Category Archives: Creating Real Life Characters

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Check List for Creating Characters

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Creating Writing Characters Plus Check List Guide

These are my notes from week 7 of my Character Development class.

Some tips to tell how to create characters in your story. A good story has characters that are unique.

-Give names to your characters-each of them need a name and personality so one’s readers can identify with them.

-Picture how your characters look- Imagine how your character look by appearance. It could be about the clothes they wear or even the devices they use. For me I went through magazines to find my characters that said HELLO and matched what I had envision they would be if I came across them on the street.

-Create problems for your characters- Remember your characters need problems or conflicts, so it will add more meaning to your story. Show, don’t tell your reader about the threat the characters are facing or problems they may have.

-Good guys and bad guys- Protagonist/Antagonist, Hero/Villain. A good story is one that tells about the good and bad. In this way, your readers will learn about each character and it will make them want to read more of your story.

-Make your characters have friends and enemies- Your characters need both. It is in this way to make your readers feel that your character is real.

Create characters- A creative writer knows how to create characters. Each character must be unique and make readers care about them. To create good characters, you can look at your friends, anyone around or animals and nature.

-Decide your story’s viewpoint- Before you start your story, you need to decide whether you want to tell the reader everything related to your characters at once or if you want to reveal it in st ages. That is your call.

Make power words- Powerful words are very important in story-telling. Using powerful words is like having a magic wand. So think and write vividly as much as you can think of.

-Make characters speak- Make your character speak to each other or think. This will help your readers hear your characters talking and get to know them.

-Edit your story- After you finish your first story, give yourself time to rest before starting to edit. So it is easy to find mistakes in one’s story. And find out all the errors including spelling and grammar errors.

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Inner Life of A Character

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The Inner Life of Your Character

These are the notes from my Character Development class , week 6

One must try to write the character to where the reader can

-relate to the them

-knows someone like them

Outer life vs Inner life

Outer life- it is more the physical description, the surface details of one’s characters

Inner life-this tells the reader what the character is about

Works of fiction is bringing intimacy to the pages. As writers it is our job to foster that which will help

fast forward our characters.  We are in charge of creating a character it is not for our readers to do that.

Writers tend to stop with the basic character description without giving them life. Is the dialogue

believable? In the speaking one can give more details of our characters. The reader when reading must

feel our characters are real or could be real live people that they can come across in the street.  You need to cover every aspect of their lives, go the extra mile when dissecting them.

Imagine them as being your heroes that you had growing up. What did you look up to them, what was it about them that made you want to be like them? Use this for your villain and hero if you can.

Conversation focus- By observing what they talk about. Can you get a vivid image of what they are saying?

Try listening to people talking as you go about your daily activities. Try to really listen for just a minute

or two.

Allocation of time- How does your character spend their day. What is their norm and routine? How much time is spent doing each activity? What are their habits? Do they have regrets? Do they hold

grudges? What do they do and why? Do they have any dreams and if so of what? What are their goals?

These are just some of the questions we can ask about our characters to make them less superficial.

Every character needs change in the story but it is recommended to make it slow and gradual instead of

all at once.

A way to kick-start the inner life of your characters is ask some of the questions below

-What makes them afraid and why

-What lead up to this?

-What is important to them?

-What secrets/quirks do they have and why

-Three or four words to describe them

-Are they successful in their endeavors and why

-Do they act one way to some and different to others?

-Are they materialistic?

-Show don’t tell their clothing, how they carry themselves, how they speak and what kind of person they are.

These are just some ways to bring the inner life of your character to the fore front.

Use this with each of your major characters. If you use it for the minor characters, you might derail the story.

I have two more sessions left and this class will be done.

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Creating Real Life Characters

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Week 2 Creating Real Life Characters

These are my notes for the second week of my Character Development class


The key thing to look for in a character- What do you notice when you see someone for the first time?

Do we try to describe the person’s characteristics below?

– physical
-personality
-speech- type of speech/ do they stutter/ accent etc-
-clothing
-their habits

What aspect do we pick up first?

Notice after you make a list what you thought of first when you evaluated the person.
What did you include? What did you leave out?

What would I notice about me from someone’s else who would be looking at me?

Characters: We have to make them believable and enjoyable.  Even the villain has to be constructed this way.  If we fail then the characters fall flat. 

Example of habits: twitch, limp, wear the same outfit repeatedly in a time frame.
curves her r when she speaks etc

If we just describe by appearance it makes our characters one-dimensional.

No matter how strong the plot or theme is,  it makes our character undeveloped which leaves readers bored and confused.

Try to get more personal with our characters:
-do they laugh a certain way
-do they have a quirk that makes them different?
-do their lip droop due to a stroke or accident?


Action driven plot- writers who write this way draw from their left side of the brain. They think in a linear function sort of way.  They like structure. They have little trouble expressing words/ descriptions but have trouble finding the right words. They have rational thinking and focus on reality.

Character driven plot- These writers have feeling, creativity and imagination.. They use the right side of the brain. They love the beauty of the language. They are subjective.  They are random and disorganize but see their story as a whole.
–

Character Driven or Action Driven? Which one is your main guy or gal?

Take the following test and see where you fit.

Answer these questions about your cast members.

1- Protagonist’s overall story goal

2- What stands in his or her way of achieving the goal?

3- What does he or she stand to lose, if not successful?

4- Flaw or greatest fault

5- Greatest strength

6- Hates

7- Loves

8- Fear

9- Secret

10-Dream

This was to show which way we lean in our writings.

If you answered 1-3 and had problem we have no dramatic excitement about our character. We are action driven

If we answered 4-10 with ease Then we are character driven in our writings.

If we answered all ten with ease then we write both ways.

If we fail to do 4-10 with ease, more likely our character is action driven, which means they are arranged in order and have conclusion but lack the human element and hence losing the audience attention. You will lose 70 percent of your readers.

Is the description of your character just surface information or does it hit the core?