When it comes to writing characters, it’s a painstaking learning process. After all, you’re creating a whole new person. Hopefully, someone memorable. Someone iconic.
Stories usually need more than one person. And when bleeding words on to paper, it’s easy to get lost in the myriad of minds you’ve created. Characters are quite hard to keep track of. And when it’s all in your head—vivid yet imaginary—you will make mistakes. But here are few things you can do to create stellar characters without losing sight of your story.
Take inspiration from real people
Whether they’re your favorite movie stars or your best friends, when you take inspiration from real people and convert it into characters of your choice, it’s much easier to keep track of what they’re doing. It’s not just about copying their looks but also their personalities, their body movements, the way they talk, the way they smell—these small details add realism to your characters.
Also, it’s best when you base them on people you actually know. You can actually incorporate real conversations you’ve had with them. Or create a script based on your predictions about what they would say. When two characters with contrasting perspectives interact, conflict development will be easier since you will know how each will respond.
Another fantastic thing is how you can combine similar personalities and make up a three-dimensional, memorable character. Give them a select personality, write them out as they are in real life, or how you would like them to be in your stories—it’s your world. And you’re in complete control.
Study finds more racial diversity in LGBTQ film characters
Determine unique character motivations
Compare Bella from Twilight and Rose Armitage from Get Out. See the difference? Yeah.
What makes your characters unique aren’t just their personalities and looks, but also what drives them. And when you give motivations to the people in your head, they become ten times more interesting than what they were before.
The essence of being human is purpose. Without that, we are as good as puppets pacing inside a walled room without a door. Two people can have led exact same lives and have the exact personality, but their motivations will make them completely different from each other. So when you come up with characters, giving them their own set of unique motivations will help you remember their place in the story and why you created them in the first place. In a picture where each person has a role to play, you will have less chance of making mistakes.
Use pictures for description
This is the easiest one out of the entire bunch. If you’ve based your characters on actual people, print out a colored picture of them. If not, find the closest looking model to the character. Make sure you label each picture with their assigned name and background.
It’s even recommended that you put up these pictures in places you tend to write the most. Carry a digital copy on your phone—they’ll be easier to access. So, on the off chance you happen to forget what they look like, you won’t have to pause and go back. The answer will be right in front of you.
Remember, imperfect is perfect
Don’t be afraid to write about bad people. Too often we come across perfect people with perfect lives whining about unimportant, menial things. Be better. Do better. Create better.
Make the readers enjoy your character by making them flawed. Perfect people are boring. Perfect characters even more so. So go into that dark place in your head that you deny exists. Bring out abhorrent human traits and stuff your characters with them.
The detailing of a person is what makes him/her intriguing. You don’t want to end up not being able to hold your readers’ attention long enough to deliver your message. For that you need characters willing to go the extra distance and get their hands dirty. Walking that line between redeemable and unforgivable is something your characters should master—something you should master. So rather than forming likeable people, form unlikeable people readers can’t help but fall in love with.
Do your research
Writing is 50% writing and 50% research. And for a good reason. Imagine you create a mechanic when you have no idea how a car engine works. Imagine having a doctor as the main protagonist and knowing nothing about the medical field. Imagine writing a Greek tragedy with no knowledge of who Zeus is.
If you’re going to assign a profession to someone, know enough and then more about it. If you’re going to send them to a certain place, know the history behind it. When you weave these little things into your story, only then will the person in your head come alive.
Finally, and most importantly, get it right. Whether it’s the exact color of their hair or what chemical they used to dissolve a person they murdered, you don’t want to come out of the story with your characters looking like they don’t know what they’re doing. It will be like you don’t know what you’re doing, and that’s never a good thing.
