As someone who generally writes contemporary/realistic fiction, character is always kind of a big thing in my writing because the stuff I write is all about people, as opposed to extravagant plots. This has taught me a lot about writing characters throughout the years, and so I figured I'd share some of this stuff with you guys to be, y'know, useful
Actions don't necessarily speak louder than words
Dialogue. Not to sound like an egotistical toilet wipe, but realistic dialogue is something I've always found quite easy. I think the main thing to remember with dialogue is that people actually have to say these things. A good technique of finding out if that would ever actually happen is to read your dialogue aloud, have a conversation with yourself using it. If it doesn't sound right coming from your lips, it won't sound right coming from your character's. Similarly, if your story is set in the medieval period, having Taron the blacksmith greet everyone with "yo dog," probably isn't appropriate. Make sure you do your research into the time period your story is set, and get a good grasp of dialects, phrases, sentence structuring e.t.c. from that time.
Something super small, but I find super useful, are fillers. People don't speak in cohesive sentences in real life, they just don't. People say um, uh, hm e.t.c frequently, stammer sometimes, start a sentence one way and end it another, and all that jazz. By writing these things into your dialogue, realism can be amplified heaps. Though don't fill everything everyone says with um's, that's just annoying.
That's not to say actions aren't equally as important
Body language can be your best friend if done right, and your worst enemy if done wrong. It's no good creating an arrogant character whose posture is weak and nimble, or an anxious one who stares people in the eye 24/7. Quite obvious examples, but you get the idea. Body language is useful for portraying character subtly, and when you're not aiming for subtle, it's a good way to round your character off. It doesn't have to be explicit body language, just small things like the way someone walks, hand gestures e.t.c. A lot of people forget about body language when writing character, and it's a real shame.
Your character can be an a-hole too, y'know
Flaws are my absolute most favourite thing ever, and I have no doubt saying that they're probably the most important aspect of a character's believability. I don't care if we're talking about your main character who owns a puppy orphanage and saves the world with love, they have to be imperfect. I think we've all established that by this point though, so I'm going to focus on something a bit deeper here. I like to call them flawed flaws. These are the kind of flaws that aren't really flaws, but quirky/relatable/likeable character traits. For example, your character has trust issues, is emotionally closed, overly selfless e.t.c.
They're not flaws, goddamnit *bangs table*
Sure, they don't aid your character in overcoming any conflict, but they're not negative traits. Flaws, least to me, are things like being judgmental, self-righteous, ignorant, careless, egotistical e.t.c. I'm not saying your character has to be a cocky little swine who hates on everyone, but sometimes they can be. Sometimes we can all be swines in our own ways, and it doesn't make us bad people. It makes us flawed. See where I'm going with this?
On a similar note, don't fill your mean characters with nothing but flaws. Mean people like kittens too, y'know. I'm not saying you have to make your baddies be nice, but give them some positive character traits, at least. Maybe their motive for world domination is to avenge the death of their beloved mother? Ya get me?
Conduct some field research
This technique of writing believable characters is a little bit of an acquired taste. Basically, whenever you're going about your usual day, consider how your character would be behaving in your situation. Getting a bagel? Which flavour would your character chose? The price of petrol (gas) has shot up? How would your character react? Dumb little things like that can really build a character, so bring yours with you everywhere you go. Think about it: you're putting your characters in positions that may not happen in your story in a million years, and that can open up aspects of their personalities you never really considered before. Plus it's raw and unscripted, whereas sometimes if you plan everything your character will say/do beforehand, they can turn mechanical.
And finally...
Just remember that characters are people, and people are complex. Don't fall into the trap of making your characters fit one mould, and that be it. Someone can be shy, but love performing on stage. Someone can be an arrogant bum wipe, but be the biggest sweetheart to kids. Someone can be loud and extroverted, but super self-conscious. What I'm saying is that you shouldn't be afraid to experiment with your characters because the more you do that, the more like real people they'll become.
Now fly, my minions, fly into a world of believable characters.
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