Writing Lessons & Advice: Characters

KISS has an odd song from the eighties called “A World Without Heroes”. Society would be quite a lawless, hopeless place without them, “like a world without sun...you can’t look up to anyone...a pointless thing, devoid of grace...”

On a hopefully lighter note, what would the worlds of J.K. Rowling or J.R.R. Tolkien be without Harry, Hermione, Ron, Bilbo, Gandalf, and all their other respective cohorts--good and bad?

These hypotheticals are the essence of why characters are important to a story. Characters are story centerpieces. Depending on context:

Characters act, exist, and live with in a story. They do the things.

or,

The story is either about or happens to the character(s).

Without characters, readers would find themselves in beautiful, dreadful, or other-worldly settings but lost without anyone to help them understand, navigate, or make any wrong things right (if not vice versa). Readers would not have anyone to relate to or know who or what needs their focus.

Characters as a story element have their own ingredients and flavors, so here’s a breakdown of “recipes” related to them:

Protagonist-a leading character or major character; they are the primary influence and face the most significant obstacles.

Antagonist- a main enemy or rival to the protagonist/main characters; an antagonist isn’t always evil.

Side characters- secondary or supporting characters; they are often important to the protagonist and have a backstory in connection with them. Sometimes they may even be a foil or contrast to other characters.

Antihero- a main character who does not have traditional heroic qualities, like courage, morality, or idealism; may be central to conflicts.

Character archetypes- Templates of specific attributes that give characters a particular role or personality within a story, like types of plot; Common character archetypes include (and are not limited to): Hero, mentor, rebel, lover, damsel in distress, or Everyman. Further reading/research recommended for more details on the archetypes.

Character development- how a character is represented in a story and how they grow, change, evolve, etc throughout; major characters tend to get considerable development.

How to write your own characters

Brainstorming is one major way characters and their qualities are created. You can keep track of your ideas and further develop them with resources like character profiles, templates, checklists, etc. They are not difficult to find and most should be free and/or downloadable. The point of them is to help you think of any and all features significant to a well-rounded, believable character. You might even create your own with a little picking and choosing from various guides if you’d like. Ultimately, the details of your characters are up to you. They can be as realistic or original as you like; detailed, introduced, and incorporated as you see fit, within some reason. Of course, most major characters tend to be introduced early in the work. Also, characters based on reality should be written with liberal and respectful mindfulness to their derivatives.

A few more considerations might be to:

Establish the motivations and goals of significant characters. Give them wants, needs, and imperfections. These are things to add to your character profile exercise if they’re not already covered. Such elements are why a character does what they do or why they are how they are. Scenes, if not whole stories, can be built around these! Meeting goals, needs, and wants can be significant plot points while motivations or imperfections either drive or hinder their progress.

Use visuals either as points of reference or inspiration. Good outlets include Pinterest, Google Images, or royalty-free stock photos. Having your own visuals of a character or their elements will help you paint more effective mental pictures of them. For instance, if you have a certain aesthetic in mind, some image searching can introduce you to related depictions. Or if your confused about fine, subtle details, like with shades of blonde or dress styles, you can view pictures to “see” those differences.

Research where necessary. A character is more believable if/when certain details are “done right”. Also, specific attributes can bear influence on character behavior and personality, if not other story elements. Particular areas worth looking into might include professions, cultures, hobbies, beliefs, social class, history, or nationalities.

Avoid info dumps. Show more than tell. As discussed in the show-and-tell post, a text doesn’t have much traction if it just tells everything about a character. Instead, “show” parts of your character as you develop your story. MasterClass calls this a “slow reveal”. It may “look” like: revealing personality through conflict scenes; describing one’s voice or body language to convey their emotion; hinting at personal or physical characteristics through related scenes or actions; or expressing an attitude or reasoning through dialogue or inner thought.

Storytelling invokes world-building. So what’s a world without life? Characters are the life of a story. They’re the focal heroes, villains, victims, and everything in between. Readers see the world of the story through them. More still, well-written characters keep readers interested, if not surpass a story itself.

Hopefully character writing is a bit more clearer to you! If you need to brush up on the other story-telling elements, here are some relevant Lessons & Advice posts:

Story Elements and Plot

Word count for stories