Writing Great Characters: 9 Things They All Have
- Erica Farner
- Jul 10, 2018
- 4 min read
Again, my boy Ernest Hemingway pulls it out with a great quote! If he were still alive today, I have a feeling that he would be one of my best friends. But alas, he kicked the bucket all the way back in 1961.
Anywho, famous author deaths aside, why does it matter to write great characters? I'm glad you asked, Erica, because there are lots of reasons. (Yes, I just answered my own question. Shut up.) Anyone who has read a fiction book at all— or even just made use of SparkNotes for English class (naughty, naughty)— can tell you that any novel is character-driven.
You could have the most insanely mind-blowing plot in the history of literature, or have incredible word-painting skills, but if your audience doesn't feel some sort of connection to your characters, they're not going to want to take the journey with you. Developing realistic and interesting characters— ahem, people— for your story or book will make it so much harder for your readers to put it down.
Think of it this way: If Katniss Everdeen was a flat character with nothing to her, would you care if she was in the Hunger Games? If she didn't love her sister so much that she literally volunteered to go to a battle to the death to protect her sister, would her struggles in the arena have been as compelling? Not likely. (High five, Suzanne Collins!)
Things Good Characters Have
Goals, motivation, and purpose- These are grouped together because they all kind of go hand-in-hand. Goals motivate characters and give them purpose, and a purpose is the single most important thing for any character to have. They need to be active in some way. If you're just going to mention a character because someone sees them, it's a waste of your time and your readers' time. A character needs to advance the story, change the setting, influence another character, or something.
Fears- Every human who has ever existed has been afraid of something. It can be a life-threatening fear or an irrational fear, but if you want your character to feel real, give them something to be afraid of. Here's the kicker, though— if you want to actually include this fear in your writing as opposed to just having it in the back of your mind as motivation, it has to be relevant to what's happening in the story. Maybe that fear changed something fundamental about who they are or the way they see things. Maybe they see a snake, decide to hightail it out of there, and run into someone they end up falling in love with (cheesy, I know, but you get the point).
Flaws- Nobody's perfect. A sure-fire way to make a character feel flat and not at all realistic is to make them seem flawless. And in the words of Tyra Banks, "Perfect is boring."
Quirks- This one sort of goes along with flaws. A little quirk can go a long way in terms of making someone feel more authentic or being all that more memorable.
An appropriate name- If your protagonist was born and raised in a small, conservative town in rural Georgia, don't name her Delilah. If he's from another planet, he probably shouldn't be called John Doe (Zorton would be a rad name in this case, fyi).
Relatability- Don't want your audience to give a crap about your character? Make them totally unrelatable in every single way.
Conflicts- Either external or internal. Something has to bother them, or there's no driving force behind the story and everything goes smoothly. Story over in a page and a half. Yawn.
A physical appearance- Keeping in mind what your people look like can inform a lot of things about the way you write them. For example, if your character is a big, hulking dude, it's not going to make sense for him to easily squeeze into a tiny space for shelter from a storm. He'll need to find something roomier.
Growth- Now, I don't mean a goiter coming out of the side of their faces. I mean, if you want your specific person to have that, then by all means, go for it. But I mean that they have to be able to change and develop in some way. If you think anyone goes through all of the action in a book and comes out exactly the same on the other side, you're sadly mistaken. They learn lessons. They learn things about themselves. They discover another part of the world. Stuff like that. They're dynamic, not static.
Whatever you do, don't include every single, itty-bitty detail about your character in your writing. That makes it feel forced and just plain false. However, it is very important to know all of these things (and more) about a character. Even if the audience doesn't know that your protagonist had eleven dogs growing up, it might help you to motivate things when he's faced with a situation where he has to hurt a dog to save himself, for example.
Here's my foolproof character worksheet. When you're creating an important character, fill it out. Every single blank. It takes a lot of time and thought, but it makes all the difference in how you write. :) I promise.
Happy writing,
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