When you're writing a book, there are a few things that can really make or break it. A very important one is your characters.
If your characters are written well, your fans will love them. They will laugh at their jokes, cry for their losses, actually fall in love with them, even create fan fiction and fan art of them.
But if your character is written badly, not many readers will even finish your book.
Now, don't mistake a badly written character with a 'bad' character. When I say written well, I don't mean that your character has to be the good guy or the lovable hero, they can just as easily be a horrible villain. What I mean with written well, is that they have to be believable.
So, if you're having some trouble with your characters, here are some tips to help write a good one!
Photo by Cobro
1. Not all characters are good or bad, there's such a thing as morally gray
There's no such thing as pure good and pure bad, so big chance your characters aren't either. Morality tends to be very relative. If your character murders someone, they'll be a bad guy to the law. But if he killed someone who was beating a young child, for example, to some he'll be seen as a hero. Or at least he'll be more easily forgiven for what he did by your readers.
Many people, and especially characters in fantasy stories, have their own sense of justice. So when writing a character, think about what they consider justice, what they consider right and wrong. Do they have a line they would never cross? Or is there nothing they wouldn't do for the people they love? Do they ever even think about these questions?
Be careful of what your characters do, though. If it's something too unforgivable, your character might never be able to redeem themselves in the eyes of your readers. Think about a main character raping someone, or killing someone completely innocent, for example. It's important to keep this in mind, even if you're writing a villain or an anti-hero.
2. Keep your readers in mind
The reason many readers love a character, is because they can relate to them. If your character reacts in a way no person would ever react, your readers will quickly lose interest.
It's important to write what you love, but always keep in mind that readers have certain expectations when they pick up your book and if those expectations are completely ignored, there's a big chance they won't finish it. Therefore, it's always good to keep an eye on the market and talk to your readers, so you know what those expectations are.
And as mentioned before, keep your characters believable. No one can write a character that everyone loves, after all, but you can write a character that at least everyone can believe.
3. Not all characters have to be liked by your readers
As I mentioned above, not all characters are hero's. Some are anti-hero's or even villains, and there's nothing wrong with that. As a matter of fact, I think it makes for interesting books.
This doesn't mean, however, that your character should just do any random evil thing that comes to mind. Believable characters will have believable motives for their actions. Simply making your character collect a pile of corpses to show that he's evil will very likely not leave much of an impression. People don't work like that, after all. Even murderers kill because it makes them feel something.
Does your villain get a rush from taking a life that nothing else can give him, that he desperately craves? Does he do it to provoke the hero, knowing they will come to stop him from killing anyone else? Does he do it as a warning to others, making sure no one dares to go against him? Does he do it because he sees something in the people he kills that is missing inside of himself and he can't deal with that, so he decides to erase it?
4. Dialogue
Not every person speaks the same way or says the same things, so neither should your characters. Some might speak in a way that makes them seem haughty or complacent. Others might use a lot of words to say very little. Some might have a speech impediment. And yet others tend to overuse some words more than others.
Giving your characters a dialogue that's specific to them will also help your readers recognize who's talking, so you won't have to keep repeating 'Bob said' and 'Fred whispered'.
When writing dialogue, it's also important to focus on the setting of your story. What kind of people are talking to each other? Consider their intelligence, their status, their age, and the time they live in.
Now, is your story set in the time of knights and kings, it's probably not a good idea to start writing in old English. But it can also put many readers off to use words that wouldn't have made sense in that time. So, it's good to be careful of sentences like 'he liked to be in the spotlight'. The spotlight didn't even exist yet back then, after all!
But the most important thing is that like your character, your character's dialogue should be believable.
5. Appearance
A character's appearance is a part of who they are, just like it is with us. Many of us don't want our characters to seem shallow, so we try not to let them focus on their own appearance too much, but why shouldn't they? We all do, even if we don't always admit it. There's nothing wrong with letting your character look into a mirror and think they look good, or they look ugly, or anything in between.
The way they see themselves also influences the way they act. If they're insecure about their appearance, they will enter a room full of people very differently than someone who thinks they're all that. Someone who thinks they're attractive will probably have an easier time talking to someone they're interested in than someone who is so afraid of being rejected or laughed at that their minds go blank.
There's no reason to completely describe your characters or any other characters from tip to toe, it'll probably just make your writing boring. But it's good to reveal a few things about them, preferably accompanied by why those things stood out to your character and what they think about it or how they make them feel.
When a main characters sees a very attractive man, for example, she might notice how soft his dark hair looks because she can already imagine herself running her hand through it. She might notice his brown eyes because of the kind way he looks at her. Or when she meets someone with a bushy beard, she might notice a few grey hairs in there, making her realize that person is probably older than she'd thought at first.
6. Consider their origins
Your roots, where you came from and how you grew up are an important part of who you are, and that goes for your characters too.
If you've created a grand, diverse fantasy world with different continents, different countries, different species, different races, and different religions, you probably also have very diverse characters.
Where people come from reflects in many of the things they do. What they look like, for example, how they dress, how they talk, how they think, what they believe.
Even if your character chooses to hide where they came from, or purposely refuses to wear clothes that reflect their home, or have renounced their fate, that can say a lot about them. Are they ashamed? Would they be in danger if others found out?
And it works the other way around, too. If you've established that everyone from this or that country speaks with a very thick accent, then running into a character with that kind of accent will immediately tell your readers where they came from, without you having to point it out every time.
7. They have fears and habits
These are little things that really make your character come alive. In my opinion, you don't even have to tell your readers about every little thing, but the more of them you know about, the better you know your own character, the more believable they become.
Perhaps they almost drowned when they were a little kid, so they tend to avoid going near water. There's no need to describe that near-drowning if you don't want to put it in the book, or if your character prefers to keep it a secret, but because of it, you can describe how your character always takes the long way round and doesn't even likes to take baths.
Habits can also help stand a certain character stand out, making them more memorable to your readers. Maybe your character has trouble sitting still, for example, so he keeps tapping his foot. Maybe he hurt his arm once, which left a scar, and now he unconsciously scratches that spot whenever he's deep in thought. Or maybe he refuses to cry in front of others, so he tends to bite his lip really hard whenever he feels sad.
8. Not every character has to have a superpower
Strength comes in many shapes and seizes, it means something different to everyone. Yes, to some people strength means having incredibly overpowered magic, or insane muscles. To some, it could mean being strong enough not to do something they will regret later. To others, it could mean being able to admit you were wrong, or having the courage to say how you feel out loud.
To your readers, a superpower will look cool, but it isn't very relatable. Do you know anyone who has them in real life? (If you do, though, I'd love to be introduced!)
Think about Iron Man, for example. Yes, he had a really amazing suit and could do all kinds of insane things because of it, but what made him relatable, what made me like him, was that having all that taught him how to be a kinder, more open person.
Having your characters possess and learn emotional strength will help them grow in the eyes of your readers, making them grow closer and fall head over heals for them.
9. Writing characters with disabilities or mental health problems
Just like in real life, there are probably many people in your fantasy world who have a disability, who can no longer walk, who are deaf or blind, or who have depression or autism or ADHD.
Representation is always a positive thing. Like I said above, people want to relate to the characters they're reading, but they can only do that if the character is believable. Therefore, when writing a character with a disability or mental condition, it's always good to do research. Try to reach out to people you know who have a disability and ask them questions and go through ideas you have together (if they're comfortable with that, of course).
A good idea is also always to reach out to your readers. You'll find that many of them will be very willing to answer any questions you have.
Beware, though, that bad representation can sometimes do more damage than no representation, so don't do it halfheartedly.
Of course, this goes for any kind of character and any kind of theme you write about, whether it's about the LGBTQIA+ community, about racism, about classism, about religion, or anything really. If you take something from the real world, make sure you know what you're talking about!
That's all!
In the end, there are many ways to write a character and many different characters to write, but I hope these nine tips helped you flesh out your character a little more!
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