Hi!
Someone asked me to write about how to create realistic and likeable characters, and
since I struggle a little bit with this myself, I went on a journey to
find the best articles on it. So... I didn't get any sleep last night
either... But now I know how to write an awesome character. Win!
Here are some "rules", and at the end of this post are five links to the articles I read.
Rule nr. 1: All of your characters must change
In
real life, people don't change that much, but in fiction, they have to.
It's just unrealistic if they don't. Crazy, right? So, the theory is
this:
- In the beginning of your story, let's say your protagonist hates magic.
- Then something happens to her that forces her to use magic.
- In the end, she realizes that magic is a good thing if you use it
the right way, and uses her magic to fight off the bad guys. Happy ever
after.
or
- Your protagonist is really sad because their life sucks.
- Something happens that makes their life even worse.
- They learn that they have to stay strong and not be miserable because life will suck anyways. The end.
(That was a pretty depressing example, but you get the point.)
Your characters have to change in some way. It doesn't even be very
drastic, but it has to make sense and be realistic. The characters have
to have reason to change.
Rule nr. 2: Know your characters
If you don't
know your characters better than yourself, then how are you going to
write an entire book about them? The secret here is to write down as
much as you think you need to know about them and then put it on the
wall next to your writing desk or in a
story bible.
But don't ever make the mistake of info-dumping! Your readers don't
need to know everything about the characters. When we talk about world
building, we are often advised to know as much as we can about the
world, but only spill the most important information to the reader, and
that way, they'll automatically know that there's much we aren't telling
them. And that same advice goes for characters too.
Character
questionnaires are perfect for this. One is in the links below, but
there's also plenty of them everywhere on the internet :)
Rule nr. 3: Listen to peoples' conversations
If
you travel to school or work by bus, leave your phone in you pocket and
your earphones at home. Dialogue is an enormous part of who we are, and
its importance is unfortunately often underestimated. To be able to
write good dialogue, you have to listen to people and also read a lot of
dialogue in books. If you're an introvert, just watch a movie and make
notes of how people speak and what their choice of words tell about
them.
A
big part of our personalities can be seen in the way we speak, so take
your time to figure out how your character's voices stand out from each
other.
Rule nr. 4: Study body language
There
are great scientific articles online, and also a lot of helpful charts
on how to write natural body language, so I won't write much about it.
It's just as -- if not even more -- important as dialogue. Body language
is what people say with their actions. Body language is extremely
important when you for example want to show someone lying. Do your
research!
Rule nr. 5: Don't neglect your secondary characters or villain
This
is hard, because you don't want your secondary characters or your
villain to be more fleshed out or more likeable than your protagonist,
right?
No, no, no.
No.
You have to flesh out
all of
your characters. It may be the protagonist and villain who make all the
big decisions, but unless the reader cares about your supporting
characters too, then why are they there? I hate it (and I know I'm not
alone) when secondary characters are clearly only there to entertain or
advise the protagonist. They need to have lives of their own too -- back
stories, preferences, favorite foods, own voices -- or your story will
be boring and flat.
I hope these "rules" (=tips) helped you. I'll see you again soon!
- http://www.novel-writing-help.com/character-change.html
- http://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/improve-my-writing/he-said-she-said
- http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/the-9-ingredients-of-character-development
- http://www.liferichpublishing.com/AuthorResources/Fiction/Five-Traps-and-Tips-for-Character-Development.aspx
- https://www.writingclasses.com/toolbox/character-questionnaire/proust
Please tell me if you know any websites that I haven't listed so that I can add them in :)
Happy writing!
Em
