So this image has been turned over in my head. I’ve started to figure out some of the character aspects.

If there’s a character in my image, I need to know why (s)he is there. What brought that character here, what makes the character tick.

I’ve used some Character Building Sheets before, and I think that the prompts on those can really help you focus your character. Here’s a link, to the one that I use. Not all of the prompts on a character development sheet are important, but I really do feel that the more you know about a character, the better off you’ll be as an author. That way you know what tragic things have happened in the character’s past that you need to know about.

Sometimes, you need to know the type of story that you’re going to tell, and sometimes you need to know what type of characters you have so you can tell their story.

All these factors will play a part in your character.

Who is your character?

Your main character needs to the center of your story because the characters and how they respond to situations are the reason people care about your story.

I try to make all my lead characters sympathetic but flawed. I think it’s very important to have a flawed hero. It humanizes them, it makes them more relatable. Have you ever read a story with a hero that was amazing at everything they did? This is what I call Superman syndrome. While Superman is one of my favorite heroes, Superman can be pretty boring. He’s amazing at everything, seems to have every power, and never falters. It’s hard to see him as a human. This breaks the audience connection sometimes.

My most recent lead is a detective that is addicted to drugs and sex, but wants to stop so that she can take care of her son. While she has a huge flaw, which can provide opportunities in the story to through her off her mission, she has a reason for stopping. Will she get clean by the end of the story? Who knows, but we do know that she does love her son.

Finding out their history can also help you form the story. Does your character have a bad relationship with their father? Where they kidnapped at birth? While some of this might not pop up in your story, it’s great information to have to inform you of your characters choices.

Things I usually try to tackle include:

• immediate family – does the character have parents that are still living, what about siblings, are they married or single.
• What social class are they currently in, and where did they come from? Did they fall from grace? are they trying to build their bankroll? What are the odds that they escape this class?
• What is their job? How much money does that job pay? Does this have a bearing on the story? A Detective makes the story easy, but does it matter that your character is a teacher or works the drive-thru at a fast food place? It could be based on your story.
• What type of personality do they have? This is a big issue because you have to make your audience like your character, or at least, they have to want your character to do something. So if you make your character, pushy and annoying, will anyone care if they succeed when they can’t even be alone in the room with them?
• What does your character look like? Looks rank low on the list. Does it matter that your hero has a chiseled chin? If it’s important to your story, you should definitely develop that here.
• Usually, as I’m developing my character, more plot points spring to mind. For example: using the example from my last NaNoWriMo about the girl that wakes up from her dream, thinking that she killed someone… While I developed her character, I decided that she was the only child and that she and her father didn’t see eye to eye. They fought often about her father kicking out his father from her life. I need a reason for this, and since it was the future, I figured since everyone was watching, maybe it would be illegal to write with pen and paper.
• This completely turned my novel on its head. It went from a social media experience to an anti-government-watching slant. Maybe she didn’t kill someone, but she was assigned to research someone that did kill someone, but the footage was gone.
• When I got to her profession, I decided that she would be in a prominent position, one that paid some money. Since the government was recording everyone, maybe they needed people to sift through all the video to find what they actually needed. This led to the creation of the Historians, of which our character was a part of.
• To humanize my main character though, I needed her to wonder if she was doing the right thing. She had wanted this job for forever, and now that she had it, was she doing right? I felt like this could make the hero identifiable. People could relate, and it made her human.
• The villain
• With the hero developed, I usually do the same thing when creating the villain. I like to know the backstory of the person trying to keep my hero from their goal, which I may or may not have developed by now.
• I’ll go through the same thing, but I try to make the villain the opposite of the hero in the categories that matter the most. This changes with the character as well. For my last example, it was important that I had a character that sternly believed that what they were doing was right, while our hero was questioning everything. Your villain doesn’t have to be larger than life, like the Joker, they only need to have a different opinion than the hero.
• Once again, developing this can help you develop your story. Maybe while developing the villain you come up with something for them to oppose that you hadn’t thought the hero might be for. It helps to spark ideas.
• Be flexible
• What you are working with right now is a mold of clay. Don’t be afraid to start over, or go back and change things. In fact, never be scared to start over or change something.
• However, never stop.
• Stopping is the only reason why more people aren’t published.
• If you choose to start over, I would recommend finishing what you are doing before stopping. Just leave yourself a note, and keep going.
• Wrap up
• Characters are the backbone of the stories we tell. Have you ever read a story where the character wasn’t developed or was perfect at everything?
• Figure out where your character came from, even if it’s not important to the story. It can help you figure out how your character would react to situations you put them in.
• Also, figure out where the hero and the villain conflict. How does that issue drive them apart?
• How are some of your favorite characters? Why? What about villains? Post in the comments below!