How to Create a Believable Character
Last week we discussed the merits of character fiction and had an interesting conversation about what rules a story – plot or character.
Most people agreed that the characters make or break a story. Great character writing can breathe life into a flat or dull plot, and when we walk away from fiction, it’s the characters that continue to resonate in our imaginations.
But how do you create a character that readers believe?
Get Into Character
The Men with Pens are well-known for their smokin’ business tips, but their talents extend beyond helping freelancers and entrepreneurs make it on the world wide web.
James and Harry also run a gaming site called Escaping Reality in which creative writers collaborate in real time to forge an interactive and ongoing work of fiction, and in this fictional world, strong character writing is absolutely essential.
Step into our world any time. Collaborate with other players in scenes rich with visual imagery, description and dialogue. Improve your fiction writing skills with fast improvisation, quick wits, interactive writing and plenty of twists and turns.
Each writer enters a scene with one asset – a character. Plot happens spontaneously as different characters interact and move the story forward. As you can imagine, your character in this game has to be strong, vivid, and believable. In fact, before you’re allowed to join the game, you’ll need to submit a character sketch.
Even Fictional Character Writing Has to be Real
What does an online role-playing game have to do with fiction writing? Everything.
Realistic characters are essential to a work of fiction that compels readers just as they are essential to collaborative writing. Whether you’re developing a character for a game, a writing exercise, or for a short story or novel, you want to generate characters that step off the page and become a part of your readers’ lives.
A realistic character taps into readers’ emotions, giving rise to empathy, resentment, and adoration. We root for the protagonist because we’re on his side. We hiss and boo at the antagonist because she’s roused our senses of fear and loathing.
Put simply, readers get attached to characters. But only if those characters are believable. Your job as a fiction writer is to manifest lifelike characters. And the Men with Pens have a great resource that will walk you through every step of character creation.
How to Create a Believable Character
Not all characters are created equally. Have you ever read a character that seemed more like a stereotype than a real person? Ever tried to write a character that just fell flat and lacked a genuine personality?
People are complex organisms – even characters that are non-human are complicated and difficult to write in a way that makes it easy to believe that they’re real.
In their ebook How to Create a Believable Character, James Chartrand and Harrison McLeod share tons of tips and insight for creating characters that readers will connect with. From basic stuff, like what your character looks like, to more in-depth qualities, such as major life-altering events, this book will take you through the many different aspects of a character that you need to define – both before and during the fiction writing process.
Ready, Set, Create Character!
How to Create a Believable Character is a fairly quick read and includes worksheets that you can print out to help guide you through the process of drafting a character sketch. You’ll be prompted to think about your character’s:
- Appearance
- Abilities
- Background
- Personality
Plus, you’ll learn how to tie all your character’s traits together so you end up with a realistic, believable character that will resonate with readers.
This is a fun and affordable little resource – just under twelve dollars – so you can’t afford not to pick this one up and add it to your collection of writing resources. And once you have it, you’ll find yourself scrolling through it every time you’re working on a character, just to make sure you’ve covered all your bases.
And with this book, all your character-creating bases will definitely be covered. Get your copy today.
And keep on writing.
Do you have any tips to share on strong character writing? Leave a comment or send in a guest post.
