How to create vivid, real characters so they become unforgettable for your readers.

Building characters is something I love to speak about because I see them as being different versions of me and therefore since they are constantly showing me things that I don’t even know about myself, I enjoy a lot exploring this topic.

Another reason is that in my view characters are the driving force of a solid novel and they need to be given the proper kind of attention, interest, effort, time and effort.

So, let’s get into it!

What makes good characters stand out? What makes the solid, what makes them weak?

We“` will start with the first question, and we will go to Kurt Vonnegut for it who so wisely said:

“Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.”

In other words, step 1 is:

Make your character want something. And have them make decisions and choices. (No matter how big or small)

Make them desire something so badly that they won’t rest until they’ll achieve that particular thing.

Why is this important?

Because it makes them stand out – firstly.
Secondly, it makes the reader relate to them.
And thirdly, this creates a synergy, it makes the novel go-round as one desire of the characters leads to the next desire and the next desire and so on until the novel reaches its natural ending. Makes sense?

If the character wouldn’t want something – there wouldn’t be a story, to begin with.

Important questions to ask about your characters:
• What do they want?
• How will they achieve that?
• What are the obstacles on their path?
• What are they going to do to overcome that obstacle?

So always give the characters what they want while clearly expressing what they want.

What makes the solid, what makes them weak?

When it comes to characters building, you want to think of your characters as if they’d be normal human beings like me and you.

What makes people solid/strong?

Obviously, their intelligence, their attitude, abilities, talents, good looks, material situation, charming personality, iron will and so on.

What makes people weak?

Their insecurities, lack of confidence, their sabotage mechanism, unresolved childhood drama, not achieving what they want/their goals, a victim mentality and so on. We can apply this to our characters too and it’s actually what simplifies (a lot!) the process of building the kind of characters that our novel needs.

On short:

What makes a solid character?
Presenting them exactly as they are, with good and bad while emphasizing what they want. (to do, be, have, attain)

What makes a weak character?
Not presenting to the reader the character`s inner world.

What do they think/how do they think, what do they feel, what do they want to achieve, what are their goals, not portraying their backstory.

In my view and experience as a novelist, all of these create the shortcut to having a lifeless character, pretty much like a wall nobody can discover, relate to or get behind. Not saying anything or not enough about this character so that your audience can get to know them is a sure way to create a character that gets easily overlooked and put into shadow by the other well-constructed characters in your novel.

And we need a balance here. It is alright to have a weak character (let`s say they are somebody with low mental power) provided this is their role/place in the novel, this is the role you’ve given them – perfectly alright as long as this is their role. And if a character like this is put into shadow by the other ones in the story – this is also fine and absolutely acceptable.

BUT

If your (weak) character is overlooked and put into shadow by the other stronger characters because you, as the writer, didn’t give them a proper backstory or all the necessary details so that they have what they need to be a complete character – then this is not ok anymore and the writer is the one guilty/responsible for this.

Always listen to your characters while creating them or while unfolding them during the story. They always know what to tell you so that they will appear in your story exactly how they are meant to show up, nothing more or less, but exactly how they need to be presented to the world just like the story the characters always know the path.

I hope this is of value to you today and helps you have the aha moment or breakthrough you need so that you can now create characters that remain in your reader`s mind for as long as possible.

Speak to you next time!

Happy writing!
Cristina