Creating Characters

Creating characters is arguably the single-most important part of novel writing - or at least as important as writing a plot.

Without a page-turning plot, your readers will soon be - well, not turning the pages. But even with a compelling story, the audience will only be interested in "what happens next" if it cares about the fictional characters at the heart of the action.

That is what creating characters boils down to, ultimately: making the audience care:

• Put a character that the reader has no strong feelings about - or, worse, doesn't know at all - on a high window ledge, and they won't be that bothered if they jump or not.

• Make the character one that they care about, just like they care about people in the real world, and they won't be able to put the novel down.

An Introduction to Creating Characters

If you have been studying the art and craft of novel writing for some time, you have probably come across this question: Is character more important than plot? It is actually a dumb question, and hardly worth bothering with, but I have dealt with it once and for all in Characterization vs. Plotting.

Now for the more interesting material...

• I mentioned above that creating characters is really all about making the audience care. But how, precisely, do you get your readers to become emotionally involved with the novel's characters? That is answered in The First Rule of Creating Fictional Characters.

• Next up, Romantic and Realistic Characters in Fiction. Some story characters are so realistic, they could live next door to you. Others might be great to read about but are ultimately unbelievable. The trick is to make your own novel's leading man or woman the perfect blend of the two.

• Just like people in the real world, some of your fictional characters will be more loveable than others. But you must be careful here: make the heroes too heroic and the villains too villainous and the novel might end up being unintentionally comic. For more on this, check out Creating a Character Readers Love or Hate.

• Next, an article which speaks for itself: How to Create a Character Readers Won't Forget. Creating characters that the audience care about when they are reading about them is one thing. But make the characters live on in their imaginations after they have put the book down and they will queue around the block when your second novel is released.

How to Characterize

Now for the nitty-gritty of character creation: the two-step guide to creating some fictional characters of your own and bringing them to life on the page...

• In Getting to Know Fictional Characters, you will discover, in great detail, how to construct a brand new person from scratch using nothing but your imagination.

• And in Bringing Fictional Characters to Life, you will learn how to portray this character on the printed page so that the readers will be able to get to know the person as well as you do.

Types of Fictional Character

Not all characters in fiction are created equal...

• At one end of the scale is the protagonist, or the leading man or woman.
• At the other end is the lowly extra, who won't even get any lines to speak.

I discuss all the different types of character, and give advice on how to create them, in Major and Minor Characters.

Linked to this are a couple of companion articles:

• How to create Round Characters, and
• How to create Flat Characters.

Final Thought...

Us writers can be a sentimental old bunch, and it is usual, at the end of a long novel, to have grown very close to our fictional creations.

There is nothing wrong with this, of course, although it does come with a couple of potential problems. Read Letting Go of Fictional Characters for more.

And that's it! Don't worry if it seems like a lot of information, because creating characters is actually a very intuitive and one that will become second-nature to you after you have read through these articles two or three times.