How to Create Interesting Characters

Creating interesting fictional characters can be quite a task. It is many writers' natural inclination to base characters on people who exist in real life. This is not nearly as entertaining as conjuring someone much more bold, sexy, and adventurous than real world characters. Realism is something to avoid when writing fiction, unless the person you are writing about is naturally superhuman in his or her ideas, actions, and day to day lifestyle. Below are some ideas for creating interesting characters for your next fictional story.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A master character sheet.
• An active imagination.

1. 
    
   Create Interesting Characters.

   A Master Character List: Start by sketching each character that will be in your story. Even characters with brief appearances need unique qualities to seem believable. Otherwise stories become one-dimensional and boring. Answer these questions about your character:
   
   1) Full name: Has he or she ever changed his or her name? If so, why?
   2) Born and raised?
   3) Religion and ethnic background?
   4) Physical description?
   5) Speech signature: Accents? Catch phrases? Does he or she laugh a lot when speaking? Does he or she snort or slurp or stutter?
   6) Marital status and sexual preference?
   7) What profession and is the character happy with it?
   8) What does the character believe in?
   9) Triumphs and failures?
   10) Hobbies?
   11) Musical?
   12) Neat or a slob?
   13) How does this character's hands behave when making something?
   14) School and teacher he or she respected?
   15) Events he or she remembers for years?
   16) Tangible objects he or she has saved?
   17) Personality?
   18) Habits: good and bad.
   19) Read today's editorial page. What would this character have to say about it?
   20) Goals and dreams?
   21) Likes and dislikes?
   22) Strengths and weaknesses?

2. 
    
   Extreme Characters.

   As suggested in the introduction, characters that are too much like the people we meet in day to day life are not always the most interesting in stories. Some stories have, at their base, the intention to exploit the boredom of everyday life. This is a great theme to write about, however, as Jane Austen said, one cannot show boredom of an age by writing boring characters. Extreme characters, on the other hand will have strong emotions that trigger action, a history that drives his or her actions in the present, the willingness and ability to stand alone or break rules if necessary, and an unstoppable drive toward what he or she wants. If one is lucky, he or she may meet someone like this in his or her life, but in general, most people are not this fascinating.

3. 
    
   All Characters Have Flaws

   Don't make the mistake of making characters perfect. Even superman is powerless against kryptonite. Even Jesus was prone to temper tantrums. Flaws are what make us human. There is not a person among us who doesn't have some negative behavior or unhealthy habit that rears its ugly head in difficult times: extreme exercise habits, starvation, binge eating, drugs or alcohol, violent outbursts, promiscuity, obsessive or compulsive behaviors, depression, religious fundamentalism, irrational beliefs or delusions, egotism, grandeur, etc. In real life, we all try to downplay these flaws as being insignificant parts of ourselves. We want to believe we are in control and even when we aren't we don't want others to see through our superpowers to our weaknesses. Unfortunately, even positive behaviors that are taken too far can end up creating negative results. The same will be true of your characters, but much to our and their chagrin, these flaws still exist and need to be written into your story for your fictional characters to be believable. Think of the greatest figures in history. What were his or her flaws? Drinking? Extra-marital affairs? Angry outbursts? Messiah complex? No one is perfect.

Tips & Warnings

• The better one knows one's characters before starting a story, the more those characters will seem real in the text itself.
• Nothing loses a reader faster than a passive character who sits frightened and frozen as the world pushes him or her around. If you choose to write such a character, I highly recommend making the story about this character's journey toward realizing this weakness and overcoming it.
• Many writers have difficulty writing bold characters for fear of judgment. Readers who will judge a writer for writing the truth about the human condition are not worth anyone's time. In fact, self-righteousness is a great character flaw. Use your critics in your next story!
• Be careful not to let your characters slide into triteness. In other words, if your character sleeps around, it should be for a purpose. Perhaps to emphasize his masculinity as in James Bond, or to show a bold, empowered woman who gets what she wants like in Basic Instinct. To have characters sleeping together for the sake of a gratuitous sex scenes is lazy writing and...well, gratuitous. Every scene should have a purpose to the story.

[Mindee94]

on 9/10/2009 Excellent points. Very well thought out. Would love to see a sample of a creative writing piece of yours. With this in depth of character development it is certain to involve a reader. Thanks for the tips and pointers. Mindee

[Merriment]

on 6/1/2009 This is really great information for creating a character in writings. I will be referring back to this if I get my mind frame back on track with that kind of writing!

[nightshift]

on 5/16/2009 Great article I am going to try this in my writing and in cartooning.5*

[Tiferet]

on 5/15/2009 Although I'm not a fiction writer these are great tips for someone who is.

[athome]

on 5/15/2009 I love your article on creating interesting charachters. 5*/rec