If you’ve ever Googled what makes a great book, asked a friend for a new reading recommendation, or taken a story-writing course, odds are you’ve heard one term over and over: Character. Of course, this isn’t surprising. Characters are the lens through which your story comes alive, the people your readers love (or hate), and- most of the time- they drive your plot forward. Developing a good character takes time and effort, but I have a few tips to help you on your journey:
- Create a believable character arc. Throughout our lives, we all go through a series of challenges and experiences. Sometimes they are big, other times they are small. It can be our interactions with people we care about, an impactful event, finding (or losing) our faith, starting a new job, taking a trip, etc. All of these do one important thing- they change us. Even if we don’t notice it happening, those changes shape who we are until one day, we look in the mirror and see a brand-new person. This is our character arc, and if you want to write a great story, your character needs to have one, too. Not only does it help move your plot along, it makes your characters believable and allows your readers to relate to them.
- Create a back story. True, a villain can be evil just for the sake of it, but where is the fun in that? Instead, consider their back story. Are they hurt and angry because they were betrayed? Have they spent their life feeling alone and isolated? Or are they cocky and self-assured because they have never had to work for anything before? To create your character arc, you need to start building your character before your first page, not after. Dive deep. Think about their childhood, their family, their thoughts, their feelings, and their experiences. Think about what shapes their decisions, create a solid back story, and then use it to develop your character arc.
- Don’t forget to think about what happens when your character is off-page. You know that familiar saying, “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans?” It applies to your characters, too. Whenever you change to another POV or there’s a time jump between chapters, don’t forget that your character was doing something during that time. If you want, you can mention what they saw/felt/heard if it builds on their character arc (I like to think of these as times of self-reflection). If not, that’s fine. Just remember that characters don’t cease to exist just because they aren’t currently on stage.
- Make them unique. It can be something superficial like a scar or tattoo, a catchy nickname, a weird food obsession, a disability, a bad habit, or anything that makes them stand out from other characters. Bonus points for something that creates conflict within your story, thus building on that character arc.
- Don’t be afraid to cut them out or kill them off if they aren’t contributing to your story. I recently wrote a character through chapter 5, but when I got to chapter 38 I realized I hadn’t mentioned him again. Turns out, someone else could accomplish what he did in those first 5 chapters, and I could cut his storyline altogether. Could I have kept him? Sure. Could I have re-incorporated him into my story later? Sure. Was there a point in doing so? No. Don’t waste your word count on characters who have fulfilled their purpose or have no purpose at all.
These are just a few of my favorite tips for creating relatable, believable characters with a good arc, but there are many other resources out there to help you along. Don’t forget to check out Episode 004 of the Writer’s Realm Podcast, where we dive into character archetypes with our special guest Kathleen Bird!
-Holly
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