Tag Archives: stories

5 Easy Steps to Character Creation

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So, you have a character in mind but you can’t quite put them together? Or maybe you only have a story idea. Or, even more stressful…maybe your story is just to short or empty and you have to create more character to fill the space!

Have no fear! Here are 5 easy steps to create new characters:

1. Name

This, for me, is the hardest part. I am terrible at naming characters. But I’ve found some amazing resources that have helped me. The first is to find an app for your phone that generates names. It’s free and you can get a name in just one click. Second, you can try baby name books. These are great, and you can check off names you have already used so you never repeat names. And last, you can become a “name collector.” This means that when you meet new people in public, or online, if they have a name you like, you write it down. You create a notebook of names to come back to later.

2. The Good Stuff

Now it is time to list why your character is so great (or not great if they are the antagonist). What are they good at? Why do others like them? Are they strong? Good at knitting? Smile all the time? Treat this section like someone asked, “Hey, your friend seems nice. Tell me about them.”

3. The Bad Stuff

Well, we can’t be good at everything. And neither can our characters! A flawed character is necessary to not only move the story along, but also to make them relatable to the reader. So, what about them gets in the way? Are they lazy or easily confused? Or so they have a physical disability or perhaps emotional scars from the past?

4. Backstory

Unless your main character is a newborn baby, then they had stuff happen to them before the opening of the story. Even if you never talk about these things directly, it is important to know them. The character’s past will be the reason they act the way they do in relation to others. And, it is how they got to where they are now. Act like their therapist. Ask them what their childhood was like, and what were they like in school? Things like that. And write them down for later.

5. Goals

Now that they are here, where are they going? Even small side characters have goals. Your characters are like people. They have hopes and dreams. They are trying to accomplish something. What is it? A new job? A new relationship?

But wait…even more that the goal…is the WHY? Anew relationship because they got a divorce? A new job because they dream of being rich? Or are they moving somewhere?

Once you get all these down you should not only have more rounded characters, but it will be easier to write them in relation to one another. They will interact with other characters and their surroundings more naturally.

Flawed Characters are GOOD Characters

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When making characters for your work, whether it is genre or literary fiction, it is important to give your characters flaws.

This isn’t talked about as much as the concept of “conflict” in the story, but it is just as important.

Yes, there can be external conflict that happens to a practically perfect character. But without flaws their struggle will seem strange and inhuman.

It also doesn’t leave ant room for personal growth, making the character flat and uninteresting.

The flaw can be something simple like not wanting to open up about themselves, or a minor drinking problem. But whatever it is, it needs to hamper them in some way.

It makes your characters relatable and interesting. It makes them feel real.

5 Tips for Character Development

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If you have found some of your recent characters to be flat, or maybe they just don’t feel as real as they do in your head, here are 5 tips to help your characters become the best versions of themselves!

  1. Give them a few quirks. Characters, like real people, should have little things that make them unique. Everything from a favorite food or color to a superstition or pet peeve. If you can show your characters with these little things, the readers will be able to better relate to them and create more meaningful connections with the characters.
  2. Backstory… All your characters existed and had lives before their debut moment in the book. So, even if a character seems too small to have a backstory, write them one. Even just a few sentences can go a long way in making sure the character has authentic interactions with the others.
  3. Good or Bad? Both! No one is all good or all bad. Even fictional characters. So, make sure you give your protagonists flaws and your antagonists a shred of goodness. It will round them out as a complete person. No one is perfect, and they shouldn’t be, either.
  4. Goals. Like with the backstory, make sure your characters all have a goal they want to achieve including the “why” they want to do it. Even if you never plan to let them achieve this goal, or it seems too small or too distant from the main plot to matter, make sure your characters all have hopes and dreams that get them out of bed in the morning. We all do, and your readers will appreciate having that in common with the characters.
  5. Picture them. If you don’t have their physical appearance down to the tiny details, find some free stick photos and choose one that will represent your character when you write. Sometimes we just need a little visual boost to get our descriptions just right.

I hope these help you in your writing journey!

Happy writing 🙂