How to Create the Perfect Character for Your Story

If you strip the flowery and figurative language from a novel, you'll end up with two basic things. A character or group of characters. And the journey on which they've embarked, whether it is a physical journey, a bunch of crazy kids on a road trip to South Beach for spring break or a mental journey, a man trying to come to terms with the death of his son. So in writing a story there should be an incredible amount of focus on the characters and the journey on which they will travel throughout the story. The art of writing is the choices you make, and in creating characters and their inner/outer journey, you should make several considerations while you meticulously plan, making choices that will further strengthen the story as a whole.

As a writer, your characters, specifically your main characters should be your best friends, meaning you should know more about them than anyone else. Completing the character chart constructed by Kira Lerner and Toni Walker, is a good way to get to know your character. This chart will help you create characters, "who are believable, captivating, and unique" and you can carefully plot and plan every aspect of the character's personality, their eye color, pet peeves, family structure, and even what type of car they drives.

Noah Lukeman urges writers to first create a characters "outer life" and then go within to their "inner life". His first chapter of The Plot Thickens, which emphasizes the close association between characterization and the plot, he talks about exercises that help writers create outer attributes, such as pretending to be describing the character's physical appearances to a police sketch artist and the characters house to a real estate agent. The second chapter focuses on personality traits, beliefs, religion, hobbies, and habits. "The inner life" is important to move past the "surface characterization" and create a "rich" and complex life of a well-developed character .

Lukeman warns writers of the "biggest mistake writers make", describing every attribute of the character within the first few pages. Writers should know their characters appearances, however it is not "crucial to divulge it all to the reader...unless the story demands it". Instead, you should "leak a description" bit by bit at an "opportune time" .

The University of Victoria's article on characterization, focuses not on attributes, but the complexity of a character. Characters can either be flat (also known as type or one-dimensional) characters, which are "defined by a single quality" or round characters that are complex and layered individuals that cannot be easily defined. C.J. Cherryh explains the flat and round characters as weak vs. strong characters, "well-described characters opposed to stereotypical and cardboard". Part of creating, roundly complex characters, according to Noah Lukeman is creating multidimensional characters. Multidimensionality creates characters that are "more realistic" and easier for readers to relate to. A one-dimensional character doesn't react to situations and circumstances that occur in the events of the story, but instead is just there. The "event-driven" story lacks multidimensionality, which allows characters to act like human beings instead of pawns .

Though multidimensionality creates realistic and relatable characters, they can also cause problems, according to Lukeman, who says novice writers often create too many layers to characters, so that readers can't relate to him at all. Creating an ambiguous character, creates "mundane and uninteresting", but awfully interesting average Joe characters. Layering characters brings them to life, but multidimensionality, should be used like salt "sparingly, deliberately" . A well-drawn character is not one that is extremely realistic, embracing the boring aspects of everyday life, but one that satisfies the "dramatic expectations of a novel". According to Strong Characters versus Weak Characters, central characters should be responsible for things, they should act and cause things to happen, and should deal with the consequences of their actions . In other words, characters should react to circumstances.

"Without circumstance to prove a character's mettle, it can be hard to gain perspective and make a judgment about him", making a character less relatable, less realistic, and more one-dimensional. Ultimately, after reading and reflecting on a story the most memorable part is not the character's thoughts, but instead the character's actions. Circumstance propels the plot, but also characterizes protagonists, showing readers how characters react in certain situations, "see what they are really made of" . The way a character reacts to changing circumstance, can become a road marker in their journey, showing how they have changed.

In the end, readers won't be satisfied unless the characters have shown some type of change, a change in heart, a change in destination. So when creating characters you must consider each attribute and detail carefully, while also having in mind the personal journey that will occur and how that character will change.

Cherryh, C.J. Strong Characters versus Weak Characters. 1996. .

Lerner, Kira. Walker, Toni. The EPIGUIDE.COM Fiction Writer's Character Chart. .

Lukeman, Noah. The Plot Thickens. New York City: St. Martin's Press, 2002.

University of Victoria. The UViC Writer's Guide: Characters and Characterization. 1995. .