FIVE TIPS FOR WRITING APPEALING CHARACTERS
- Make your character a human being—no one is in real life is perfect- making no mistakes. Flaws make for uniqueness and interest, especially appealing when you present an obstacle in the plot or for your character.
- Give your character a backstory—give readers some history of your character to show where he is coming from, why he is like what he is.
- Give your character something to believe in—because he believes in something, the reader will believe in him.
- Use minor characters to challenge your main character—they exist to move the story along and to flex your main character. They can push slong character development in your main. Flesh them out when possible with their own backstory which helps flesh out your main character
- Whenever possible, avoid clichés—clichés dampen down character development making your main character flat as cardboard. Make your character unique which may prompt added interest and curiosity within your readers
BETTER THAN CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS
Character descriptions are boring and totally forgettable. Use your and your reader’s imagination to make your characters stand out. Try to develop more vivid and interesting characters without a list of their qualities such as hair color, build, eye color, etc. Use these following qualities to describe your characters, showing characteristics rather than simply telling about them.
HABITS AND BEHAVIORS
Actions speak louder than words. Show their characteristics through their actions and behaviors— how they respond to other characters. Show how their habits dictate actions. Does it really make a difference to the story that she has blue eyes?
ENVIRONMENT
Setting changes how we look at characters. Showing how your character goes out in freezing weather in a t-shirt probably lets the reader know more about him than telling the reader that your character has hairy arms. His environment, and how he reacts to it, often shows your reader all that he needs to know about a character.
PROFESSION
Often, your character’s profession will describe your character because readers have certain perceptions of a profession. In your reader’s eye, a blacksmith won’t have spindly arms. Showing how your character struggled through MIT engineering courses will be more telling than just saying he has a degree in engineering
POSSESSIONS
Showing your character driving a red Porsche will bring up to your reader certain qualities—a grey Prius some others. If your character has a vast collection of whiskey shot-glasses from around the world, your reader will make assumptions about your character.
Instead of spending words to describe your character, let your reader’s imagination conjure up the qualities of your character. He will surely be a more interesting, vivid, and memorable one that will stick with your reader.
KNOW YOUR CHARACTER
Lajos Egri, in his book, The Art of Dramatic Writing, contends that a well-rounded character will be three-dimensional—physiological, sociological, and psychological
The physiological dimension of a character will include his height, weight, age, sex, race, and so on. Society shapes our character based on our appearance, size, sex, build, skin color, and a hundred other physical traits. To develop a fully rounded character, you must understand the character’s physiology completely.
Secondly, his sociological background will determine what and how he acts and what will motivate his actions. Where he’s from, his childhood, religious training, if any, his political, education, parental direction, and so on, will direct how he performs in your story. The character’s motivations produce the conflicts and generate the narrative tension that your story must have if it is to succeed in holding the reader’s attention.
The third dimension of character, the psychological, is the product of the physiological and the sociological dimensions. Within the psychological dimension, we find phobias and manias, complexes, fears, inhibitions, fantasies, and so on. To write a novel, you need not be a psychologist, but you must be a student of human nature and acquire an understanding of why people do what they do and say what they say. Make the world your laboratory. Keeping a journal about the people you met might be helpful.