Since we have talked about the three types of worlds and how to build your own, now it is time to populate that world with characters. It is essential to know how to make characters, generally speaking, and which characters you need for your novel. I am going to talk about both in this blog, so read on to find out.
The Eight Main Steps for Creating Your Characters
If you have found your way to this blog, it is likely because you are struggling with character creation or aren't sure that you are doing it correctly. I am here to tell you there really isn't a right or wrong way to do most things in writing. Like all arts, there are general rules and guides, but there are always exceptions. If you have something that doesn't quite look like this, that's fine! So long as you find something that works for you, run with it. The following steps are just how I was taught to do it.
Determine Their Purpose
You've probably had a character pop into your head before and fallen in love with him or her, but you need to know if the character is actually important to the story before adding them as a character. What can this character do to shape the story? Do they help your protagonist? Do they hinder your protagonist? Unless there is a valid reason to leave your character in the story, you shouldn't add them to your character list.
Physical Features
Chances are, you probably have a good idea of what your character looks like. I know I have an idea of what my character is like before I begin to write. In fact, that is usually the first thing that pops into my head. I get a scene or a saying from this person, and I have to learn more about that person. While I often don't dive super deep into this right away, I have a good idea of what they look like. I think hair color, skin tone, eye color, and any other distinguishing trait (such as freckles or scars) are important to know before you write. You can find exactly what they look like later (Pinterest is a great resource for this).
What some people may not realize falls into this category is more than just hair color and eye color. Their nationality, age, and a whole slew of other items are needed to complete this category, but that can be done once you have other facts figured out.
Personality and Background
The next thing I start to look into for my character is their personality. What are their likes and dislikes? What prejudices do they carry with them? How do they react to certain situations? What scares them, excites them, angers them, etc.? You can see how this can be a difficult process. You have to sit with your character and learn what they like. You need to be able to show your readers characteristics of your character even if you don't say them outright.
I included background in this section because we are affected and changed by what has happened to us in the past. When you find out things about your character, you will likely discover what caused them to behave the way they do. All of a character's background is relevant to the story even if it doesn't get discussed. For main characters, you should know almost everything that happened to them. For your side characters, you can just have a general understanding. Socioeconomic status, traumatic events, and things of that nature are what you need to know.
Motivations and Goals
Everyone is motivated by something. The three main motivations are love, money or success, and power. However, there are many different takes on these three main motivations. If your character is fighting to protect their family, it's love. If they are working to graduate as valedictorian of their Ivy League college, it's success. If they want to be free to make their own choices, it's power. See how those three categories are much broader than first imagined.
Just like everyone is motivated by something, people also have goals that they want to achieve in life. This is where the idea of a bucket list came into existence. What does your character want in this story? How do they go about getting it? Do their goals change over time? Does achieving their goals change them as a person?
Strengths and Weaknesses
Even if your character is a superhero with the ability to change the world, he or she still has to have flaws. No one is perfect, and usually, strengths and weaknesses balance us as people. For example, I love reading and writing but math and science never came easy to me. Your character should be good at some things but struggle with others. You need to know what they are good at and what they are bad at as they will likely come up in the story. Pro tip: Make sure your flaws are actually consequential to who they are as a person and who they become in the story.
Distinctive Mannerisms and Voice
All of your characters should stand out from one another, even if they are identical twins. No two people are exactly the same no matter if they come from the same family. We pick up things from friends and others that we spend time with, therefore, we all act differently. Your characters can have distinctive mannerisms as long as you don't go too far. If your character fidgets with her hair when she's nervous, she shouldn't be touching it in every scene.
Another way to distinguish characters is by their voice. Every region of a county has a specific accent. the primary ones in the United States are Midwestern, New England, Boston, New York, New Jersey, Southern, Western, and California Valley accents (there are more, but these are the main ones). Your characters can have a unique voice due to an accent or just by the words they choose when they speak. We all sound a little different, so your characters should, too.
Assess Internal and External Conflicts
All of your characters should have something they are dealing with. While the main character may have more defined conflicts, all of your characters are likely dealing with conflicts between themselves and with others. For example, the best friend of the protagonist may be struggling with guilt from lying to the protagonist about having hung out with a friend the protagonist is fighting with while they are also going through a divorce and needed that other friend for help and advice. Your reader won't know about that while it is happening, but it will likely come out over the course of your story.
Do Research If Necessary
One caveat to creating characters is that you will likely create ones that are different than you. To make them more believable, you may have to do some research. Whether this is by finding verified sources online to help explain common emotions and shared experiences of a group of people to spending time with someone who matches the identity of the character you are developing. This can be as small as writing male characters while you are a female to writing people of color as a white person. Whatever you choose, make sure to do your research or you will be criticized.
The Novel Factory also has an amazing Character Creation Questionnaire to help you fill in these categories in great detail.
Characters You Need to Complete Your Story
Now that you know how to create a character, I want to provide you with a list of characters that are necessary to complete your cast of characters in a story. I am going to split this into two main categories which are character roles and character types.
Eight Character Roles
There are certain character roles that you can identify in every single story. These are integral characters to the plot and help move it along. One character may hold more than one of these categories or there may just be one character for each category. As long as each role is filled to some degree, you should be good to go.
Protagonist - the lead of the story who the story revolves around. They are the center of the plot. You may have more than one (like Rick Riordan often does), but I would urge you to limit this to the lowest number possible, especially if it is your first time writing. Think Harry Potter of the Harry Potter Series, Frodo Baggins of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and Elizabeth Bennett of Pride and Prejudice.
Antagonist - this is the person or force that directly opposes your protagonist's goal. There can be more than one antagonist in the story, and it may not even be a real person. Whatever keeps your protagonist from achieving their goal is considered an antagonist. They are usually the big bad in the story. Think Tom Riddle/Voldemort against Harry; Sauron fighting Frodo; and Mr. Wickham, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, and Mrs. Bennet derailing Elizabeth's goal.
Love Interest - this is the character(s) that your protagonist falls in love with. Their love should somehow affect the story otherwise, it is pointless. There may not be a love interest or there may be several depending on the story. Think of Cho Chang and Ginny Weasley for Harry and Mr. Wickham and Mr. Darcy for Elizabeth. Frodo does not have a love interest, but both Samwise Gamgee and Aragorn do.
Deuteragonist - this is the sidekick or second-in-command of your protagonist. They could end up being the love interest or maybe even the antagonist by the story's end. They have the greatest pull with your protagonist and often have subplots that revolve around them. Think Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger for Harry, Samwise for Frodo, and Jane Bennet or Charlotte Lucas for Elizabeth.
Confidant - this is someone the protagonist trusts completely and confides in often. This could be the same character as the deuteragonist or another character. It would be the same for all the characters I've been giving as examples, but a teenage girl may think of her mom as a confidant and a friend as her deuteragonist.
Mentor - this is someone who guides your character through their superior wisdom. This could be the same person as a confidant. Your story also may not have a mentor or they may not have a big role. Think Dumbledore for Harry, Gandalf for Frodo, and Mrs. Gardiner, Elizabeth Bennet's aunt.
Tertiary Characters - these are characters that typically have subplots around them and affect the main character but not as much as a deuteragonist would. Think Luna, Neville, Ginny, Fred, and George in Harry Potter; Pippin, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, and Merry in Lord of the Rings; and Elizabeth's sisters other than Jane in Pride and Prejudice.
Foil - these are characters that have the opposite personality of your protagonist and often experience similar circumstances. This is an important and often forgotten character to have because it shows the route your protagonist could take. Think Draco Malfoy instead of Harry, Gollum in place of Frodo, and Charlotte's story instead of Elizabeth's.
Six Types of Characters
Aside from character roles, there are a few types of characters that you should include in your story. They help show different elements and move the plot along.
Dynamic Character - a character who changes over the course of the novel. These character types make the best protagonists as they move and change with the plot.
Static Character - a character who does not change at all by the end of the novel. These characters will experience no change and remain constant by the end. This could be an antagonist not changing their ways.
Round Character - a character who has many layers that are revealed to us as the story goes on. These are often protagonists and other main character roles as we discover the most about them in the story.
Flat Character - a character the reader never learns much about. They stay flat in our minds because we only know them as one thing. These are the minor characters in the story that pop up for only one purpose.
Stock Character - a character that exists to fill an archetype and the archetype's characteristics. For example, a motherly character who is kind and nurturing but can have an iron fist at times.
Symbolic Character - a character that exists to drive the reader toward the overall theme of the story. this is a character who could be dynamic but ultimately serves one purpose (like Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird).
Now that you know what characters are needed in a novel, I will spend the next few creation blogs talking about the ways to make each individual character and the specific things you need to make each character the best possible version of themselves. Stay tuned to learn more about character creation.
Until Next Time,
Ally Mac
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