# How do you make well developed characters?



## KThoughts (Dec 19, 2016)

Hello again! It's actually been a while since I decided to be online but I have a question that is important in writing stories, the vital part of a story and that is *characters. *How do you make well developed characters and enter them into your story? How do I make them realistic? relatable? understandable?


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## Sam (Dec 19, 2016)

You make them human. 

You give them traits and goals and dreams, personality and individuality and morality, and then you throw everything, including the kitchen sink, at them in an attempt to stop them from achieving any semblance of the aforementioned goals and dreams. 

Your characters should never have it easy. There should always be something standing in their way until there isn't. Readers have a much easier time liking, relating to, and rooting for characters who have to stretch every sinew to achieve something.


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## KThoughts (Dec 19, 2016)

Sam said:


> You make them human.
> 
> You give them traits and goals and dreams, personality and individuality and morality, and then you throw everything, including the kitchen sink, at them in an attempt to stop them from achieving any semblance of the aforementioned goals and dreams.
> 
> Your characters should never have it easy. There should always be something standing in their way until there isn't. Readers have a much easier time liking, relating to, and rooting for characters who have to stretch every sinew to achieve something.



Thank you for your answer! But I was wondering how can a reader relate to a character if the character was someone rebellious or mean? How can I make them relate to that. I probably should be specfic from the start but I kind of needed advice for all personalities. ^^"


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## Ptolemy (Dec 19, 2016)

KThoughts said:


> Thank you for your answer! But I was wondering how can a reader relate to a character if the character was someone rebellious or mean? How can I make them relate to that. I probably should be specfic from the start but I kind of needed advice for all personalities. ^^"


Give them a motivation that made them mean. Death of a family member (which is a cliché mind you) or an addiction they recently got over like alcoholism. My character is not the best person, but readers. An relate to him because he is constantly fighting the allure of the bottle. 

While it wouldn't excuse his behavior, it gives him some general sympathy from my readers but giving them a reason to why his character is like this.


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## Tettsuo (Dec 19, 2016)

KThoughts said:


> Hello again! It's actually been a while since I decided to be online but I have a question that is important in writing stories, the vital part of a story and that is *characters. *How do you make well developed characters and enter them into your story? How do I make them realistic? relatable? understandable?


Each person acts in their own best interests, most of the time.  When characters don't make sense, it's usually when they act in a ways that don't benefit them and only benefit the main character.

And, as it's been said here many times, every character is the hero in their own story.  We all see the world from our own lens, and therefore act in a manner that is sensible for us.

For dialogue, unless every character has the same level of education and intelligence, they'll all speak differently.  They'll use different words, more or less profanity, various words they like to use, different cadences, etc.  Because of this, you'll need to do at least some character background so you can write all of the various characters in a way that does honor to their upbringing.


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## Bishop (Dec 19, 2016)

KThoughts said:


> Thank you for your answer! But I was wondering how can a reader relate to a character if the character was someone rebellious or mean? How can I make them relate to that. I probably should be specfic from the start but I kind of needed advice for all personalities. ^^"



Compounding on what Ptolemy and Sam have both already said, even the most unrelatable son of a bitch can be made relatable by very simple means. I sometimes like to use character quirks that people can understand, like a personality flaw that's common, or something as simple as idly clicking a pen when bored in a meeting. Something that we can see, as a reader, that makes us remember (s)he's a human. And when we relate to them on the human level, we can start to see parallels in their motivations and goals and understand why they're doing what they're doing. Even if it's awful, awful things.


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## Sam (Dec 19, 2016)

KThoughts said:


> Thank you for your answer! But I was wondering how can a reader relate to a character if the character was someone rebellious or mean? How can I make them relate to that. I probably should be specfic from the start but I kind of needed advice for all personalities. ^^"



Every mean or rebellious person I've ever met did not wake up one morning and decide to be mean or rebellious. Something happened that occasioned them to become that way. 

There was a guy I knew in university who was a colossal asshole to everyone he ever met. One day, out of the blue, he asked for my help with proofing an assignment. I got to know him a little better after that and he opened up to me. As it turned out, this guy was fifteen years old when he witnessed his father putting a shotgun to his head and blowing it to pieces. That is some serious baggage. 

Even the meanest, most rebellious, character will have something in their past that you can use to tether them to humanity and to give the reader a reason to accept their characteristics.


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## KellInkston (Dec 19, 2016)

Sam said:


> Every mean or rebellious person I've ever met did not wake up one morning and decide to be mean or rebellious. Something happened that occasioned them to become that way.
> 
> There was a guy I knew in university who was a colossal asshole to everyone he ever met. One day, out of the blue, he asked for my help with proofing an assignment. I got to know him a little better after that and he opened up to me. As it turned out, this guy was fifteen years old when he witnessed his father putting a shotgun to his head and blowing it to pieces. That is some serious baggage.
> 
> Even the meanest, most rebellious, character will have something in their past that you can use to tether them to humanity and to give the reader a reason to accept their characteristics.


  Wonderful! To push in a little with my own thoughts on this, I've found an excellent tool for this would be writing a short story featuring the character from the past. It helps save a developmental edit in the primary work and risking a two dimensional character if you just get to know them yourself first as a writing, because often I've found that knowing the character and _understanding _the character are usually two different things. Maybe give writing a short for them a shot and see where it takes you.


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## voltigeur (Dec 20, 2016)

When I develop a story I obviously start with a raw inspiration, then develop that in to a concept and have a plan (at least in my head) how to make that story work. 

Developing characters is one of those steps. So once I have a story I know what characters I need to tell that story. I list their profession and the skills they will come to the story with. Then I write a short bio or back story. There is never any intention to put that back story in the WIP, its written so I have a very clear idea of the character's appearance and personality. that I am not confused when I write them. 

So for Example in my WIP I have a female character that is an FMLN guerrilla in El Salvador's civil war. I don't describe or explain her I simply show what happens to her. In one scene that I took to my critique group she kills a former class mate. The readers were disturbed but still held empathy with her. 

Hope this helps!


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## KThoughts (Dec 20, 2016)

> Give them a motivation that made them mean. Death of a family member (which is a cliché mind you) or an addiction they recently got over like alcoholism. My character is not the best person, but readers. An relate to him because he is constantly fighting the allure of the bottle.
> 
> While it wouldn't excuse his behavior, it gives him some general sympathy from my readers but giving them a reason to why his character is like this.



Woah. You do have a point about that. I will keep that in mind and thank you for the advice! 



> Each person acts in their own best interests, most of the time. When characters don't make sense, it's usually when they act in a ways that don't benefit them and only benefit the main character.
> 
> And, as it's been said here many times, every character is the hero in their own story. We all see the world from our own lens, and therefore act in a manner that is sensible for us.
> 
> For dialogue, unless every character has the same level of education and intelligence, they'll all speak differently. They'll use different words, more or less profanity, various words they like to use, different cadences, etc. Because of this, you'll need to do at least some character background so you can write all of the various characters in a way that does honor to their upbringing.



Thank you for the advice for dialogues though! I needed it as well but my only problem is how to be consistent with the dialogue or the voice of my characters but I will put that to rest for a bit. 



> Compounding on what Ptolemy and Sam have both already said, even the most unrelatable son of a bitch can be made relatable by very simple means. I sometimes like to use character quirks that people can understand, like a personality flaw that's common, or something as simple as idly clicking a pen when bored in a meeting. Something that we can see, as a reader, that makes us remember (s)he's a human. And when we relate to them on the human level, we can start to see parallels in their motivations and goals and understand why they're doing what they're doing. Even if it's awful, awful things.



Personality flaw is what I am trying to think of for the character. I planned all her flaws but somehow I felt like it wasn't obvious of what her flaw is when I already typed in the chapters. It's probably the lack of how I describe or try to make things visualize through writing but I will work on it somehow. I got the idea of the human trait too. 



> Every mean or rebellious person I've ever met did not wake up one morning and decide to be mean or rebellious. Something happened that occasioned them to become that way.
> 
> There was a guy I knew in university who was a colossal asshole to everyone he ever met. One day, out of the blue, he asked for my help with proofing an assignment. I got to know him a little better after that and he opened up to me. As it turned out, this guy was fifteen years old when he witnessed his father putting a shotgun to his head and blowing it to pieces. That is some serious baggage.
> 
> Even the meanest, most rebellious, character will have something in their past that you can use to tether them to humanity and to give the reader a reason to accept their characteristics.



Something about the past? I will keep that in mind as soon as I clear the inconsistency between my first and last ideas. 



> When I develop a story I obviously start with a raw inspiration, then develop that in to a concept and have a plan (at least in my head) how to make that story work.
> 
> Developing characters is one of those steps. So once I have a story I know what characters I need to tell that story. I list their profession and the skills they will come to the story with. Then I write a short bio or back story. There is never any intention to put that back story in the WIP, its written so I have a very clear idea of the character's appearance and personality. that I am not confused when I write them.
> 
> ...



Oh my! That's what I did as well when I was starting out with my characters! I also like the advice of "show what happens to her" I like that a lot... I will keep that in mind. Thank you!


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## Ultraroel (Dec 20, 2016)

I like to start with a character I had in mind, then to flesh it out. I use
http://thewritepractice.com/proust-questionnaire/


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## KThoughts (Dec 20, 2016)

Ultraroel said:


> I like to start with a character I had in mind, then to flesh it out. I use
> http://thewritepractice.com/proust-questionnaire/



Thank You!!


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## JustRob (Dec 20, 2016)

I'm not convinced that it matters whether a character is likable or despicable, but then I'm also not convinced about the idea that a reader needs to relate to any character personally. Surely the relationship that you need to develop is between the reader's whole mind and your own so that they see the world as you do. Then all of your characters will appear well developed. 

I have a situation where just two of my characters are isolated from the rest of humanity for a significant period and the problem arises not just for me as the writer but for them as to how they and their relationship can develop properly in that isolation. They realise that their own personalities only make full sense in situations involving humanity at large, so they can't even determine exactly how they feel about each other without leaving their isolation. In fact the girl tries to imagine discussing the boy with her friends to get their opinions of him, but realises that she sees their relationships as being flawed, so she wouldn't value their opinions on the matter anyway. As has already been mentioned here, people are defined by their circumstances and experiences as much as any constant attributes within them, so a well developed character has to have those things.

Going back to the reader-writer relationship, We all have models of all types of people, both the ones that we would like to emulate and the ones we wouldn't, stored away in our minds. That is how we choose our own characteristics and assess others. The writer's art is to create characters that readers can relate to those perceptions rather than to themselves _personally_. The danger is in resorting to using stereotypes to achieve that. 

I just this moment consulted my angel on this as she is an avid reader, far more than I am. As an example I asked her how she could relate to any character in Alistair MacLean's book _Ice Station Zebra _when they are all men. I know that she hated the film version because that had a token woman in it, which appeared incongruous to her. So, including a character to whom a woman could relate personally actually ruined the story for her. So where is the reader psychology in that? She told me that what mattered was whether she _cared_ about what happened to the characters, not whether she could relate to them. So, if you want the reader to become attached to a despicable character then the trick is to make them care about his fortunes. The more he succeeds the more the reader is likely to follow his progress because they _care_ about him getting his just desserts, whatever form they should take. A TV personality once said that he tried writing a novel once but gave up when he realised that even he didn't care what happened to the characters in it. 

The bottom line to my mind is therefore not whether one can relate to the character but whether one cares what happens to them.


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## J Anfinson (Dec 21, 2016)

KellInkston said:


> Wonderful! To push in a little with my own thoughts on this, I've found an excellent tool for this would be writing a short story featuring the character from the past. It helps save a developmental edit in the primary work and risking a two dimensional character if you just get to know them yourself first as a writing, because often I've found that knowing the character and _understanding _the character are usually two different things. Maybe give writing a short for them a shot and see where it takes you.



I've found this to help a lot. I've written several shorts and even a small novel and still I'm convinced I've only uncovered the tip of the iceberg. Just write and you'll get to know your characters too. Write well, write badly. It doesn't matter as long as you're moving forward.


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## lvcabbie (Dec 21, 2016)

One of the things to do is create the details of each character. Describe them in detail down to a mole on the neck. Include likes and dislikes. What foods do the favor. Where do they want to go on vacations? What is their work and are they happy with it. Make a separate list for each character that shows up on a regular basis. Once you've done that, you will find they fit into your story properly.


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## KThoughts (Dec 22, 2016)

> _ Write well, write badly. It doesn't matter as long as you're moving forward._



Even simple advice like that is good man XD


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## Teozak (Dec 29, 2016)

I always have to create a detailed list of characters before to write anything. My advice is read a lot, so that you can find words to describe them in the most peculiar way possible, and always try to stay realistic, so that they can be more relatable. Also, another big advice, find websites where there are pictures of actors and singers and find the face for your character. Find a picture and try to describe what you feel by heart while looking at their face.


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## Jay Greenstein (Dec 29, 2016)

I think the first thing to do is keep in mind that every character is the star of their own life story. They haven't read the synopsis, so they have no interest in the protagonist, other then as it seems necessary for them to interact with him/her, to achieve their own short term scene-goal.

That means they don't sit quietly waiting to be cued to action. They react to what's happening around them. So if their goals are in conflict with those of the protagonist they are going to interfere with his/hers, and conflict has entered the scene. You don't tell them to move/speak/act. Instead, you motivate them to act. That way, because the reader has "witnessed" that, their response will seem natural and reasonable, even if it's to hit the protagonist over the head. :grumpy:

What I'm getting at is that if you, the master of the story, decree how everyone acts and what they say, everyone will mirror your views, speak with your voice, and seem as real as a shadow puppet. Story must be lived, by all involved.

I'm a bug on having a strong viewpoint for all characters because if we know the situation as the protagonist does, and know the motivations of the other characters as s/he sees it, that character will tell you when they do something that doesn't ring true, or if you're asking them to. if your protagonist has not told you, "Hell no, I won't do that. It's not in me to behave like that," your characters aren't real to you. And if they're not, how can they seem real to the reader?


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## SystemCheck (Dec 30, 2016)

KThoughts said:


> Hello again! It's actually been a while since I decided to be online but I have a question that is important in writing stories, the vital part of a story and that is *characters. *How do you make well developed characters and enter them into your story? How do I make them realistic? relatable? understandable?



So you want to know the grand secret of well-developed characters? Are you sure? Completely hundred percent positive? You know things are usually kept secret to protect you right? There are some who will, after all, find it frightening. Others even a little thought stopping. There's certainly people whose minds that will be so blown away they'll stand there afterward with their mouths hanging open like carp. I am sure I once saw John Doe character of the two-dimensional world in hysterics. 

This secret is, after all, so encompassing that you can apply it to anyone and everyone. Even if your character has scaly skin, wings, and just happens to snort fire in their sleep. 


Sorry, sorry just a bit of sarcasm. 


But with respect to well-developed characters, well believe it or not there isn't much difference between writing a good believable character and acting as a believable character in the theater. The "secret" of a well developed character, and no reading lines doesn't make you much of anything in theater but a walking mouthpiece, is something I learned years ago when I first started in the theater business. 


I'll tell you what an old actress told me. You become your characters, they are a mantle you throw upon your shoulders. You grow up with them, you play with them, you breathe when they do, and you bleed when they do. The people they hate become your worst enemy and those they love well nothing else is more precious. 


Figured that secret out? 

Well developed characters, even if they have a horse's head, are human beings. Didn't I tell you it was... mindblowing?


Every well-developed character has a backstory. Do you think, for example, someone from the ghettos will start running around like a headless chicken if someone pulls a gun on them? On the other hand, in the same situation, someone who has never really encountered violence in their life may just pee their pants. 

Every well-developed character has a story. One that is separate and yet integrated with the main storyline. Ever read some of the really good authors? Tolkien, Dickens, etc.? Modern writing lacks mostly but Steven Erikson's books though chunky the characters' interaction puts a vast majority of authors to shame. Had he being a writer during Tolkien's era LOTR would have been a speedbump. 

Every well-developed character has a future. Let me ask you how good of a character do you think someone will be if they know they're destined to die in chapter 2? That the love of their life will take off with McUgly in chapter 8? Can you, as a human being, predict your future? If you can maybe you and I should go into business together in Vegas. 





KThoughts said:


> relatable? understandable?



If you wanted to write a character that everyone could relate to, even understand, then you'd have a thesaurus sized book. Just imagine the sales rate of a 5,000-page book. You'd be a millionaire in no time. 

No offense. 

In reality, it is virtually impossible to write characters that everyone can relate to. Everyone can understand. 


How about this. A father who kills his daughter's rapist seems understandable right? Well, guess what, there are people who think vigilantes are the worse sorts of criminals. What if that rapist served his time but that time is rather short? Still understandable? Still relateable? What if the rapist served his time but the father believes, without real proof (just happens to see the guy hanging out at a park bench), the guy will do it again? Still understandable? Still relatable? 

It is and it isn't. Each reader will have a different take on every one of those situations. That's what makes us humans so interesting - we're not robots. 


But a good writer will take that father and twist him, turn him around, make a pretzel out of him. Will integrate every possible human emotion, every human cause, every human reason. Will make that father as human as possible. That'll make that father more relatable than just an imbecile with murder on his mind. 

Will the author expect to make the father relatable to all readers? Understandable to everyone. No. If they did nothing would ever be published.


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