Creating characters for your novels isn’t necessarily an easy task, but it’s important and it can be fun.
We talked a lot about characters this month. There’s a whole lot more to explore when it comes to characters, but I think we covered a decent amount. I’m sure there will be another month when I discuss characters again. (That means, yes. Yes, there will be another character-orientated month.)
So, I’m asking a simple question today. What’s your favorite part about creating characters?
A lot goes into bringing character to life and making them unique from other characters in your novel and other characters from other novels written by other people.
First, there’s the physical description. How long do you spend trying to decide whether or not your protagonist has brown, blonde, or purple hair? Did they get their green eyes from their mother or father? Or maybe from her great-great-aunt?
What kind of clothes do they wear? Do they always try to look presentable or do they just not care? Make-up? Jewelry?
How tall or short are they? Are they a twig or husky? Do they have a huge nose or teeny-tiny ears?
Then, there’s the personality. Are they self-conscious about that huge nose? Or do they not care what others think about them?
Are they nice to everyone or just their close friends? Are they pleasant to be around? Do they have any normal/weird habits or hobbies? What’s their favorite anything? Food, clothes, color, etc.
Third, you have their background story. What’s their family and home life like? Do they have any friends? A large group or just one best friend?
How did they get to where they are today? What kinds of decisions do they make?
Now here’s the important question: do you like to plan your characters out, like I just did above, or do you like free writing and see where they take you?
I think writing characters is so much fun because you can place them in certain worlds and situations that you can’t normally be part of. Your characters are a little piece of you and you live vicariously through them.
So, what’s your favorite part about creating your characters? Let me know in the comments below!
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All of it. The background, the appearance, the goals, the gear, the quirks, etc. Character creation is my favorite part of the prep work because I get so much from it. Most importantly I get my subplots from the backgrounds. This probably comes from my Dungeons & Dragons days since creation was always the most important stage.
I think the characters, and the way we create them, are really the heart of the story. You have to have fun with it and enjoy the process because they really are what makes the story move forward.
Very true. Wouldn’t be much of a story without characters. 🙂
My favourite parts of a Character are definitely their personality; specifically their motives. I love understanding where a character has come from, where they’re going, and, more to the point, why! I like trying to comprehend the inner workings of their mind, the ones that grow through writing and sometimes surprise even you!
I think I’d have to agree with you. Anything that makes the character more “alive” is great and I think the personality and motives really accomplish that.
Without a doubt 🙂 Only then they start taking the story out of your hands… and then you realise they’re writing it themselves! Haha. Too many of my characters have defined my plot for me… I guess I should be thankful!
So have my characters! I had to rewrite a whole book once, lol.
Haha, wow! Can’t say I’ve had to go that far (yet!) but could definitely see how that happens!
I had to change the POV because my female protagonist was taking over for my male protagonist. It was a lot of work.
Haha, I can imagine! It soudns like a ton of work. Characters just need to be heard sometimes, haha.
That they do.
Personality…specifically, their flaws. How their imperfections play a part in their decisions, and the course of the story.
That’s a good one. I love picking and choosing personality traits and then seeing how the characters themselves react to certain situations.
Creating characters is one of my favorite parts to writing a story. When I wrote my first series, I didn’t really plan out much about my characters before I wrote. They came to life as I wrote. (If I were to be honest, I didn’t do a grand job creating an image for my readers). My latest novel requires me to build up a majority of the characters before I write. There’s an iPad app call “A Novel Idea” and I highly recommend it as a use for all authors. It’s a free app unless you want to pay to remove ads. It’s great because it really helps me figure out all the details to my characters as well as other factors for my novel. It’s great for me because if I don’t write something down then I am garanteed to forget it. 😂
Mine too. They’re a lot of fun to mix and match!
I use A Novel Idea as well. It’s such a handy tool for organization and it’s so simple!
Sometimes I borrow traits from movie or tv series. Sometimes it helps to see characters in action.
That’s always fun. Sometimes I just pick them at random and see what happens, lol.
Aaaaaahhhh… new characters. I love creating them. What’s more difficult from when they finally exist, is the part of matching them to the story.
But that was not what you asked. To me one of the best parts is that I can create them as heroic (or as evil) as I am not. I can give them gifts I would like to have or make them as beautiful as I would love to be.
The other part I enjoy very much is the name of my new characters. I love to pick names that mean something; match their roots, origin or even behavior.
Creating a new character is one of the best parts of being a writer.
You come up with some great stuff! It’s true that we add a little bit of ourselves to our characters, but I forget that we also add our own desires and such as well.
I’m almost sure I’m not the only one though. 🙂 (Or maybe there’s just something wrong with me…? LOL)
No, I don’t think so! 😉
LOL
Living through them. 😉
That sounds good to me. 🙂
Occasionally dying too.
That’s always interesting, lol.
Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog.
Creating a character that you can genuinely route for is the way I like to look at it. I sometimes imagine them as I’d they we’re real people and the writer has to imagine them as someone who would have their back no matter what in any situation. The first piece of advice I would give anyone when it came to creating heroes is imagine that if you could sit and have a pint with anyone who would it be and you’re pretty much half way there.
I agree. You have to make your characters as alive as you are and give your readers that relatability between them so they can really get to know them and root for them.
I go into writing with an outline but like most writers, I give them some free reign. I love to watch them grow and see where they go as they take on a life of their own.
That’s the best way to do it, I think. I love seeing where they take me and the story. 🙂
I like creating characters that are based on people I know and have met and having them do things that i would imagine those people doing in the given situation. The most fun is that, by using different names, those people would never recognize themselves in my work.
I do that, too. It’s a lot of fun, lol.
That is hard to answer. I think I start out free writing but then I put a bit more thought in during the second draft to make sure I know their positive and negative traits etc. But as for a favourite part…. *scratches head* traits? weaknesses? probably those.
I know what you mean. It’s fun to see what makes the characters tick as you write them. It’s hard to pin-point certain things about them.