Learning how to create a character can be a challenge.
There are various ways to approach it.
Some are quite complicated and can be off-putting to a new writer.
Others can be great on paper but they tend to be too academic – meaning they create totally unbelievable characters.
I drew up my quick and easy five-step plan to simplify the process and help you do the most important thing – get on with your writing.
FIVE QUICK STEPS TO CREATE A CHARACTER
1. PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
This is just one starting point. You can start just as well from some basic personality traits or from secrets – it is up to you.
Read through this page before you start and then and decide for yourself exactly where you would like to begin.
Male or Female
Age
Occupation
Appearance – Face & Body
Style
Posture
Gait
2. PERSONALITY – OUTWARD
What do you first see when you encounter this character?
Remember, your first impressions can change – ever watch Big Brother?
Cheerful
Honest
Dour
Devious
Sly
Strong
Weak
Deep
Bossy
Intimidating
3. PERSONALITY – REAL
This is more interesting and there are a number of choices.
It may be an aspect of the outward personality mixed with something deep, something hidden.
Maybe your cheerful character arranges their features into a smile every morning but is that real?
Inside your character could be screaming.
Perhaps that cheerful, helpful personality masks a strong Machiavellian streak.
Depressed
Sneaky
Afraid
Cold
Bitter
Dishonest
4. WHAT’S THEIR SECRET?
Secrets are a great way to delve into a character’s mind and fantastic for mining ideas for plots.
A secret can influence the way a person behaved in the past, now, and into the future.
The secret you find for your character doesn’t have to be drastic like a murder. It could be something much different: a difficulty with maths, or missing toe, a secret can influence the story you choose for your character.
Have they committed a crime in the past?
Are they a member of club they wouldn’t openly admit to?
Are they secretly bald?
Do they keep an illness or disability secret?
Did they fake their qualifications?
5. FEARS
Fear can drive a character, or it can stop them. Someone who cannot stop working could be afraid of poverty or they could be using it as a barrier to developing relationships – they could be afraid of intimacy.
Loneliness
Illness
Career failure
Dogs
Lightening
Poverty
Success
By now you will have read this whole page – I hope!
If you have, then go ahead and choose a starting point to create a character. If not, please go back and read it again – it really helps!
You might have decided to start with step 5 – fears and then go on to decide how they look – step 1.
The choice is yours – writers are all different.
Best of luck.
Grace
P.S. You may like to read this article here about how I created a character based on a very old memory for my latest book.
My book, Practical Creative Writing Exercises has helped many writers lose their writer’s block and got them started on great stories.
It is packed full of information and exercises.
For a short time the book is priced at less than the price of a cup of coffee – so now is the best time to get yours.
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