The Writer's Guide to a Good Story

Know Your Characters

This is one of the most important steps in character development. It adds depth to your story. It's also one of the things that can make up for a poor plot. I'm not saying you should have a bad plot. Have a good plot, or else...

I'm aware that you can tell that the ellipse means that I really have no threat in mind to carry out if I read your story and it has a poor plot. Let's pretend that I do, shall we?

As a writer, you have to go beyond identifying and liking your character. You have to know your character. You have to be your character. 

That does NOT mean that you should go jump off a cliff because your character did. Please don't. I do not want to be thrown in jail for manslaughter. 

The thing is, you are not in control of your character. No matter how silly that sounds, you have to think of your character as a separate being, outside of the wondorous world of your imagination. (I don't want to know what you guys think about).

So you want to know how to know your characters?

Well, I'm not going to tell you.

...Just kidding. 

Step 1: Don't overthink it.  A little planning and outlining is definitely okay. In fact, you should always have some sort of a plan in order to be able to write a story. 

You don't want to write down what your character's favorite show, favorite color, favorite number, favorite teacher to whom he sends roses every day, and biggest secret are. It feels more like a planned script than letting your subconsciousness take charge of the little things. 

For lack of a better word, it does not feel as natural. 

Step 2: Consistency. If your character has a certain habit or organizes his/her things in a certain way, we should see that happening throughout the book unless something has happened in order for it to change. 

For example, let's say you have a character in your story that is named Billy Bob. Billy Bob hates skittles. He can't stand the way they look, feel, and taste. 

That rule is established in chapter one, let's say, when Billy Bob is offered a skittle by a friend and punches said friend in the face. This scatters the skittles so that they fly in all sorts of different directions, hitting some poor kid in the eye, which gives him a skittle infection.

I DO NOT want to see this in chapter three:

ok so zach and i sat together during lunch today and on the bus later. we did a bunch of stuff oh and also had lunch. later we shared food too again. so zach gave me some sort of gross sandwich and i said it was gross and he said i hate you and i said i hate you too and i told him once and for all that we are not friends anymore and i said i would never share my skittles with him for as long as i lived so i owned him.

Aside from the improper sentence structure, poor grammar, lack of commas, and run-on sentences, what do we see here that is a bit of a problem?

Oh, right. 

WHY IS BILLY BOB EATING SKITTLES?!

This has happened more than you think. The only reason this would be okay would be if something happened to change Billy Bob's prejudice against skittles. Maybe his friend made him try one, and he really liked it.

Step 3: Create a cast list. NO, I am NOT talking about the Wattpad cast lists. This one is more of something you create on your own. For me and a lot of other writers, it happens subconsciously. Not on pen and paper, just in case you were wondering.

No, haha, I don't sleepwalk and write random stuff down in the middle of the night.

Maybe you're modeling your character after someone you met in real life. Someone you know very well, or not very well. 

If that's your situation, I recommend keeping them in mind as I write. Would they punch that kid who stole their lollipop? Would they clean their bed nicely, tucking the covers under the pillows, or hurl everything into one big heap on the sheets and go play their xbox?

Creating and developing characters isn't always as easy as it looks. It's like staying in character in a play, where you have to competely detach your own emotions and thoughts from those your character is experiencing.