Writing: Tips for Creating Better Characters

Hello, everyone! 

Today I'm going to be trying my best to give you some advice on writing better characters––a task which I feel wholly unprepared for, but I'm going to give it my best shot. So, here are some tips and tricks for creating characters that have helped me in the past. Obviously, what worked for me won't work for everyone, but hopefully, you'll take away at least one thing that was useful. Enjoy!

Tips

1. Identify Several Personality Traits

I know this sounds like a no-brainer, but I find that many characters I have read have a sort of cookie-cutter personality, or their author seemed to only have one or two traits in mind when they created them.

For example, an author might decided that the defining character trait is that their character is a "strong, independent woman." All right, that's a good start, but if that's all you know about her, you'll probably end up with someone who sounds like every female heroine from today's YA dystopian novels--looking at you Divergent.

Another common single-trait personality I see is the "sarcastic" character. Okay, once again, a good start. Admittedly, having a flat character that makes zippy comebacks can work for a side character or for a short time in fan fiction, but a main character is going to need a lot more than sarcasm to make them relatable.

A good solution I've found for this problem is making a list of personality traits for your character. You might not wind up using them all, but it gives you something to work off of when you start drafting. Below, I've provided an example from when I was working on my first draft of The Rose's Flame.

Rose –– Character Traits  

1. African-American appearance with voluminous black curls.   

2. Right handed  

3. Illiterate  

4. Slightly spoiled (side-effect of being a princess)  

5. Kind-hearted  

6. Superstitious  

7. Polite

I may have only wound up using 1, 2, 5,  6, & 7, but I still had a baseline for what Rose was going to be like. However, lists like this can only get you so far. 

2. Describe Your Character

How someone looks and dresses can tell you a lot about them. Other times, you can use their outward appearance to trick the reader into thinking they are different than they actually are. Write out a detailed description of your character to really cement in your mind who you are working with. Here are examples from The Rose's Flame and Pieces of Silver. 

     "Rose was a slightly taller than average young woman with unblemished brown skin. Wild black curls hung untamed past her shoulder blades. Intelligent brown eyes peeked out from beneath shrewd, well-sculpted brows. Her figure was certainly nothing to scoff at, for she was certainly well endowed. Her white floral day gown flowed around her elegantly." –– The Rose's Flame (Cut Scenes), pg. 32.  

This description never made the final cut because that story is told from a first person POV, but just knowing how she looks and dresses and the fact that she is a princess gave me a good idea about how Rose would move and hold herself in a scene. 

Here's a description of Hornagal from Circle of Dragons: 

     "It was at least twenty feet long. Its massive, slightly ragged wings were tucked to its sides. The firelight flickered off its tarnished golden scales, giving them the illusion of being on fire. It had wavy, black horns––half Kelise’s height––and glistening white fangs as long as her forearm. Intelligent purple eyes peered at her reverently from under heavy ridges. Its skin seemed to hang loosely from its neck; this and the tarnished scales gave Kelise the impression that it was ancient." –– Circle of Dragons and Riders: Pieces of Silver, pg. 8-9. 

Now, this description is ripped right from the scene where Kelise, the main character, first meets Hornagal. Adding these kinds of descriptions give readers a strong mental image of your character.

Character Description No-Nos

It is very possible to go overboard on descriptions, especially when you're an amateur (like me). Try to stick to details that would be readily observable in real life, such as what color their hair is, what they are wearing, and so on. Don't try to psychoanalyze their personality upon their introduction, this can technically be done in a good way, but it can easily come across very amateurish.

Another amateur move in character description is describing your main character (in painful detail) within the first two pages of your novel (or first couple paragraphs of your short story). I love describing characters, so I was definitely guilty of this during the first few years of my career. I always wanted to describe my characters down to the smallest detail right away (even though the character in question was usually telling the story from a first person POV) *cringe.* So, yeah, don't do that or readers and publishers will label you as an amateur.

A really big no-no that I discovered I was guilty of recently, and was thoroughly embarrassed that I had been doing it for so long is equating a character of color's skin to a food/drink item (such as chocolate, coffee, nuts, honey, etc.) An individual in one of my writing classes called this "fetishizing people of color," and I agree with them. Thinking of a person in this manner is very disrespectful and should be avoided at all costs. 

3. What's They're General Disposition

Most people have somewhat of a default mood, and that is true for fictional characters too. Keeping your character's general disposition in mind will help you determine such things as their default facial expression (does your character have a resting bitch face?) and their typical body language (do they stand with their arms crossed? do they tend to fidget?)

Characters can also have a disposition that is multiple feelings at once. Nurse, the main character in Young L, for example, has a generally anxious disposition; therefore, he tends to fidget with things, shuffle from foot to foot, note where exits are, and so on. Noting things like that will make your character seem more real and believable.

4. Write a Small Scene About Your Character 

Once you have an idea of some personality traits and what your character looks like, write a 
small scene where they are behaving a way that is typical of them. Here's a small example of this from
Pieces of Silver:

     "Silver stepped up to Gracell, towering over her. Her bloodless lips thinned to an almost nonexistent line. Gracell did her best not to look intimidated. 

     'I will not tolerate insubordination, Silver!' Gracell said, prodding the taller woman in the chest. 

     Silver leaned in close to her face. 'What are you going to do about it? Poke me with your little sword?'

     With that, Silver turned on her heels and started to stride from the room. 

     Gracell let out a huff, her face flushed angrily. 'I ought to report your actions to Venom!' She shouted. 

     Silver faltered in her step for a moment. Then she said, 'You can do that if you like. Just don’t come crying to me if something happens to your precious fledgling.' Silver slammed the door behind her." –– Circle of Dragons and Riders: Pieces of Silver, pg. 39-40.

This scene tells me a lot about how Silver typically behaves. She is tall and threatening-looking, so she will often use these traits to intimidate her opponent during an argument. She doesn't act phased when Gracell calls her out, but shows there are chinks in her armor of non-chalance when Gracell threatens to tell Silver's dragon that Silver disobeyed an order from a superior (the order being to leave the new rider, Kelise, alone).

In case you need some ideas, here are some prompts:

Is your character a healer? Write a scene where they are healing someone; how they act when doing that can help you establish their personality in other scenarios.

Are they a leader? Write a scene where they are making a speech to a council or crowd. This could give you a better idea of how they take charge and what kind of leadership style they have.

Are they shy/awkward? Write a scene where they are talking to a their crush or a stranger. That could give you an idea of how they act under stress.

Got any scenes like this that have worked for you? Let me know in the comments!

5. Consider They're Opinions of Other Characters

People act differently around different people, and the same goes for characters. Think about which other characters your character is cordial with, who they enjoy the company of, who they can't stand, who they miiiight have romantic feelings for, etc. Keeping these opinions in mind will help you know who would be good for team-ups and who your character could never work with.

Character dynamics are everything. For example, if you don't think the your main character has the chemistry they need with another character, trust your gut. I've read several romantic plot lines where the main characters just don't have any sort of chemistry, and this can ruin the whole story, even if the romance isn't the main focus.

I've had this issue with a CoD character named Skyler. He's loosely based off my sister, Blue, and she wanted him to find love. I happened to agree that he could use a love interest, so I humored her. I don't want to spoil to much about that plot line, but I tried him with two different female characters. One didn't have any romantic chemistry with him, so I cut that plot. The other character was so minor that there was no possible future for that relationship; additionally, I wound up cutting the novel she appeared in from the series entirely because the book only served to resolve an unnecessary plot element. Eventually, I tried him out with a character that I hadn't even intended to give a love interest, and she turned out to be the perfect match.

6. What Are Their Priorities

Who or what is most important to your character? Is it family or the greater good? Money or power? Knowing your character's priorities will help guide you in deciding what paths they will take. Sticking with your character's priorities will help you make their actions believable.

The authors I most often see having issues with this are fan fiction writers. This is completely understandable; in my experience, it's really hard to write from the perspective of characters that are not your own. In your original work, a characters priorities can be whatever you want, but when someone else created the character, you have to work within their guidelines (for the most part anyway).

A example in fan fiction I have seen most often is how important romantic relationships are for a character (looking at you, L fan girls). There is nothing wrong with adding a romance plot with a main character into your fan fiction, but keep the canon character's priorities in mind. For example, if you're inserting L into a romantic scenario, keep in mind that his work holds much higher priority than interpersonal/romantic relationships and write accordingly. Changing a canon characters priorities too much can compromise their believability and the quality of your story.

7. What Are Some Random Facts About Them

Knowing random facts about your character add so much depth to them! You may not use any of the fun facts you come up with, but they are super fun and useful to know. For example, is your character afraid of bugs? How many languages do they speak? Do they like peanut butter? Which is their dominant hand? What's they're favorite color? Do they like or hate their job? You never know when these details might come in handy.

Aside from being useful, fun facts are just fun, and it adds another layer of reality to your character. If you ever get famous (or even just become dear to a few dedicated readers), your fans can enjoy digging up all sorts of fun facts and little details about your character.

I've been working on my Circle of Dragons series for seven years now, and I could literally make a weekly Youtube series of fun facts about my characters. Some that have proven useful (or comedic) for me include: that Kelise doesn't like refried beans or Reese's; Charlie speaks and writes six languages (German, Drakonish, English, Hebrew, Latin, and Greek); and Silver is super squeamish around blood. I could go on, but you get the point.

8. Research, Research, Research! 

I cannot stress enough how important research is for writers. I know when I first heard this advice I thought, "Ugh, I don't need to do research. I know all sorts of stuff. Research is boring school stuff." I was very very wrong. If you're like me and have a tendency to create characters who have experienced things you haven't, do your research! Don't just make up crap and hope it's close enough to reality. Even if you are what you do specialize or have experience what your character has, still research the topic, because knowledge makes your writing more realistic, and you can vary your character's experience slightly from your own (since everyone experiences and learns things differently). If you're character is a doctor and you're not, learn about medicine (particularly whatever medical conditions they are diagnosing/treating). If you're character has PTSD and you don't (or even if you do), learn as much as you can about that condition.

Use at least somewhat reputable sources is you can. Wikipedia can be helpful sometimes, but don't make it your go-to source of knowledge. If you're researching certain medical conditions, Mayo Clinic and WebMD can be very helpful. Multiple sources are also helpful. Even just looking up pictures of tapestries or ceiling murals to give you ideas for yours can be helpful research! Basically, do not underestimate the usefulness of research!

Conclusion

So, I hope these tips will help you in some way. This is in no way an exhaustive list. And if you're still having trouble, don't give up hope! Writing characters can be super hard, but the pay-off is totally worth it! If you have any specific character writing issues you're struggling with, feel free to PM me or leave a comment, and I'll try to help if I can.

Happy writing everyone!