The Good, the Bad, and the Unusual
A Half Dozen Hints for Creating Realistic Characters
A story isn't a story without characters--and the more real your characters seem, the more readers will love your story.
The best plot in the world won’t sell a story unless readers care what happens to the characters. People care about people, so here’s how to make fictional characters seem human:
1. Know them inside and out. Make a chart for each major character, with headings like Eye Color, Mannerisms, Favorite Foods, and Deepest Fears. Whether these traits appear in the story is irrelevant; the main purpose is to help you see a real person with human attributes. Once you know characters yourself, it’s easier to make them real for readers.
2. Pick one to four “viewpoint” characters—the fewer the better—through whose eyes readers will experience the story. Any direct thoughts or feelings in the text must belong to viewpoint characters.
If you tell your story in first person (as an “I”), a single viewpoint character is almost required. Speaking as a character experiencing the action does make it easier to stay in one viewpoint. (Not always easy, though. No fair describing the narrator unless he has reason to consider his appearance.) The alternative is third person (an invisible narrator does the talking), which can be used with a single viewpoint character or several.
With several, it’s tempting to jump back and forth between their heads. Don’t. Readers go crazy trying to decide whom to empathize with. Not:
“I don’t know what to do.” Ted felt miserable. How could he explain?
LaDonna didn’t understand why he was so upset.
Better:
“I don’t know what to do.” Ted felt miserable. How could he explain?
LaDonna shook her head. “I don’t understand why you’re so upset.”
Or:
“I don’t know what to do.” Ted buried his face in his hands.
LaDonna didn’t understand why he was so upset.
If you’re in Ted’s viewpoint and want to show LaDonna’s internal reaction, give her a separate scene after this conversation is over.
Another advantage of third person is that you can start by describing the viewpoint character from outside, before dropping fully into her head. However:
3. You needn’t go into extensive detail when describing characters. One or two notable physical traits (his height, her brilliant blue eyes), plus anything that will affect the story directly, should be sufficient. Don’t get so thorough that readers wonder if you honed your writing skills on missing-person reports.
4. Actually, descriptions of any kind are better shown than told—and “showing” does a better job of establishing character. Don’t say, “He was angry”; have him pound the table, slam the door, or—if he’s the passive-aggressive type—hunch his shoulders and glare at the ground. The way someone shows anger says a lot about his personality.
5. Dialogue is another useful tool. You can establish a character as a bore by having him go on and on about his triumphs (don’t overdo it, or readers will get bored too!), or indicate someone’s education through her vocabulary. Do think twice before using slang (soon dated) or “spell it like it’s said” dialect (offensive to many, and quickly becomes boring). In a first-person story, speech patterns should show in the narrative as well.
6. Don’t make your characters perfect; there’s nothing less human. Give everyone a fault or shortcoming. And though it’s not as universal a rule, consider giving the “bad guy” a sympathetic trait; a total sociopath is hard to portray convincingly.
However good or bad the characters, every story (whether the writer knows it or not) has a theme, e.g.: "Love conquers all"; "Crime does not pay"; "It's no use fighting fate." The next article will talk about getting themes across without lecturing readers.
