So, it's been ages since I've posted, and I decided to write on something I am really comfortable with until I can find intelligent words to sprinkle on you. :)
When I look back the character that I created that I love the most, I see something in him that we all have: fear. Poor guy. I created him with so much fear inside his soul, he tended to hide from the real world a lot. No on wants to see a character with no fear. It's unrealistic. Every. single. person. has fears. Modern day writers tend to put out a "be strong, no fear" characteristic in their characters. They lack fear, motivation, and an inward connection. Modern characters lack strange, individual fears.
One of my favorite parts about Divergent was the unique fears that each character possessed. They each had a different fear, a different thing that showed up in their Training. The characters played off the fears just right and not too much.
Back to my most favorite character. His name is Zeke. (Isn't that a cute name?!) He was one of my very first characters. I spent months and months trying to give him a good backstory, good foundation, a life, a home, a personality. In the end he turned out to be a very strong character. Of course, it's hard for any one of you to relate to him, because you've never read him. So, I'll turn away from Zeke and go to characters that you will most likely know.
I use The Fault in Our Stars so much, because not only is John Green a modern writer, but he did such a beautiful job in his characters. Hazel and Gus were formed so well in the book. They had fears, they had fun, they had backgrounds which John Green showed us glimpses of. They both had love, and lived life to the fullest despite their complications. And in the end, when we write characters, we have to know how to make our characters live to the fullest (even though they aren't real).
Five Core Things to Build Your Characters off of:
1. Fear. I can't stress it enough how important it is to include several fears into your characters. Unless their personality is for them to be skittish, don't make them too afraid, but don't downplay the fears. It's crucial in the end to make sure your characters are afraid, and once they overcome a fear, make another pop up in its place. One can't just not be afraid. But let the characters overcome a fear before adding too many to the poor guy's plate. His little fiction heart can't be too afraid. You might just kill him....
2. Personality. Do research. Give your character an MBTI personality. Let your character take the test, figure out what they are, do research on that personality type, and make them as accurate as possible to how you imagine them. If characters have enough personality to play off of, your readers will love them that much more. If the characters can relate to real life personality types, then the readers will be able to say "she's just like me!" And it gives a good feeling inside your readers to have them be able to relate to this.
3. Backgrounds. This might perhaps be the most important. Not many writers go into a story without formatting a good background for their characters. But sometimes we have done that. Have a detailed background. Know where they were ten years ago, what they were doing and how they were doing it. Know what they did on their 18th birthday and know what they are going to do on their 20th birthday.
4. Love. Ew, right? I'm not a romance writer. I suck at it. And I rarely read romances, because honestly they're all mushy and unrealistic. However, no one can live without love. This doesn't have to be a lover kind of love. It could also be a sisterly love, or brotherly love, or even a close friendship. But it's good to know your characters "love" life. Do they have family or friends that they love? Do they have a secret lover? Do they have anyone at all? And if they don't have any kind of human love, then how do they process love? If a character has never experienced a fatherly love, then when the Mentor shows up, how does your character react to that kind of love? Does he reject it, not knowing what to do? Or will he be the kind of character that loves easily?
5. Hobbies and talents. Back to my Zeke. (<3) Poor guy had so many hidden talents and hobbies. And it was a shock to both his friends, and me (the writer) to find out he could play musical instruments so very well. Know your characters' hobbies and talents. Give them talents and hobbies. Maybe that big, tough guy that can sword fight really well likes to knit. Say it brings back good memories of his mother when he knits, so it became a hobby. But then guess what? He is really good at knitting, so it is now a talent. What does he do with that talent? He enters the knitting into the fair under a girly name, and wins purple ribbon. But no one knows this fellow has this talent. It is just kind of a special thing only he knows. Well one day, a woman finds out he can knit and they fall in love! (Told you I wasn't good at this romance stuff. :P) Lame, I know. But give your characters individuality. Give them something special to hold onto. Because God knows we put our characters through Hell. Poor guys.
So develop them well. I always spend months developing my characters before I start writing. And maybe you develop your characters better while writing the rough draft. That's okay, too. But if you have strong characters, you will end up with a strong story. Unless you're like me and have no idea how to put your theoretical concepts into hypothetical plots that don't exist in this real world we live in.
Anywho, I'll stop rambling my confused words on you. Have a fantastic day.
~Sarah
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