Characters

Characters can make or break a novel.

No matter how gifted a writer you are, no matter how amazing your plot is, if your characters are lifeless, your novel will fall flat. Here are some rules to follow while creating characters.


1. Give your characters flaws

Although most veteran writers already know this rule, it cannot hurt to restate it: give your characters realistic flaws. Flaws are what make us human, and although they are annoying in real life, they are interesting fodder for a novel. No one wants to read about a rocket scientist super model billionaire.


2. Make your main characters likable (or hatable)

Make the reader care about your character (if they're the good guy) or really despise your character (if they're the bad guy). Of course, there's always room for the shadowy guy in between who cannot decide if he's good or evil, but you should have at least one good, likable character that your audience can root for, even if they don't win in the end.


3. Plant "seeds" of yourself in your characters (or someone else)

I take tiny pieces of myself and my life and plant them in my characters. As I write about these characters, they tend to grow on their own and become something totally different than I envisioned. Gwen Caradoc and Ellie Kingsclere, the narrators in Chopin at 3:00 in the Morning and The Second Sister respectively, are most closely related to me. I think every main character I write about has at least one unique characteristic taken from me or someone I know well.


4. Try taking some notes

When you envision your character in your mind, what do you see? Can you describe them in one sentence? Can you describe them in a paragraph? Name one important memory from their past. What is their full name? What are the names of their parents? Where and when were they born? What are their thoughts on love? You can always look up character question sheets on the internet, there are plenty of good ones out there, but I prefer to go it alone.


5. Find your character's voice

Even if your novel is going to be in third person, I recommend writing a short monologue in first person for your main character(s). It will help you decide how your character talks and thinks, and these quirks can be useful for dialogue scenes later on. Although you certainly do not want to overuse them, zeroing in on a few common expressions or phrases that your main characters use can be useful. Imagine how their voice sounds in your head. When I was much younger and first creating characters of my own, I even tried to imitate their voices and record them on my computer. Although I deleted these files from embarrassment afterward, the process of making them was very useful.


6. You will discover new things about your characters as you write about them

I knew that my characters had begun to take on lives of their own when Gwen, who I created on Christmas Eve when I was twelve, decided that she was a lesbian, dumped the (admittedly dull) boyfriend I created for her, and chose to start dating her best friend Mandy. The characters were so real to me at this point that I had almost no say in this. Watching one of my characters choose her own romantic partner helped me come out to myself, which is probably why Gwen is my favorite character of all time, and the most like me.

Does this sound scary? It is, a little. Here's a hint: if you start losing control of your characters, DO NOT tell non-writers what is going on in your head, because they will think you are crazy. As long as you can separate fiction from reality, you're okay. Just keep it to yourself, or you might get some weird looks... I know from personal experience.