Developing Dilemma

For some people, creating a story with an excellent plot is quite easy. But for many, developing characters is the Achilles heel of their creative writing, and though they'd like to improve it, they just don't know how.

Creating a realistic, multidimensional character is what many writers strive for. While making up a character's physical appearance and thinking up a name can be simple, bringing your characters to life can prove to be much more difficult. One of the best ways to approach building a real character is to look at your story from a reader’s point of view.

The things you should ask yourself are:

Are my characters relatable?

Readers are more interested in a story when they can they can relate to the characters. While your characters and readers may not be part of the same social or economic class, from the same country or time, or even of the same species, it's always important to create a connection between the two by emphasizing some similarities. If you can't draw similarities from specific situations, character emotions and reactions can be a great help in creating a familiarity and understanding. Also, a character's thoughts and how they deal with situations can create a bond. Remember, the best writers can make readers feel for any character, whether they be a teenage human – just like you – or a teenage werewolf.

Another important aspect of creating a relatable character is creating a character with faults. No one is perfect, so your character shouldn't be either. Whether your character has personality flaws or flaws with their physical appearance, readers relate better to characters who ARE NOT perfect.

What do they stand for?

A story can have as many protagonists (the main character and whoever supports them) and antagonists (those who oppose the protagonist), as you want. (Remember to be reasonable. People do not want to remember nothing but characters!) But as different characters, a little variety in what they want (or what you want for them) will help keep them interesting, distinguishable, and realistic. As you work on your characters, try to think about what you want out of them and how you want them to change by the end of the story. What lessons do you think they should learn? How will what's happened to them change the way they feel or think about the topic of their particular plot? Do they change at all or are they left unaffected by their circumstances? If it helps, think about how you would change and adapt if you were put into the situation of your character.

How do they view themselves (or how do they appear to others)?

A great way to develop a character is to give the readers insight into how the character feels about his or herself, and how the other characters view them.

Does your character have a history?

Character history helps develop depth and helps the readers understand why a character behaves a certain way. Even if the character's past isn't revealed to the readers, as a writer, writing with that information in mind, may help you put more personality into your character.

Our characters are a vital part of all stories. You can always improve with character developing. Soon, you will have top-notch characters!

Is this not enough? Check out these threads on Mibba that are dedicated for character development:

• Storyboard Brainstorming and Mentoring Thread
• Character Development Game Thread
• Character Interview Thread