Five Tips for Writing Convincing Characters

Snoink · 2005-04-23T22:16:07Z

There's been a couple of questions on how to create realistic characters. Being a critiquer, I compiled a list of five things you can do to make your character sound realistic. This was first published on TYWC, but I'm sure that some on YWS may find this helpful. 1) MAKE SURE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTERS Whether the characters are bad or not, you must still like them. Why? If you do not like your characters then you don’t care about them either. If you don’t care about them, why should your reader care? For instance, I am working on a story right now which has evolved quite dramatically over the last three years I've been working on it. At first, there was only one character I really cared about and the other three characters were getting the short shift (yes, when I first began I only had four characters). Because I only cared about one character, my indifference towards the other characters was blatant and it ruined the story. If not for the whacked out sci-fi idea, it couldn't stand on its own. Finally, after a year or so of writing like that, I decided to give souls to two more characters. One was supposed to be super evil. The other one was supposed to be -- I don't know. She was supposed to be pitied. Or something. Her character was not clearly defined; it still isn't in fact. But the real problem was my evil character. He was evil, yes, but it was a superficial evil that felt false. This wouldn't do at all! I tried making him more evil; it didn't work. Finally, I realized why his character seemed wrong. He was just another stereotypical "dad who is too uptight" except for the fact he didn't mind killing. I had a stock character and I didn't care for him in the least. So finally I told myself, "Okay, this is failing miserably. Now, he still can be evil, but I have to care about him in some way." And I thought about this for a long time until I thought of something that suited me. Now, I suppose you can think of a whole biography for your character, but that never works for me. What does work for me is to put your character in such a situation that you can't but feel pity for him. The best way? What was the most embarrassing situation in your life? What was the most painful thing you dealt with? What was your worse failure? What do you regret the most? Put this into your character and you will quickly begin to care for him, even if he is evil scum. Even if you have no love for your character, you must care about him. 2) CHARACTERS ARE NOT PUPPETS For some strange reason, some writers think that they are in control of their story. This is false. You are a storyteller, and as a storyteller you must relate to the events of what is happening in the story and dramatize them - not create them! For instance, let's say I have a sweet little girl named Daisy. Daisy was the sweetest little girl you could imagine. She was five years old, and already she possessed a loving nature everyone adored. There was a twinkle in her eye and a mischievous, but cute, smile on her face. She wore her hair in braided pig tails and would toss her head about so that everyone could see her lovely hair bobbing on her shoulders. She was smart, loved to finger paint, and never once tried to hurt anyone. Well... that is not technically true, she did once stick her tongue at a boy, but her teacher had put her into detention for this - oh how she cried! As you can guess, it was a surprise when she shot her teacher with a .45 caliber handgun when her teacher made her recite the alphabet in front of class." That came out of no where. Though obviously that is very exaggerated, it is an example what many writers try to do. Because they see no conflict, they try to force it onto the character. The character, if he is any good of course, does not know how to respond to a forced conflict, and you get a very weak story. Why does this happen? Simple. Characters, if they are written well, are their own people and because of this, they must be treated as people. Let's say suddenly you are doing something ordinary and suddenly a strange situation is forced on you. What would you do? Now imagine yourself as your character and that suddenly the situation you just forced on your character happens to you. If you cannot possibly imagine doing what your character is doing, then you are being a puppeteer of the character and, because of this, you're screwing yourself. Writing fiction is more like walking a dog than being a puppeteer. Being a puppet requires lots of thought for the puppeteer, constant movements on the puppet to make it interesting for the audience, but in the end, it's obvious it isn't real. A dog is real. The dog goes willingly on a walk, stops, sniffs things (you jerk the leash so you can continue the walk). If he is excited, he will rush ahead. Sometimes he'll pull. Now, if you are a good dog walker, you can get the dog to heel and, as the dog heels and obeys you, you can continue your walk at a leisurely pace and not worry because you and the dog are of the same mind. Be a dog walker, not a puppeteer. 3) A FATAL FLAW IS NECESSARY Quick! Think of your story for a second and for every important character you have, think of five main flaws! Write them down and then come back... It's harder than it sounds, isn't it? If you look at amateur writer’s work, you'll notice that there are a lot of heroes who are perfect. They are drop dead gorgeous, smart, witty, individuals, and their only problem is being slightly misunderstood by everyone else. There are several reasons why some writers do this. Many times, they are afraid of exposing their own weaknesses to the reader so they decide to make a perfect character. As an editor, I can tell you that a absolutely perfect character signifies insecurity in the writer. Plus, a perfect character makes a perfectly bad story. This is a trap where you should never get trapped in. The more important the character is to the story, the more flaws he should have. This, more than anything will give the story such realism that it hooks the reader in and it gives them a reason why they should care about your characters. For instance, remember the evil character I mentioned above? Guess what? He didn't have a flaw. In fact, he was so perfect that he was barely human. Though this is a cool effect to create, it gets dull after a while and brings the story down. As he is a main character, I couldn't skimp on him any. I decided to give him a couple of flaws. Here they are: 1. He is a politician whose life is in danger constantly. 2. He has been to prison once for political reasons. There, he was treated brutally. The only reason he survived as long as he did was because he had a loving wife and a infant daughter. 3. When he finally gets out of prison he finds out his loving wife and daughter are dead, and he has been forcefully married to another woman. 4. His second family hates him. His daughter thinks he is trying to ruin her life (in a way, he is) and his wife is a nymphomaniac. 5. He is dying from an illness he picked up from the prison and he is in extreme pain all of the time because of this. Notice how those five weaknesses are not silly. They affect him directly and they can stop him significantly. Of course, he is still portrayed (at first) as evil, but as these weaknesses catch up to him, he becomes more real and less fake. The weaknesses you want are the ones that directly affect the character and force him to take some action. They have to be compelling enough to hook the reader in and they must be potent enough to be real. You don't have to make the flaws as fatal as my character of course, but you do want to make them powerful enough to give the character a huge challenge to overcome. 4) DON'T TELL YOUR READER EVERYTHING If you try to explain some part of the story in-depth, you will dig yourself into a hole. When you want to explain in full depth something you researched for the story, a key concept of the story, or a character, resist all temptation. It will make things worse. I researched cirrhosis for my evil character because that is the disease he will have. Guess what? Even though I spent hours and hours of research, I will not put anymore information in it than needed. Most likely, the most I will need is something like this: "Don't you know? Cirrhosis means his liver isn't functional anymore. He'll die soon.” She paled. “What!” Very short, but it doesn't bore the reader with needless details. As funny as it may sound, if you can, avoid talking about key concepts in the story and let it develop gradually. You'll thank yourself later for it. One of my characters is a freak. That is, it is illegal for her to have a personality because that would make her powerful. The concept was that through genetic mutilation, a super race of people was created (the freaks) and then were suddenly destroyed, except for the few whose powers were weak enough to not matter and whose souls were so beaten down that they didn't matter. One of the main problems I was having was how to describe what a "freak" is. I tried to explain the definition of a freak, what it meant for the person who was labeled as such, what history was behind the word, and finally I trapped myself into a hole. This is what I finally wrote to describe what a freak is: She had been drilled countless amounts of times about what a freak was, but didn’t particularly care about the definition. Not only was it useless to worry about it, but it wasted time that could be used to do other things. A cheat? Yes, but I do explain gradually what a freak is, so everything turns out okay. Plus, it (hopefully) helps lead the reader into the story because they're curious about why I use that word so freely. What about characters? Same thing goes for them. If you explain too much about your characters, the reader will want to kill you. The fatal flaws that I listed above for my evil character will not be known to the reader at first and only after a good portion of the story will the reader be able to sympathize fully with the man. But at first the reader knows nothing about him besides for the fact that he is a politician, he doesn't like to talk much, he has an imposing figure, is kind of evil, and he doesn't like the smell of kerosene. Don't tell everything about the character. 5) MAKE YOUR CHARACTERS UGLY This may sound like a joke; I assure you it isn't. In many stories by amateur writers you find the perfect man/woman is described. Just think of all the descriptions you read that do this! "He brushed back his jet black hair and looked at her with piercing silver eyes." One story from a website turned slightly ridiculous. I quote this directly: Martini's black hair was pulled into a severe bun, and she had dressed herself in the standard AIA stealth suit; a thin, metallic like material that was so form fitting it clung like leather to their bodies. Black, of course. Notice there are no flaws in the man in the preceding sentences. Why not? Isn’t one of the greatest character devices giving other characters flaws? Isn’t it a flaw not to be supremely beautiful? Notice then that there are no ugly people. Don't you think this is strange? We have such an abundance of ugly people, and yet we don't write about them. Doesn't any character have any "different" aspect about them which makes them stand out, for better or worse? And you don’t have to make them ugly – normal will do fine. Just by making them seem normal, you are making them unique. I give you a description of my evil character: The man was slim and in his mid-fifties, his hair just beginning to gray. He wore a suit that was worn, but not cheap. He may have been attractive when he was younger – he had a nice face – but now his face was drawn tight in bitterness. Of course, he was a gentleman, which was evident in both his dress and manner, but there was more to him than just that. He looked old. Notice I didn't talk about his jet black hair, piercing eyes, masculine chest, or skin tight pants. He sounds normal. Make your characters normal. This will connect your readers to the character better. If you do want to make your characters supremely beautiful, then make this a fatal flaw. TA DA! This is a very rough overview, but I hope I have explained myself well enough. Good luck.

Shadow Knight

Gender

Points 890

Reviews 172

Wed Jun 08, 2005 11:58 am

Shadow Knight says... · Wed Jun 08, 2005 11:58 am

Yes, at first when I started writing my character, I made him super-human, to a certain extent he still is, which is something i'll be fixing if I get around to doing a re-write.
At first he was one of those good looking perfect characters, then I made him normal, and made him more human, and it really made the story more interesting, and much easier to write (because he didn't overcome every obstacle with such ease), I've even decided (on the advice of a friend) to make the character's emotional problems more complex, so that way, the conflict that is supposed to be in the story, will be much better, and more obvious.

So those 5 tips are very helpful
(Though I still have problems finding 5 flaws :lol:

)

Cause i'm a one man,
I'm a one man,
I'm a one man,
I'm a one man revolution.

Quote

Rei

Gender

Points 890

Reviews 685

Wed Jun 08, 2005 1:01 pm

Rei says... · Wed Jun 08, 2005 1:01 pm

So true, Eloere. Take some of our favourite comic book characters. Spider Man and Superman are both attractive, with all the physical strength you could ask for, plus a bunch of other great physical abilities. But that doesn't make their stories uninteresting. Their weaknesses are in their heads and in their hearts, like the burdons of their secret and the responsibilities of that secret, the fact that as long as they remain who they are, the people they love will always be targeted, and the fact that they can't make everything right. Superman can't solve the world's problems. And if you a watch a show like Smallville, despite his abilities, you can relate to the teenage Clark like any other kind-hearted teenager.

That's one thing I like about the genre. Since these characters are essentially unreal, the effort up into making them real creates much stronger characters, and therefore more interesting and emotionally compelling character stories, even in cases where the story over all is largely plot driven.

Please, sit down before you fall down.
Belloq, "Raiders of the Lost Ark"

Quote

J. Wilder

Gender

Points 1190

Reviews 32

Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:47 am

J. Wilder says... · Wed Jul 06, 2005 2:47 am

About flawed characters as opposed to perfect characters, I definitely agree (of course) that a character should be flawed, but I think some writers write characters who are too flawed. I mean, who wants to read about an ugly stupid unpopular unathletic untalented loser? And then, I think there are a lot of writers, especially in the teen genre, who have really flawed protagonists but then give them a totally perfect love interest.

About the flaws you listed, I agree with ohhewwo that they're not flaws. They're bad things that have happened to him, but flaws have to be bad things about him.

MAKE YOUR CHARACTERS UGLY

Obviously they shouldn't all be good looking, but certainly there's nothing wrong with having some good-looking characters. In real life, some people actually do look perfect. I agree, though, that descriptions like "He brushed back his jet black hair and looked at her with piercing silver eyes" suck, and it seems like I read descriptions like that all the time. Most of my protagonists are good-looking, but I would never write a description like that.

Thanks for the tips, though. I think most of the advice was good.

I never understood why people make their characters perfect.

I think it's an attempt to make them likeable. Now that I think about it I can't think of anything I've ever read that had a character who was too perfect, but a lot of people must write like that, because I hear about that problem all the time (especially on NaNoWriMo...MarySues).

Quote

Snoink

Supporter

Gender

Points 9692

Reviews 3900

Wed Jul 06, 2005 3:48 am

Snoink says... · Wed Jul 06, 2005 3:48 am

Perhaps flaws was the wrong word. Weaknesses would be much better. But... flaws sounded catchier? Nah... a character must have weaknesses. And, in this case, this man is a good man at heart, which means he cannot have too many flaws, but because of that his weaknesses must abound.

Also, like you noticed, they had to be balanced. And having a character who only has weaknesses can be okay, but there has to be some humanity to the character, or else everything falls apart.

We humans are not naturally just boring sob stories who lament over their lives continuously. We are vibrant beings who, though suffer, rejoice in life. There are, of course, times where we do not feel great and sometimes feel rather suicidal, but that is not our whole life.

Shadow Knight pointed out something very great. "At first he was one of those good looking perfect characters, then I made him normal, and made him more human, and it really made the story more interesting, and much easier to write." He noticed it was easier because the conflicts came easier. But that's not the only reason! We can connect with a character who isn't perfect. A character who both shines and then falls. Why? Because it's human. To have a character so totally devoid of emotion is painful for us to read and sometimes it will even cause us to stop the story.

And Sam asked a question, which I totally missed.

Snoink-

for finding flaws, is it better to start with a storyline and then come up with characters?
Or is it better to start with characters and fit a storyline around them?

I tend to favor the latter.

For FREAK, I started with the storyline and then added the characters. But then again, that is a rare story in which I try to showcase the lack of humanity of the characters at first and then slowly flush them out. Usually I have my own characters which I will use repeatedly. There's Daisy, the spunky teenager who will let nothing get out of her way; Solea, the motherlike character who is extremely quiet but has a heart of gold; the father-figure, who is actually the mysterious person that usually represents God to me; the young lad that has messed up, but anxiously wants to get back and win the girl... the list goes on. And even in FREAK the characters there, not yet developed, will become exactly those. So sometimes both, but most of the time the latter.

Then again, I don't find it matters much. It's up to you and the story to figure it out.

Ubi caritas est vera, Deus ibi est.

"The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly." ~ Richard Bach

Moth and Myth <- My comic!

Quote

Ani May Queen

Gender

Points 890

Reviews 34

Sun Jan 08, 2006 9:49 pm

Ani May Queen says... · Sun Jan 08, 2006 9:49 pm

Absolutely wonderful advise. I've heard some of that before, such as the "like your characters" and don't make them perfect stuff, but the "make them ugly" is cool. I like how your put everything. Thanks for the help!

Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality. - Jules de Gaultier

Quote

Joeducktape

Gender

Points 890

Reviews 104

Sat Jan 28, 2006 1:39 am

Joeducktape says... · Sat Jan 28, 2006 1:39 am

AAAH! I totally agree. I love all my characters... even the really sick, evil guy. I always give my characters a very distinguished look, and never make them look great. Although... there is one girl in my current story who's described as enviably perfect, but what she has in beauty, she lacks in grace.

So true: I AM NOT and HAVE NEVER BEEN IN CONTROL OF my STORY! It goes where it goes and I follow. As much as I would love to do something totally out of character with my... er... characters, its almost painful to do so.

Check my new and improved blog:

weblog.php?w=764

[/shameless plug]

Quote

Sponson Light

Gender

Points 890

Reviews 681

Sat Jan 28, 2006 2:05 am

Sponson Light says... · Sat Jan 28, 2006 2:05 am

Check out the RP and Story Boards, people have god characters.

However, having characters seem cliche also ruins the person.

Who wants to read about someone who has "amnesia and wants to find out who he/she" was?
Who wants to see an evil villan with a scar over some random eye?

Watching 2 perfect people fight off is like watching dragon ball z, extreme exaggerated, gets old and repetive, and boring.

Comics are a quick way to see how people are portrayed.
The comic with the most human emotions for the oddest things are... http://roadwaffles.com/ (two and three)
Dealing with sudden changes in their life, even given the information that they're in a webcomic.

There is a person in Road Waffles 2 that becomes a god of his universe. But Eight (the author) keeps it convincing. Its really an inspirational comic.
Flaws are extremely obvious here and thats what make them human.

You shouldn't judge a book by it's cover, instead, you should read every single book to see what every book is about before you even come close to judging its viability.

Quote

Fishr

Gender

Points 42

Reviews 368

Thu Feb 02, 2006 5:42 am

Fishr says... · Thu Feb 02, 2006 5:42 am

MAKE SURE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTERS

*sniff* I'm gonna hate it, literally hate it when my story comes to an end. My current characters are very much alive inside my head. Man, I think I'm losing it, lol. But yeah, I agree. Each of my characters have their quirks, so as a writer, it keeps me on my toes.

CHARACTERS ARE NOT PUPPETS

HAHA! That statement couldn't be more true. I often say, "I have my story all planned now I just have to write it." Pfft...Yeah right... I personally have absolutely no control over my character's actions. Last night, one of my characters, Samuel, received a present from a historical person in the 1700's. That one kept me awake a few hours, lol. I was like, "OK, where in the hell did that one come from, guys?"

A FATAL FLAW IS NECESSARY If you look at amateur writer’s work, you'll notice that there are a lot of heroes who are perfect. They are drop dead gorgeous, smart, witty, individuals, and their only problem is being slightly misunderstood by everyone else.

What's wrong with drop dead gorgeous characters?

Good point. I think everyone has made this mistake early on. I know I did at a very early age, before the teens. Surprisingly, I got B's; stupid, idiotic teachers! Flaws are my best friend because it's so fun to manipulate characters, lol.

DON'T TELL YOUR READER EVERYTHING

Aw, no comment except it's a hard lesson to learn.

MAKE YOUR CHARACTERS UGLY

Yeesh, I've seen some pretty nasty, ugly, grotesque people. Why? Because one of my hobbies is People Watching, yay! I think this is the most fun a writer can have. I love finding new ways to make 'em ugly, even though... erm... even though I sometimes slip into my horror writing habits. In which case, gore gets involved. :roll:

Well, at least they stand out, lol.

On a more serious note, the streets are flooded with some very strange individuals. Besides, there is no such thing as perfection, only faults. Why not grab human faults and work them into stories? Believe me, it's very fun.

Quote

Duskglimmer

Gender

Points 2340

Reviews 447

Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:30 pm

Duskglimmer says... · Thu Feb 02, 2006 7:30 pm

Me: *gets up in front of group* Hello, my name is Dusky.

Group: *in unison* Hello, Dusky.

Me: And I... *chokes up* want to be a dog walker, not a puppeteer!

Group: Awww....

lol. That's what that last line on tip 2 made me think of.

Great tips though, Snoink. Thanks for posting them here.

The robbed that smiles, steals something from the thief. ~William Shakespeare, Othello
Boo. SPEW is watching.

Quote

Twit

Supporter

Gender

Points 1979

Reviews 1176

Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:18 pm

Twit says... · Thu Mar 29, 2007 5:18 pm

Good points, Snoink! I personally like creating characters best.

And I like flawed characters. The first characters I ever did were unmitigated Mary-Sues, and looking back on them...*shudders*

Still, I remember the first time I read the book The Lantern Bearers by Rosemary Sutcliff I didn't like it that much because the main character - Aquila - was so prickly and bitter. Now that I've read it more, it's become one of my favourite books.
And now I'm thinking of all the prickles I can put in my characters' personalities. :wink:

Bad temper seems to be a favourite flaw to put in, as well as being touchy. They're easy to do; I need to think of other weaknesses as well.

-ST

"TV makes sense. It has logic, structure, rules, and likeable leading men. In life, we have this. We have you." -Abed Nadir

Quote

Eloquence

Gender

Points 890

Reviews 3

Sat May 05, 2007 2:35 pm

Eloquence says... · Sat May 05, 2007 2:35 pm

I agree with all your points, but sometimes people follow them and bring them too far making some hopeless character who's ugly, everyone hates them, and they have so many flaws. I find that just as annoying as perfect characters, which I absolutely abhor. I used to read the series Fear Street by R.L. Stine, and his characters annoyed me so much that I had to stop. They were either "fat, ugly, and no one cared for them" or "beautiful, smart, with an amazing boyfriend." There were absolutely no flaws or their were too many, and no character development whatsoever. I read one, and in it this guy's friend died and he cried for about a day and then the next day he was dating his girlfriend...it ruined the whole plot those boring, vapid characters.

It's difficult to find that happy balance, but it seems you pinpointed them, Snoink.

Quote

luna_the_shiekah

Gender

Points 890

Reviews 72

Mon May 07, 2007 4:26 am

luna_the_shiekah says... · Mon May 07, 2007 4:26 am

...Man, my dead girl needs flaws. Seriously. Of course, I'm not completely sure where I'm going with my latest attempt into novel writing. I don't even know how everything is going to connect! o-o But, I'm having a blast writing it.

Though my characters control everything. Just the way it goes *nods* Great tips though! Especially about the ugly people, I need more of those.

I cannot name this
I cannot explain this
and I really don't want to
just call me shameless.
-Ani Di Franco "Shameless"

Quote

bubblewrapped

Gender

Points 10087

Reviews 701

Mon May 07, 2007 5:52 am

bubblewrapped says... · Mon May 07, 2007 5:52 am

Hahaha....good to read through these again - I'm currently working on the character development for my first (**cough**) novel attempt and it's driving me crazy, so it's a timely resurrection

I too have found my characters to be an unruly bunch...in particular, there is this one character who INSISTS on killing her mother, even though I repeatedly try to stop her -_- Writers are in control of their stories? Yeah right. The more I work on this the more surprised I become....

Got a poem or short story you want me to critique?

There is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way, and not to give others absurd maddening claims upon it. (C D Morley)

Quote

xanthan gum

Gender

Points 890

Reviews 688

Mon May 07, 2007 7:51 pm

xanthan gum says... · Mon May 07, 2007 7:51 pm

On the topic of MAKE SURE YOU LIKE YOUR CHARACTERS, I don't think that you exactly phrased this correctly. Making them interesting, yes, it a good point.. but more so, it's not liking them as so much as being able to relate to them or being able to relate to how another character would feel about.. not being able to relate. Your character cannot be boring, that is correct. Likewise, you have to have a certain relationship with your character. Love to hate him/her, whatever, as long as there is a relationship with this fictional being, so that way they are more than just a pawn to you.

Relationship with a fictional being? Writers are so crazy ><

Carpe Diem.

Quote

PerforatedxHearts

Gender

Points 890

Reviews 125

Mon May 07, 2007 8:02 pm

PerforatedxHearts says... · Mon May 07, 2007 8:02 pm

You know, I've been writing for a long time and never really paid any attention to my characters. Strange as it seems, it's true. I'd make a character, patched together out of dozens of completely irrelevant trait, then stick 'em in the story. And it worked...usually.

I get on a few authors a lot since their characters don't stay in character. What I mean by this is that complex characters should stay complex, simple characters should stay simple, stupid characters stupid (unless it's your aim in the story to make them smart somehow), boring people stay boring, and so on.

For instance: when you start constructing a character, let's just say you want them to be serious. So you take the seriousness, and it leads to traits such as thoughtfulness (in all that seriousness, they're probably musing over something!), maybe make them annoyed over silly/stupid people (and by silly/stupid people, I mean people who can't just settle down, shut up, and make a decent conversation), whatever compliments that serious character.

There are some characters that are just random, their personality doesn't "make sense" to the reader. AKA the reader can't count on that character to stay the way they are- whether they're boring or talkative. These kinds of characters act against the way we expect them to, such as in Eragon, the herbal witch Angela. Christopher Paolini (the author) even said that she isn't such a reliable character personalitywise since she's both serious, secretive, all these different traits.

To stop me from rambling on, I can't say that flaws are bad. Flaws are beautiful in a person, sometimes, and they don't necessarily bring the character down, but they're the glimmer of hope that not everyone is painstakingly perfect. That they make a character unique. Maybe that character's learned from that flaw, you'll never know.

"Video games don't affect kids. If Pacman had affected us as kids, we'd all be running around in darkened rooms, munching magic pills, and listening to repetitive electronic music." --anonymous/banner.

Quote

About / Info

Forums & RPG

Literary

Resources