Written by Briah Krueger
We love writing, it gives us a rush and we can’t wait until the next scene in our head comes to life. But how do we get our characters to cooperate on paper and be as lively as they are in our heads for our audience? This process seems overwhelming, and may make you want to crumple up the scribbled paper and move on. But don’t crinkle it just yet; here are five tips on how to write a character readers will love.
First and foremost before we get started, you’ve got to know the ins and outs of your plot; what’s your story all about? Knowing your plot and envisioning what the outcome is going to be will help you deeply develop your characters. Because while writing you’re going to be able to focus more on them and add fun little details instead of fumbling over words since you’re not completely sure of the plot. Having a good plan and understanding of your own plot will definitely make your characters shine through your work.
Now, onto the good stuff!
1. Get Your Basics Down
The easy, and honestly quite fun, step: what’s your character’s name? Where do they live? When’s their birthday? All those simple questions you get asked when making a profile is information you should know about your character. Imagine, in your mind, they’ve come to meet you for coffee or tea, and this is your time to get to know them. Are they fidgeting, do they seem confident, or maybe nervous, do they have a bright smile? This is your character; 100% original and all yours, so make them feel special!
This is a very fun step in the process of really capturing your character, but not as fun as our next step…
2. Getting To Know Your Character
This is by far the best part in this process, so have fun with it! Keep that image of your character sitting across from you; now notice what they’re wearing. Do they dress for comfort, are they a fashion icon, or at least trying to be? Is there something quirky about them they hate about themselves but other people love? What does their hair look like, what colour are their eyes? Dig into those details! What kind of music do they jam out to when no one is around? Do they cover their eyes during the scary part in movies or are they the ones who laugh in the face of fear?
That’s a lot of questions, there are thousands of them you could come up with, but even if you aren’t going to put these details into your story, you are still developing this character in your head. Therefore, getting to know them and how they would react in certain situations you put them in and allowing your character to be more in tune with your plot.
Once you get to know your character, truly know them, writing your chapters is going to become so natural and your reader is going to notice; because it’ll be smooth for them to read and follow along. Once you know your character, your reader is going to have that same opportunity. But if you don’t put that effort and energy into fully developing your character, the reader isn’t going to be able to know and fall in love with them because the detail just isn’t there.
3. Side Characters Matter!
Main characters are of course essential for a story, but it’s the side characters that are the glue and at times the best part of stories. Think about some of your favourite characters, and I guarantee a lot of them aren’t main characters, they’re side ones! Readers and audiences in general for that matter get attached to unique characters, and sometimes these side characters get the characteristics that we want to write about but not in a main character. And that’s okay! Just let them own it, because readers love it. Don’t be afraid to load them up with fun and deep details; your side characters are going to help your main character grow in your story and create a great writing environment for you to write and let your characters interact in. Plus this will make your story stronger as a whole.
4. Make Your Characters Relatable
We all love a hero, but what’s even better than a hero is one that you can relate to; a realistic hero (depending on your genre). The most beloved characters in all realms of stories have some kind of element to them that humanises and connects them to the audience. For example: Harry Potter. We love Harry because yes he’s the hero and main character, but because even though he’s a wizard, he still has doubts in himself and we can relate to that. We relate to the fact that he doesn’t feel like he belongs in the world he grew up in, the people around him don’t understand him, and he didn’t become super confident all of a sudden and feel all the power in the world when he found out he was a wizard. Instead, he was still that unique and strong character we could relate to.
No one is perfect, and your character shouldn’t be either. Give them flaws they can work through, give them a relatable troubled past, because your reader will be able to connect to that kind of character, not one that comes off as perfect and they have it all together.
5. Challenge Your Character
Once you get to know your character, you’ll fall in love with them yourself and care about them. And as silly as it may sound, after thinking and writing about your characters for a while you’ll get attached to them, and that’s an amazing thing a writer gets to experience. But with that comes the responsibility of challenging them, and sometimes it’s not too pretty. The best character development you can give them is putting them through a hard time. Throw a plot twist at them, knock them off their feet, so when they get back up they’re even stronger, gained new knowledge, and revealed traits your reader and maybe even your character didn’t know they had in them. As it is in our own lives, going through hardships makes us better people in the end, for we learn to be strong and how to learn from our mistakes.
Being confident about your character is going to give them a distinct voice in your story, and the reader is going to personally feel like they’re getting to know them. Don’t be afraid to create someone who is flawed, because those are precisely the types of characters a reader somewhere out there may need to read about in their life. Maybe they’re going through a rough time and they happen to come across your story and begin to read it and they can escape in your words and feel uplifted because if your main character can get through their hard time then maybe they can too.
If you incorporate these five steps into developing your characters, they’ll become lovable for sure. Your story has the potential to become someone’s favourite, hold onto that if and when you become frustrated while writing.
One of my favorite methods for strengthening my character was writing an author/protagonist dialogue. In this exchange, I walk into a bar to interview the private eye, who is my lead character. I describe him briefly to set the scene, then the rest is Q & A. I ask him about his cases, friends, and outlook on life. Then he asks me about my writing inspirations and plans for him in future novels! Loads of fun and truly grounding too. I’ve read this Interview outload to groups and it is well received.