How to Write Stories People Will Love

Question 13: Creating original characters

XxLightDarkHeroinexX asks: I always struggle with creating original characters. Even if my reader likes them, I always find myself starting to hate them after a bit. Do you have any simple tips and tricks on how to make realistic, interesting to read and write about characters? Just your methods for creating characters in general, and other methods, etc.

The single most important thing for creating a compelling character is that he or she seems like a real person. Even if your character is an ice demon who lives underground, he can still have human qualities that any reader can relate to. He can still have emotions and flaws which can be revealed through his decisions and interactions with people.

When all a character does is go through the motions of life and follow along the plot of the story, it feels flat. The character is two-dimensional because there's no personality. When the main character has an important decision to make, I want to know what she feels about it, what she's thinking. This can be revealed through internal thoughts, or through dialogue with other people.

Forgive the self-promotion, but readers have often told me that they enjoyed the emotional journeys that my main characters went through in both Siena and Sember. My plot wasn't the most original or creative, but characters can bring any plot to life when it feels like an actual person. In my opinion, emotions are what make humans so complex. We can reason, but we can also be illogical. We make different decisions based on whether we're happy or sad. Take this into consideration when writing your character, and you'll find your two-dimensional hero is taking shape and filling out into a three-dimensional character.

I'll give an example. Let's say Leo is arguing with his girlfriend. He'd promised to pick her up and take her to her job interview, but he forgot. She, of course, is livid and yells at him for forgetting all about her, accusing him of loving his video games more than her. Although it's obvious that Leo screwed up and should apologize, humans react differently to being yelled at. It stirs up different emotions for different people.

So instead of saying, "I'm so sorry. I'm an asshole." and then making up with her, he might take a defensive tack. Maybe he feels terrible and guilty for causing her to miss her interview. Maybe he's angry at himself for being so forgetful, for being at fault yet again. Can't he get anything right? What was wrong with him?? All this can be going on in his head, and instead he lashes out with, "Well maybe you shouldn't have failed that stupid drivers test! I mean, it's not that hard." Ouch. Some people take the illogical route and try to make themselves feel better by belittling the person in front of them.

Emotions are important. They breathe life into characters and stories.

To further help with creating your original character, I recommend re-reading the chapters titled, "Create Relatable Characters" and "Write Interesting Dialogue".