When writing a fictional work, whether it's a novel, a screenplay, or a short story, one of the biggest and most important challenges you face is creating interesting characters that carry the plot forward and connect with readers. There are many factors to consider when creating a character and so many ways to make them stand out.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Creating a Character
Step 1. Start from the basics
The main characters need to be defined to some extent as they are introduced into the story. If your reader fails to form a mental image of that person, they will quickly lose interest. Before you start writing, make a list of the basic physical traits and circumstances that affect the character.
- Define the physical traits of the character that would interest you as a reader: gender, age, ethnicity and build.
- Determine what kind of life he has. It is poor? do you have children? Where does he live? What is his job? Even if you don't express these traits explicitly in the story, they will help you develop your character better.
Step 2. Come up with oddities for your character
This is one of the best ways to create realistic figures for the reader and make them stand out. If you think about it, probably everyone you know has idiosyncrasies or unusual habits; to look real, your characters must have them too.
- Your character's quirks don't have to be a central element of the story, but they shouldn't be in stark contradiction to his personality or distract from the main storyline.
- You can use your imagination to create idiosyncrasies for your character or (even better) you can draw inspiration from people you know.
Step 3. Make your character unique
For it to be interesting to the reader, it must be original. To begin with, the reader must be able to easily distinguish the protagonist from the other characters in the story. More importantly, readers are not interested in mundane figures without traits that stand out.
- Identify your character as an individual by placing key personality traits in contrast to their surroundings or other people in the story. If the hero of your book is kind and compassionate, but lives in a society where almost everyone is selfish and cruel, he will immediately catch the eye of the reader.
- The conflicting traits help create a unique character that avoids the most mundane clichés. For example, your protagonist may be both kind and short-tempered. As long as its characteristics are credible, the reader will be intrigued by these unexpected elements.
- The uniqueness of your character should be in the service of the story. Don't make it so strange and unpredictable that you can't credibly address the events of the narrative.
Step 4. Find flaws with your character
Realistic characters are often the most endearing ones, and real people aren't perfect. To allow the reader to identify with the protagonist, make sure he has imperfections. For example, he may be outgoing but unsure about his appearance.
- Your character's flaws may be minor or insignificant, but if you decide to find a significant flaw in him, it should become part of his journey. For example, if he were schizophrenic, you shouldn't ignore this trait within the story, but you should give it some weight.
- The little flaws invented to make a character more believable have to be realistic. The same person cannot have a PhD and an IQ of 70.
Step 5. Develop goals or wishes for your character
The best characters have desires and needs that make them credible protagonists. Desire creates conflict, because any deep-rooted and intense ambition realistically faces obstacles or difficulties. This is the basic element of many stories: the battle of the main character.
- Instead of explicitly describing the character's ambitions, let them emerge naturally throughout the story. It is much more engaging for the reader to learn through the events that the protagonist wants nothing more than to find his lost brother than to come to know this fact directly.
- Remember that the character doesn't have to know for sure already what he wants or needs. If part of the challenges facing the protagonist is discovering new things about himself throughout the story, you've created an interesting character and storyline.
Step 6. Make your character vulnerable
This step also serves to create a figure with which the reader can identify. Many of the most beloved heroes of literature and film are those who have overcome difficulties and traumas to achieve success. Your character's weaknesses make his perseverance even more impressive and exciting for the reader.
- As an example, perhaps your character is afraid to swim after nearly drowning as a child and in your story he has to jump into the water to save his child from a flood. In a similar scenario, the protagonist's phobia greatly increases the tension of the moment (and the value of a possible success).
- Some stories are centered entirely on a character's sweet spot. Whether it is a main or secondary characteristic of the protagonist's personality depends on you and your vision for the development of the story.
Step 7. Create a memorable representation of your character
Written stories must overcome the challenge of creating figures that are easy to remember even without the aid of images. If you are writing a novel (particularly if you intend to create a saga), the main character must remain in the reader's mind to stand the test of time.
- Use "tags" to identify the main characters. It can be the physical features that stand out (like Harry Potter's lightning bolt scar or his round glasses) or the way he speaks (like Voldemort's shrill, serpentine voice). These details help the reader remember and imagine your characters.
- If the story includes a number of characters, the need to distinguish them and make them memorable is even more important, otherwise the reader may be confused.
Step 8. Give your character depth
A figure that can be summarized in the first pages of a story is boring. Capture the reader's attention by creating a protagonist who has many more nuances than the apparent ones. You can do this by answering the following questions for each of the main characters in your story:
- Establish the purpose of the character's life. What are the reasons why he behaves in a certain way?
- Define the methods of the character. How do you react to dangerous, frightening or stressful situations?
- Shape the character's way of thinking. How do you evaluate situations, how do you judge people and your life?
Part 2 of 3: Matching Characters to Story
Step 1. Make the characters serve the story
In most cases, they shouldn't be gimmicks to fill the pages, but always meet the dramatic needs of the storytelling. This is particularly true for the protagonists, who are at the center of the story. To create a good character, make sure his character traits allow you to develop the plot as you wish.
- For example, if you want to tell the story of a warrior saving a city from a tyrant, he shouldn't be old, debilitated and weak, unless your intent is to demonstrate how even such an unlikely hero can succeed.
- It helps to outline the plot of the story before deciding on the characters; in this way, you will avoid creating contradictory details between the two elements. You can make an exception to this rule if you have inspiration for a character before you know what story you want to tell.
Step 2. Shape your character based on his experiences
A figure who remains impassive to the things that happen to him is not credible. For example, a normal child who is sucked into a world of violent gangs should be heavily influenced by what he sees. Create realistic and believable characters by developing their personalities as a result of the events that involve him.
You can decide how much to deepen the past experiences of the character. Consider that the more significant the events, the more complex their impact will be
Step 3. Define the character using actions
To tell a story well it is important not to tell everything. Often you will have a greater impact on the reader by revealing information about the protagonist's personality by putting him in a situation that reveals it rather than simply describing it. Readers will be more intrigued by a character if they understand details about him without being explicitly stated.
- The key to using this strategy successfully is to deliberately describe how the character copes with a certain situation. The behavior of a person during a house fire reveals a lot about his character.
- You don't need to write "Die Hard" style action sequences to accomplish this. If your character is the protagonist of an emotionally dramatic story, you can still create action-packed scenes to communicate elements of his personality (e.g. a hospital room where the hero's mother is dying).
Step 4. Consider the character's path
Character development is a very important element in creating a compelling work of fiction. The best way to ensure that the reader can follow (and believe believable) the protagonist's journey (metaphorical or real) is to pay particular attention to the sequence of events in the story. Do not make him perform actions incompatible with his personality or his abilities without logical steps that lead to those behaviors.
- You can get a character to develop unexpectedly, as long as it's logical. Readers like surprises, but they don't want to be fooled!
- It is important for your character to learn from their mistakes and understand how not to fall back into the same situation twice. If he kept doing the same thing over and over, the story would quickly get boring.
Step 5. Get to know your character
Nothing ruins the flow of a story more than an inconsistent element in a character's plot or background. To avoid making this common mistake for authors, create a document (written or digital) that contains all the important information about the cast of your plot. This will help you not to write statements in chapter 11 that are in direct contrast to what you said in chapter 1.
- To maintain consistency, refer to your database of character information whenever you talk about a significant event in the past of one of them or their beliefs.
- This tip is particularly useful if you plan to write a saga of related stories with the same protagonist or very long novels that feature many characters.
Part 3 of 3: Designing Characters for Specific Roles
Step 1. Give the protagonists admirable qualities
The main characters in your story should be presented in a way that appeals to the reader (for example, because they have nobility or fortitude). In most cases, they will also be the most detailed figures of your work (including physical description, background and personality).
- The protagonists do not have to be perfect and may even have obvious flaws or be weak (in this case they are termed "antiheroes"). Your goal is not to create a hero who is hated by readers, or you risk alienating them (no one is interested in following the adventures of a detestable character).
- In some situations you may decide to omit details about the protagonist up to a certain point in the narrative. In fact, the most interesting characters cannot be summed up in a single paragraph. Just make sure you don't better describe a secondary figure than the protagonist.
Step 2. Highlight the desirable traits of the protagonists of a love story
Not in all stories the main character has to do with someone he has feelings for, but if in your case, you need to explain to the reader why he is an attractive person. You can do this in many different ways, but the reader needs to understand what elements the protagonist appreciates (or how he feels when he thinks about the other person).
- Like the protagonist, the character he loves should also please the reader and deserve the right space and attention.
- The details you reveal about the person that interests the protagonist should depend in part on the relationship the two have. For example, if it is the hero's wife, it makes sense to talk about it in more depth than a stranger met on a train.
Step 3. Create an aura of mystery around the bad guys
For them to be truly scary or hateful, they must have uncertain origins, motives, and natures. Unpredictability and lack of positive qualities are the traits of the best bad guys; to create these elements it is necessary that the reader does not enter too deeply into their mind.
- Many great stories contain twists in the last few chapters that reveal some important information about the villain's past or personality (imagine Darth Vader in Star Wars or Professor Snape in Harry Potter). This is a good reason to keep some villain details hidden until the appropriate time.
- Use images to represent the villain in the way the reader should perceive him. You can do this by describing his physical characteristics, the way he behaves, speaks, the environments in which he usually finds himself and in many other ways. Creatively present the vision you have in mind to the reader!
Step 4. Don't reveal too many details about secondary characters
These figures may be important to the story, but the space devoted to their descriptions must be proportionate to their role. For example, don't talk for two pages about the story of a character who will never be mentioned again. On the contrary, the protagonist's "shoulder" could become the second most important character.
- As with almost all creative writing rules, there are exceptions here as well. For example, maybe a character the protagonist doesn't know will play an important role in the climax of the story; it's not a mistake, as long as the plot is credible and coherent.
- It is important to make sure that all secondary characters have a purpose in the story; otherwise they would be just a waste of lines. The reader doesn't want to waste time distinguishing 40 characters who may not impact the plot.
Advice
- Watch many popular movies and TV shows as well as read critically acclaimed novels, studying how the authors described and developed the characters.
- Small details in characters are often appreciated by readers, such as a name that reveals a certain personality trait.
- When thinking about a character's name, make sure it is consistent with the conventions of the place (if the story is set in a world of your own creation).
- Remember that you are bound by the classic archetypes of the characters described in this article. Writing is a creative art form, so feel free to experiment with your characters.
