Last week, we came up with a few killer themes to work around. The next thing I like to tackle is creating a character that readers will love. Creating a character of your own can be tough work, but if you keep in mind what your theme is, creating a likable character can be much easier. So follow along as I show you how to create a character that your readers can identify with and come to love.
So let’s tackle a few creative writing exercises that will help you creating a character.
Examples Characters From Pop Culture
Think about some of your favorite characters from all of pop culture. Do they have anything in common?
All great stories start with characters that we find ourselves fond of. Audiences want to see what these characters do next, and we pull for them when they’re out there being challenged by whatever pressures the story exerts on them. But we want to see how our characters will handle those situations. We want to pull for them and get them to succeed and grow and change.
Great heroes stick with us so much that some people even want to make them out of bread.
I loved that Han Solo didn’t act like a typical good guy. Depending on which version of the Catina scene you believe in, Han could be violent and just out for money or to clear his name. It makes him unpredictable as he comes to help our main characters. The movie even sets things up to make you think that he’s got his money and he’s going to take off, but when he comes back in the last few scenes to save his friend, the audience cheers.
So pick a character from pop culture and see if you can figure out what makes them a lovable character. What makes you want to continue to follow that character’s story?
Studying Real Life
But explaining how to create a fictional character isn’t easy. There is no easy way to create a character online or anything. If you want characters that feel alive, you need to take elements of real people. Examine people in real life. Every character that I create has some element of someone that I know.
When I’m trying to create a romantic lead male character, I’ll think about some of the men in my life that I’ve seen be romantic to their partners. I don’t write that down, but I do keep those things in mind.
When I draw from real-life experience, I feel like I have stronger characters in general. There is no easy “how to create a character personality.” It will all take editing and rewriting and new experiences.
You might be worried that someone will find out that you are basing a character on them, but unless you are solely basing a character on someone, the odds are low. Even if they do find out that you are creating a character based on them, they are usually flattered.
Creating a Character Writing Exercises
This isn’t the first thing you need to do when creating a lovable character of your own, but for some reason, figuring out the physical aspects of your character can be the easiest to figure out.
If you have an idea of what your character looks like, this should be super easy. Just fill in the information below. If you’re following along at home, feel free to download this Character Development Sheet I have refined over the years.
Writing Exercise – Physical Characteristics
So how do you create a character?
I start by answering these questions. By working through these questions, you might get a better idea of what your character looks like, but that doesn’t make them real yet. This section is almost like when you create a character avatar inside a video game. You get to pick the physical characteristics of that character.
So take a minute and fill these out:
- Name:
- Age
- Height:
- Weight:
- Race:
- Eye Color:
- Hair Color:
- Glasses or contacts:
- Skin Color:
- How does he/she dress?
Detailed Characteristics of your own character
After creating a character’s physical appearance, I like to start digging a little deeper into the character and their background. When I start to answer the following questions, I feel like answers start to flesh out these characters.
- Distinguishing features:
- Mannerisms:
- Habits (smoking, drinking, etc.)
- Health
- Hobbies:
- Favorite Sayings:
- Speech patterns
- Disabilities
- Style (Elegant, shabby, etc)
- Greatest Flaw:
- Best Quality:
Planning my current work, I had this idea for a detective and the mystery she would solve. It wasn’t until I started to fill out this last section that the character started to really come alive in my mind.
The first thing that caught my attention was the habits and the biggest flaw. I decided that my main character would be an addict. Figuring out her distinguishing feature also made her stand out. I decided to give her bright red hair. Now, because of the red hair, I figured out that she came from an Irish nationality, and that informed how her family viewed her.
This led me to figure out her relationship with (or lack thereof) her family.
Digging Deeper into your Character
Figuring out these questions can help you figure out where your character came/comes from. We’ll drill down a little deeper with these questions. Things like how rich or poor a character started life until now could affect them in your story.
The same could be true with birth order. The order that they were born in a family can determine some of their characteristics. Usually, the oldest feels more weight of responsibility, while the youngest is free from that same feeling.
- Nationality:
- Socioeconomic level as a child:
- Socioeconomic Level as an adult:
- Hometown:
- Current Residence:
- Occupation:
- Income:
- Talents/skills:
- Birth Order:
- Siblings (describe relationships):
- Spouse:
- Children:
- Parents:
- Grandparents:
- Grandchildren:
- Significant Others:
- Relationship skills:
Not all of these will need to be answered. But answering these also helped me realize where my character came from. I can’t answer these questions for a character like Han Solo or Wall-e. However, as the author, you might want to know that information and withhold it from your audience if it creates a bit of mystery about your own character.
My Main Character
Using the questions above, I found out that my main character was a 20-30 something, red-headed, poor woman of Irish descent who struggles with addiction. She has a large family, but she doesn’t talk to most of them anymore because they disowned her. I needed to figure out if they disowned her because of her addiction or not; I decided that while it played a part, they really disowned her because she had a child out of wedlock. They would only do this if they were really devout and stern.
While I’ve never been addicted to drugs or had a child out of wedlock, I have based Letty on myself a lot. I come from a large family, mostly of Irish heritage. I like to figure things out, and while Letty doesn’t always do the right thing, she tries to.
After all of these things were set, her name finally took shape: Letty Rose.
Creating A Lovable Character
We’ve put a lot of work in with our characters, but that doesn’t make them lovable. Not yet. Next, we need to really dive into the theme we are working towards and figure out what your character wants.
Blake Snyder wrote a book about screenwriting called Save the Cat. The book is called that because he says that our main character needs to do something to earn the audience’s trust in the first few scenes, like saving a cat. This can help in creating a character that people trust, but Han Solo didn’t save a cat us love him.
What we like about him is that he shot first and later stuck it out with his friend. He could have just left Luke and gone to pay off his debts, but he comes back to save his friend.
Sometimes we like characters because they are badass. Having Han shoot first in the cantina after we first met him showed that he wasn’t one to be trifled with. That first interaction drew me in because I grew worried about what would happen to our other main characters if they trusted him. Sure he was reckless and brash, but that helped in creating a lovable character.
I like creating a character that might be flawed but will probably do the right thing when given the choice. I say “probably” there for a reason, though. We don’t want our characters to be Superman, who does nothing wrong. Our characters need to be human. They need to have flaws.
Don’t expect your audience to immediately fall in love with a character. You need to have some ideas when creating a character of their own on how they can display these aspects of themselves to your reader. Try to think of a few situations to put your characters into so that they can show off that side of themselves.
What Does Your Character Want?
I also like to create characters with a goal. If we are creating characters that want something, many times, the audience will go along for the ride as well. We will want what they want. To that end, we need to create a character that wants something. It would do you good when creating a character of your own to think about how your character is going to start your story and how they will end it.
I like to think of this in three ways at both the beginning and end of a story.
- What defines your character
- What does your character want
- and what is your character afraid of?
If your character wants the same thing at the beginning and end of the story, they haven’t progressed or changed. That doesn’t show growth and usually keeps the audience from really identifying with that character.
Han Solo begins Stars Wars wanting to pay off his debt and get the bounty off his head. He is afraid of Jabba the Hutt finding him and getting payback. By the end of the story, he’s wanting to protect his new friends and appears to be afraid of losing them.
Letty wants to be rid of her addiction, but she can’t seem to get away from it. She also wants to provide for her son, but to do that, she has to use the only skills she has, detecting. Between her job and her addiction, her son keeps getting placed in a dangerous position, either situationally or ethically.
Lather, Rinse, Repeat
Now that I have my main character somewhat developed, I’ll do this with other characters in my story as they pop up. I’m not expecting to know everyone at this point in the planning, but once I realize I need a new character major player in the story, I’ll stop and answer these questions about them. The more characters you can populate your fiction with, the better!
Foils
That old high school term, the foil.
The foil is the opposite of your character. Many times, I look at what the hero wants and then develop a character that wants the opposite. That usually makes them have a different perspective from the hero, but not always. Sometimes it’s good to have the characters come from a similar perspective and show how they deviated.
When creating a character, you’ll also need to figure out what is keeping them from their goal (although often, it’s themselves). Oftentimes, they will run up against a character that is their opposite. Where the hero wants peace, you’ll need to create a character that wants chaos or a different, tainted version of peace.
Your turn
Now it’s your turn. One of the best things a writer could do is have a beta tester. Get someone to talk about your work and see if it makes sense. Sometimes we get all wrapped up in our creations that we lose sight of the characters.
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Of course, if you’re interested in any of my writing, check out some of the stories I’ve posted here. And please, share with friends to get the word out!