The Art of Creating Real Three-dimensional Characters

Rather it is a novel or in a screenplay, the most important element to every scene in every story you will every write is the creation of real three-dimensional characters.

This is why creating believable characters with their very own voices is essential to your story. Your characters must be memorable or every time you bring them back into the story, a large portion of the audience will have forgotten who they are.

When an audience sits down to read a book or pays to watch a film they are agreeing to let you take them for a ride, to suspend their real lives for just a while.

If they have to stop and ask the person next to them who some one is every time a character reappears it prevents them from taking that journey with you and most likely ruins the experience.

If a character is too weak to be remembered from scene to scene, he/she is useless to the story and should not be there.

Create a bio for your character; first create the first ten years in your characters life. Is your characters a male or female? When and where were they born? How old is your character when the story begins?

Ask yourself what kind of childhood did your character have? What kind of relationship does the character have with the parents?

Does your character have siblings? Do this for the early years of your character; you want to know as much about this character's past life as you can think of, because like in a real person the answers to these questions will help, you shape the character into who he/she becomes in your story.

Do the same thing for the next part of your characters life until you have a full bio on this person. Knowing who your characters are before you begin your story is the key to writing real characters.