

Hi - I’ve assembled an impressive cast of characters for my nanowrimo debut (20 if I include a dog), so I’m aware of the need to portray them in a manner so they don’t all act in the same way, and also importantly, so they don’t act like me. How boring would it be to read a novel where every character reacts, walks, talks and squeaks just like me (as a creative exercise I should give it a go - but I doubt I’m self-enough aware to be able to adequately know the full extent of my foibles).

The temptation I’m trying to resist most is in making my characters extremely unlike what I think I am. Naturally, I’m a paragon of sense, sensitivity and virtue - the go-to citizen used as a yardstick for all lesser mortals to measure themselves - so to construct a character unlike me, I’d have to create an unfeeling, cruel bastard. One of these is probably okay, but I’ve got twenty people to conjure up.

I’ve started compiling little back stories for each and every one of them, as well as blind spots. Some of these little histories are creeping into the novel as well, which is actually quite satisfying. There’s a lot of dialogue in this first draft, so I’m trying to weight every character’s speech with preferences and more vocabulary and grammatical blind spots, turns of phrase they use repeatedly, and their mannerisms which accompany their utterances. Ideally, I’d like to be in a position where I can pick up a page, read what the character says, and know instantaneously who it is, through their speech pattern.

I’m also finding out that there’s a fine line between letting the characters talk as they wish and applying the writer’s mental whip to make them jump through important plot hoops. For example, I have a character who likes to be an amateur counsellor and solve others’ problems through the lens of her belief in the power of pop psychology. In the reality of a novel, I can get away with pointing this trait out, but I can’t let her wax lyrical and embarrass herself for page after glorious page without advancing the plot. I think that would try my reader’s patience, as well as mine.

Since starting this blog post and completing it, I’ve added another three characters. Another interesting thing about what I’m writing is that the first act (first 25K words) was very heavy on male characterisation. Most events were seen from the male protagonist's point of view. Now, in the second act, it’s become more dominated by female characters and the viewpoint, I’m expecting, will switch much more as well. I wonder if the last act will have a perfect synthesis between the two genders?

You might want to let me know what you think will happen. Don't be afraid, I only write, I don't bite.