How to Make Good Book Characters

Well-developed characters in a book bring the story to life.

Characters are a vital part of any story, especially when the characters are part of a book. A book requires several characters. Though it is not necessary to create complex backgrounds for every single character in a book, it is necessary to create compelling main characters, villains and secondary characters, which play a large role in the book. Well-developed characters make a book come alive while poorly developed characters can ruin the book.

Instructions

1. Write out your character's motivations. Determining what your characters are working toward and what they want is an important part of developing them. For example, a character that is motivated by money might commit extreme acts to gain money. Motivations vary dramatically and can be as easy to recognize as working for money or as complicated as overthrowing an evil king.

2. Jot down your character's fears or things they want to avoid. Fears, like motivations, can determine what a character will say or do in certain situations. For example, a character with a fear of pain would run from a fight or avoid confrontation.

3. Create a specific background for your characters, especially the main characters. Specifics are an important part of understanding your characters and why they are doing what they do. A background should include how the character in your book grew up and what part of their lives created the motivations and fears your characters have.

4. Empathize with your character. If you cannot empathize with your characters' emotions, motivations and actions, your reader will not empathize or understand your character either. Empathy is easy when writing a hero's struggles; but it can become difficult when writing the motivations and actions of a villain. Empathy is an important part of understanding the characters in your book.

5. Avoid easing the pain and suffering of your characters. Getting too involved can end up ruining the story by easing suffering before it makes sense in the story.

Tips & Warnings

• Basing your characters' motivations and responses on friends, family or others you know well can make it easier to empathize with the character.

References

• Holly Lisle: How to Create a Character
• Write a Book Now: How to Create Living, Breathing Characters in Your Book
• Write and Publish Your Book: Character Development: How to Create Convincing Characters

Resources

• Fiction Factor: Creating Characters