Quote:I just don't seem to have any way of figuring out which one is "the right one" for their character and which isn't. How do you do that?Well, that depends on what you mean here by "right".
If you mean "what's most appropriate for that type of person", well, here's where you can dip into stereotypes to help you, at least to start. Susie Schoolgirl is unlikely to snarl, leap, and tear the mugger's throat out. Sam the Soldier isn't going to shriek and cower. If you've spent the time to flesh them out better, you will have more options, but they will still be delineated by the personality and history you've designed. "Scream and leap" may become a viable option for Susie if she does martial arts or has anger management issues, for instance.
Now if you mean "right" in terms of "what's right for the story", well, that's a whole different domain. Your characters and your plot presumably complement each other, in the sense that the characters are going to believably make the choices you need them to in order to advance the plot. (They don't have to complement each other, but that makes writing a good, readable story much harder.) So, on the writing level, you have a bit of a feedback loop going on -- the needs of the plot influence your choice of the characters' actions and responses, but their actions and responses also affect the direction of the plot. It needs a gentle touch, like so much in writing, but it is perfectly acceptable for you to simply make them do the things you need them to do, as long as you've established that these are the kinds of things they were likely to do already. And when they aren't, you had best reveal something previously unknown that justifies the unexpected choice.
But let me reiterate -- this is just as you start out. Every choice you make about a character, every decision and every detail, eventually builds up, and sooner or later you will have a critical mass that forms a functioning simulation of that fictional person in your subconscious, which will inform your ability to write them, and will sometimes surprise you. Not every character gets to this level, though, and not every character should.
And let me repeat this: you don't, can't, start writing with these semiautonomous simulations running in your head. They are created by the process of writing. Paralyzing yourself and not writing because you can't figure out how to get to this point -- which isn't a conscious act anyway -- is like holding off on getting driving lessons because you can't figure out how to handle the second turn at Le Mans.
The best advice I can give you at this point is -- just write. Don't worry about what you write, just write it. You can always improve what you've written. You can't improve what you haven't written. And every word you write gives you experience which helps you write better.
If it helps, I have a (perennially incomplete) http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/guide/fwg.txt]writer's guide on the web that you might want to look at. Some of it is higher-level or for the writer who's past your bottleneck, but there should be something in there that could help you.
You might also want to browse the pages listed in the http://allthetropes.org/wiki/Category: ... of_Writing]Mechanics of Writing category at All The Tropes.
Quote:How do I figure out "what would Jack O'Neill do?"I've never even watched Stargate SG-1, but I can immediately constrain his responses to a reasonable set, and then pick out the most likely ones: First, surprise; the level of surprise will vary depending on whether he recognizes the room or not. Second, see if the body is someone he knows, and second-and-a-half, confirm the body is in fact dead. Third, contact his team. If he has no immediate means to contact them with, leave the room, securing it behind him, and find them. If he can't leave the room, he will then try to find a way out. (or, to look at it from a different angle, determine if he is a prisoner, and respond accordingly.) At some point in this process he will review his memory to see if there are holes or other evidence he was drugged/mind controlled/attacked/etc. What he determines from that will shade his other responses. And that's just the first few minutes.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.