Create Characters

This will teach you how to create great characters for your story.

Steps

Creating Your Own Characters

  1. Decide which genre your character will be in. Is it fantasy, action, comedy, etc.?
  2. Answer the following questions: What is this character's purpose in the story? Why is this character needed in the story?
  3. Decide what purpose your character serves. Are you creating a main character or a supporter? The object of affection or a despised enemy to a main character? By deciding what role your character plays in the story beforehand, it is easier to create a personality to fit that role.
  4. Make sure not to make your character do something they would not want to. It would make your story seem off. For example, if your character was very trusting, would he/she investigate the strange man who came to town from the forest? You may be thinking 'My story won't work if he/she doesn't investigate the man!' Maybe you can find a way to make it work, or maybe you will even spin the story into another, more exciting direction.
  5. Give your character some basic attributes. This will be the skeleton for your character's personality. What does this person look like? How old are they? Where did they come from, and how were they raised? What are some of their likes and dislikes? Think of your character as someone you've just met and are trying to get to know better. Try to make their attributes relate to their role in the story; for example, a villain likely would not have a nice attitude about other people. Use a character's attributes to tell the reader something about who they are. This doesn't have to be very personal or in-depth. After all, the character isn't a day old! Also, even if you are not making a comic, if you have some skill in drawing, it helps to draw your character to further visualize him or her. If you are not confident in your drawing skills, ask an artsy friend for help.
  6. Delve into your character's past. What made them what they are today? Is there some deep dark secret that the character feels like he has to hide? Was the character born into extraordinary circumstances or did she/he have a normal childhood? Create a biography for your character and get as in-depth as you like with this. You can even write short memory scenes for your character. Don't hesitate to add to this character's experiences even as you're writing the story. You may find that, for your character to react the way you want him/her to in a situation, something must have happened in their past to garner that reaction. It's OK to change your character's personality to suit the story. Just make sure to go back and change anything that would be extremely out of character given his/her altered personality.
  7. Allow the character to grow and develop as the story progresses. The events in your story all add to your character's experiences and memories and will have an effect on their thoughts, actions, and attitude. For example, if you have a very lonely downtrodden character who is shown a shining instant of human kindness, the character's attitude will change, at least temporarily.
  8. Show, don't tell. Use the character's actions and dialogue in your story to reveal them to the reader instead of just bluntly stating what they are like. Dedicating an entire paragraph of a story to describing the character's personality and appearance causes your story to sound stilted and disrupts the plot; instead, make character development an organic part of the story.

Sample Character Descriptions

Doc:Fictional Character Description,Male Anime Character Description,Character Profile for Book

Tips

  • Drawing characters can really help.
  • Nothing is entirely evil or entirely good. If it is entirely evil or entirely good, it is not real. Make your stories seem real. Even if it contains talking toes!
  • Keep your old works of writing, even if you don't plan to finish them. The characters might give you ideas, and maybe even help with your plot!
  • To get some good ideas for traits of your characters, if you're good at drawing, draw a picture of the character. Then show it to a friend, stranger, anyone, and ask them what type of person you think they are. People always judge others, so, by asking them this, you can formulate some ideas.
  • Observe what real people do and think. The people around you. Sometimes, the dullest people have some very interesting experiences. Play psychiatrist. Don't get involved, and never be too obvious.
  • Pay attention to conversations, be they your own or other people's. Make sure that the personality of your character shows in their talking and keep in mind that dialogue is one key factor to making your characters real, unless you intentionally include no dialogue in your story. Writing good dialogue is difficult. Examine movies and plays that you find realistic, memorable, etc for examples.
  • Remember to make your characters seem real. Nobody is perfect, including those overused "perfect" characters. If you want to capture some gritty, realistic characters, ride the bus. Not the subway. Ride the MTA buses, and go downtown. Look carefully at everyone, you might find some people whose faces alone leak of an interesting character. Typically these people are different from the people one sees everyday at school or work. Don't let them see you staring. Don't jot anything down, just let it settle in. Pay particular attention to abnormalities. Warning: If you live in a very shady neighborhood, and/or are very young/vulnerable looking, avoid this method. Also, don't wear any showy or expensive clothes. Try to sit behind or somewhere near (not next to) that person, and try to overhear anything they say. Pay attention to their facial expressions, and see what they pay the most attention to. Don't get caught. What to do once you know you've got someone interesting- try blending in the personality of someone you understand very well (such as yourself) into the shell you have created through your observation.
  • Keep doing this to the point when you can ask your character what he/she/it would say/do in a situation even if that's not what you, necessarily, want he/she/it to do, try it and if it doesn't work out then adapt the story/character so it fits.

Also, develop your character's personality throughout your story, maybe add in twists. A character who stays exactly the same all the time could become boring.

  • Make sure they aren't too perfect.They don't have to be realist either if it's a fiction story be creative. Jot down some personality that the character would look like they have or they look like they don't have.
  • Sometimes the best character to write about is just like you. The person you know best is yourself, so it would be easy to think of traits, reactions to daily life, etc. But if you want to add in something different here and there, go ahead!

Warnings

  • If you are impulsive in your character-making, and you go a lot more on feeling than planning and order, you're going to make a big melodramatic mess. If you come up with a character, write down some notes, keep adding stuff whenever you like, and come back to it after a little bit of time (couple of days) when you think you feel really clear-headed and ready to focus.
  • Beware of plagiarism! Do NOT copy a character from a book, movie etc. This is against the law!

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