How to write a story.

Creating characters and developing relationships.

Chapter two, creating characters and developing relationships. 

The protagonist in a story can make or break the book, so it's important to get it right when creating and developing characters and their personalities. For example, the Twilight saga would be a whole lot more tolerable if Bella wasn't such a self centred cliche.

But how do you go about pulling an entirely new human being from thin air? 

The answer is, you don't. The chances are, if you've got a storyline in your head, you also have a character somewhere in there too. You just need to think about what kind of person would be in a certain situation and then decide how they would react to it. 

And you can base characters on the people around you too! Think of someone you admire, or even hate, and then think about the qualities that make them the way they are. As always, mind maps help. 

Once you have the basic shell of a person, for example, I could have just created a teenaged boy who lives to bowl, it's time to think about how they speak and behave.

My character is a teenager, this could mean that he uses a lot of slang and curses often. It's a boy so he might be more inclined to use more words like mate or dude. He's interested in bowling so this might be a topic that he gets enthusiastic about when it comes up into conversation. 

Try thinking about body language. This boy could slouch when he's bored or use wild hand gestures when he's excited, he could get very red in the face when he talks to girls and his voice could be pitched higher when he scared or angry. 

The next step is to come up with a name. The names of characters in books can be odd, and they can have hidden meaning but be at least a little realistic, unless your story is set in the future or an alternate universe.

If you're character is a jack of all trades think of names like, Harry or Nick or Tom for boys and names like Sarah or Jane or Sophie for girls. If they have artistic or hippie parents the names might be more poetic or unusual like India, Clementine or Wednesday for girls or Indigo, Gem and Gabriel for boys. If your character comes from a religious family, try religious names, Francis, Mark and Daniel are good for Christian or Catholic boys and names like Maria or Mary for girls. It's also important to think about the time your character was alive, there weren't many girls called Roxy or Jinx in the 1800s. 

The sir-name should sound good with the first name, for example Roxy Hart from 'Chicago' has an excellent name that people remember. 

And then it's time to think about whether or not they have a nickname. If your character is called Michael their name may be shortened to Mike, Mikey or Mick. Try not to make the nicknames too weird or it just wont be believable. And remember that a lot of boys seem to call each other by their last names. 

And now onto their appearance. 

Firstly, I am sick of beautiful characters, and I really can't be the only one. I would like a story where the teenaged heroin is plane looking or a little over weight or has a big nose. Girls who are having these beautiful characters live out their dreams, stop! Most teenagers are awkward and still growing into their faces, it will make your work far more interesting and realistic if your lead role is like that too! 

A characters looks can often represent their personality. Look at 'Of Mice and Men', Lennie is big and slow and lumbering, George is small and fast and sharp. If you want your character to be cunning like a fox, why not give them red hair and a pointed nose, make them small and delicate. If they're brutal and strong and unforgiving, think of big muscles and a wide head, a character that towers over you and scares you. 

At some point in your story you're going to have to describe your character, this can be tricky, especially if you're writing in first person but here's a few pointers.

1. Don't describe skin as, sun kissed or ivory. Who talks about themselves like that? 

2. Think about whether or not your character is happy with the way they look, this will decide what kinds of words you're going to use.

3. Start the description if the character is in front of a mirror or if someone has just commented on their aesthetics, or even if they're looking at someone they wished they looked like. 

When writing in third person the task is made a little easier since there isn't as much chance of you making your character look like a narcissist, then you can use all the poetic terms you like. Though don't go too overboard, I don't want to hear about their rosy, pouting nipples, pushing out like blooming flowers in the spring time. 

And now onto relationships.

Interactions between characters are very important, you don't want them to seem forced or fake and you don't want relationships to progress too quickly. 

One of the main ways people get to know one another is by talking but you have to remember to make the conversations seem realistic. 

Here's what not to do.

"Hi, Jenny, I am very sad today because my boyfriend broke up with me." I said to my best friend.

"I don't care, I'm busy." She replied so I started to cry.

"You never care about what I have to say! I hate you, go die!" I screamed and ran home. 

We all know nobody talks like that. 

So it's important to pay attention to the conversations you have with friends and family, look at how characters in books, television and films communicate and then apply that knowledge to your own work. As a massive Tarantino fan I love the small, random conversations about nothing that we all have in everyday life, they can really help the characters grow closer to each other and they can also tell the reader details about your characters that they otherwise wouldn't know. 

Another thing you want to be carful of when developing a relationship is the pace. Most people don't fall in love within half an hour, if your story is a romance then perhaps the main character shouldn't even meet their other half until two or three chapters in and then it should take another few chapters for them to realise they're interested, it shouldn't be till the end of the story that they end up together.

But at the same time, don't drag things out. Think about how long it takes for you to fall for someone, how long it takes you to work up the courage to say something. Art imitates life. 

In the next chapter I want to talk about Grammar and spacing so stay tuned. If you have any questions, leave them below!