How to Develop a Compelling Character

arbitrarykitten (66) in steemiteducation • 7 years ago (edited)

Writing fiction is one of the strangest and rewarding things I have ever done. It is much like being a parent: your character is "born" from scratch following your intent and you give them a name. You dress them and grow them, and as you are writing chapter after chapter you find yourself with hopes and dreams for them- how they will act and react, who they will end up with, how you wish to see them at the end of the book.

But a funny thing happens. Much like a parent, after a while your "child" starts to exercise free will! And you find yourself watching your character doing their own thing. Writing their own story.

It is a very interesting phenomena to be a part of!

If you start out with a detailed character description, half your work is done for you. So before you start writing your story, set aside some time to fully develop your characters.

1 Physical

Start out with what your character looks like. Hair color, eye color, height, weight, build, skin tone. Go into details like "high cheek bones" or "square jaw". You want this part to be as detailed as you can get. Are there scars, tattoos or piercings? If you have trouble with this, look at a photo of a person who resembles how you wish your character to look and break it down. Lips, collarbone, abs, get those details written so anyone who looks at your description page will have a clear image in their head.

2 Demographics

This is going to affect the rest so give some thought into this.

How a person is raised and the type of environment they live in is going to affect the rest of their inner and outer description. If they were raised poor they might walk with a tough no nonsense gait. If they were raised terribly wealthy but recently lost their money they will walk high and mighty yet falteringly and unsure as they keep remembering how they were knocked from their throne. Develop their early childhood, teen years, types of education, jobs or career, areas lived, etc.

3 Characteristics

Now it's time to watch your character in action. Have them walk, run and dance in your mind. Are they graceful or clumsy? Do they walk with a slight limp on the left? Watch them when they think they aren't being watched- how do they act in their own living room when alone? Is it different when surrounded by people? Do they have an intense stare or are they shy? Are they talkative or more on the quiet side? Which side do they sleep on? Do they run their hand through their hair? Chew gum?

4 Hobbies

Give your new character hobbies, because everyone needs something to enjoy when not working ;)

5 Hopes and Dreams and Hates

Everyone has wants, needs and dreams. Decide what your character hopes for. This may be easy because it is central to your story, or it may be a bit more difficult, but necessary. Similarly, everyone has something they wish they could change about themselves. It may be economic status, lisp, weight, or eye color, but everyone has something.

6 A Secret

I'm going to share a secret with you. This has helped me develop well loved characters in my stories ever since I first started doing it. It really works!

Give your character a secret.

You must never tell anyone the secret, not the reader, not your best friend. The secret is between the character and you only. This little bit of magic will bring your character to life in a big way! I don't know how this works exactly but when I started doing this I received much more profound feedback on how loved (or hated, for the bad guy characters) each character is!

Each character in your story should have their own detailed desctiption. If they are important enough to be mentioned in your book, they are important enough to develop a back story.

Remember that not every single bit of this will end up on the pages of your story or novel. That is not the point of this exercise. This is for you. The better you know your character the more they will come to life and off the page and into your readers hearts.

What brings your characters to life? Share your tricks in the comments!

Images via Leonardo DaVinci and Pexels

I appreciate your support :)

With Love, Light and Good Mojo!

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7 years ago by arbitrarykitten (66)

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riovanes (66) · 7 years ago

Very useful information. As a reader, I once thought that writing fiction is easy work, how wrong I am. Fiction is one of the hardest story to write, only after experiencing writing fiction myself did I realize how hard it is. Making the characters and the world they live in seem alive, takes a lot of dedication and inspiration, and even then, the end result may not be to your likings. Anyway enough of the long rant, thanks again for providing a very informative article.

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arbitrarykitten (66) · 7 years ago

It does take a lot to create a character who feels real :) Thank you, I am happy you enjoyed it!

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freewheel (52) · 7 years ago

I love the idea of giving a character a secret! Seems like that would give a way to introduce a range of quirks or behaviors in a coherent way, without them just being randomly assigned to the character in an effort to make them more interesting. And it would give the sense of hidden depths, that the reader only maybe now and then gets a glimpse of. Really great tip.

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arbitrarykitten (66) · 7 years ago

Correct :) Try it, your readers will notice the difference ;)

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derosnec (65) · 7 years ago

This is great - I have one addition which one of my story mentors taught me: The most interesting characters are the ones that do interesting things, not necessarily the ones that have the most interesting backgrounds.

So, when creating a backstory, don't worry about making it crazy complicated. Focus on creating someone who will react certain ways to certain situations, as that's ultimately what's going to drive the story forward and teach the character new things.

He even made a cute video:

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arbitrarykitten (66) · 7 years ago (edited)

Good point. The background needs not be complicated at all. The important thing is that you know your character well. That easy you'll know how they will react and act in situations. So that they pop to life off the page :)

Lol, love the animation!!!

Thank you!

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ahmadmanga (65) · 7 years ago

I always read topics like these and I still fail to do them, (I know how I just miss doing them before writing the story and sometimes long after)... Thanks for reminding me of this.

everyone has something they wish they could change about themselves.

I think that's a weak point of a lot of my characters, a lot of them are content with themselves. I'll try to work on this.

Give your character a secret.

This one is very good advice... But I can't think of a secret that I don't want to show to the reader... But if done right, this secret can influence everything the character does and makes the readers engaged with thinking the reason.

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arbitrarykitten (66) · 7 years ago

Everyone has flaws. If you give your characters one I am willing to bet they will be more relatable.

The secret can be big, or it can be something small- like they bite their hangnails or pick their nose, but they want to project themselves as perfect so it's a big secret to them, they'd die if anyone found out ;)

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cosimo (58) · 7 years ago

"Watch them when they think they aren't being watched- how do they act in their own living room when alone?"

"... everyone has something they wish they could change about themselves. It may be economic status, lisp, weight, or eye color, but everyone has something."

And the "secret" all very intriguing steps to getting to know your character. It would be difficult not to know someone well and know those things about them.

Nice post AK

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arbitrarykitten (66) · 7 years ago

Exactly!

Thanks!

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miniature-tiger (68) · 7 years ago

Great advice @arbitrarykitten! It's interesting to hear how other people do this.

I tend to start with motive and build outwards (not deliberately, that's just the way it tends to happen). What is the character doing and why --> what sort of character would find themselves in this situation --> what are the characteristics they would have / would need for this all to make sense --> flesh out details based on conversations.

I like your eye for the detail though. And particularly the secret, that's a really nice idea.

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arbitrarykitten (66) · 7 years ago

Very cool, your way is interesting too!

Thank you :)

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methusalem (67) · 7 years ago

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arbitrarykitten (66) · 7 years ago

Thank you!

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