Laura C asked Veronica Roth:

Hi Veronica! How do you make deep, likeable characters, and how do you add detailed character descriptions without info-dumping? Thanks!

Veronica Roth I have two thoughts for you:

1. Do you need detailed character descriptions? Reading is a cooperative experience. The author offers something, yes, but the reader offers something, too. So think of your initial introduction to a character as just that-- an offering of your highest priorities, that you will either leave to the reader's imagination after that point or you'll add to, piece by piece, as the character takes shape. You don't have to do everything at once-- and especially in first person, what your main character notices about other people (particularly over time) says something about them as well as whoever they're describing, which is pretty cool.

2. I question whether you really need to think about likability at all. I'm not saying everyone needs to go out there and write "unlikeable" characters, but I think stressing over "likability" just isn't useful to a writer. Building a character who's interesting, who wants things they can't get, who has strengths and weaknesses, who triumphs or fails, who speaks a certain way, acts a certain way, dresses a certain way, whatever-- those are all more important things to consider than whether the character is likable. Likability is mostly a side effect, and it's not that hard to achieve. A person can like a pencil if you tell them his name is Jerry and he's always wanted to be a red pen because red pens can't be erased. (Aw, Jerry.)

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