Writing Elements One | Characters

So you’re writing a story. What do you need for a story? Characters, yes characters. But you can’t have regular, ordinary, run of the mill characters. They need to be your characters. I mean you need to understand your characters, to some extent.

Have you ever read a story and the main female character is some amazing girl with superpowers, charm, goddess-like appearances, and more? Is she basically the perfect girl that will never truly come into existence? This is called a Mary Sue, basically an idealized character with no flaws or imperfections. The male counterpart is named a Gary Stu.

While they may be appealing due to their perfection, it makes for a very bland story. What is so cool about being perfect? Everything is perfect so nothing exciting happens. Alice can see into the future and teleport and speak to animals? Wow, so she can’t ever run into anything nor be chased by a bear. How boring. People tend to empathize with imperfect characters, since we can associate to these qualities. I feel insecure so I can associate with a character that has insecurities better than with a character that is wholly self-confident.

Take for example, Percy Jackson, from Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief. Many characters in the series look up to Percy since he is an almighty person with awesome sword–fighting skills and water controlling powers. Yet, Percy has a fatal flaw: he is too loyal to friends, he’d rather sacrifice the world in order to save a friend. One would think this makes him stronger, but really, would you want someone saving the world if his or her friends were held hostage. They’d rather let you and the rest of humanity die than let their friend die. Not so great after all.

Because Percy has this flaw, people can relate to him more. They can understand wanting to save their friends over anyone else. Again, people can relate to imperfect characters because people are imperfect. So, to help create good characters to create a good story, you need to develop a character, really to get to know your character.

What you need to make a great story is a great character, and I don’t mean a perfect character. A great character is one that is interesting, likeable to readers. Essentially, if you were to meet them in real life, you’d say, “That’s a great person”. And they don’t have to be good necessarily.

1. Give your character some flaws.

Yep, give them an imperfection. Or two or three. Maybe they are too prideful. Because someone insults them, they might retaliate or overreact fiercely, resulting in a physical fight and someone is left dead. Oh no! How will they take responsibility? Or maybe they won’t. Who knows?

Flaws are perfect to elicit certain actions from a character. Suppose a character is really loyal and overprotective of his or her family that they result to crime to get by or etc. Fears of something can cause catastrophic events as a character seeks to avoid their fear. The list goes on.

Conversely, you can make a character’s strengths turn against them. Push that positive trait into “the dark side”. Perhaps a character seeks to support his or her loved ones but turns out that he or she is abusing them with the attention they give.

On a personal side note, I’m writing a story; the main character is going to pretty much be me. I’m going to be asking myself, “How would I react?” “What would I do if this happened?” The easiest character to create might be one that resembles yourself, because you do know yourself better than anyone else.

2. Know your characters. Really know them.

I know, I know, giving flaws should be under character development but I thought it needed its own section. Things you can consider to develop a character so that they’re realistic and relatable: appearance, history, relationships, goals/ambitions, personality, beliefs/opinions, and like/dislikes.

Appearance

Man, what does your character even look like? Are they tall and slender? Plump and short? Do they have long messy bangs that cover half of their face or they have short shaven hair? Appearances can tell you a lot about people. If they don’t shave their legs every day and wear baggy sweatpants and hoodies to school, I’d assume they don’t care what other think. They’re confident in themselves that they’re okay with how they express themselves. Get nitty gritty, they have a mole about an eighth of an inch to the left of their right ear, they have two piercings on their lip, etc. By giving minute details about your character, it’s easier to imagine that they are not fictional but rather real people.

History

Background, man, background. Did your character suddenly become orphaned at the tender age of five and abused at the orphanage and that’s why they can’t seem to trust other people? What events that occurred in the past have shaped the character into what they are now? Try to think about their childhood and adolescence. How’s their family? Which leads me to relationships.

Relationships

What kind of relationships does your character have with others? Are they tender and loving to their sibling but rude and snappy to their sibling’s best friend due to fear of losing their sibling?  How does the character relate to others, do they sympathize easily or scorn inferiors? Are they sociable or very withdrawn? You can discern what kind of person someone is by the people they surround themselves with.

Goals/Ambitions

What does your character aim to do? Their purpose in life (haha, maybe not but it could apply)? Are they some superhero whose utmost goal is to become the best of the best in the world? What are they trying to accomplish? Because they are trying to accomplish or achieve some need, maybe their goal is unknown but they’re searching for it, you can show how they will accomplish their goals.

Personality

Your character’s personality is what will speak to readers. A kind loving person gains more sympathy (usually) compared to an arrogant, vain one. And because of these personality traits, you can expect to garner more of a response depending on the events you throw at them. Ahem, movie geek glasses on. Top Gun is a great example of this; the two main characters, Goose and Maverick are best friends yet complete opposites. Maverick is reckless whereas Goose is reliable. You really think of Goose as a great guy, he’s kind, devoted to his wife and child, he has things going for him. Spoiler alert! But then an event occurs where Goose is killed and Maverick survives. I was devastated; Goose was such a good person, he didn’t deserve to die! Because Goose was represented as an overall good person and Maverick was not, viewers were more shocked with Goose’s death rather than with Maverick’s. Just a note on how important personality is.

Beliefs/Opinions

What does your character believe in? Do they think it’s all right to ‘borrow’ from others without asking? Are they okay with hurting someone if it means protecting a loved one? Your character has to believe in something. Opinions and beliefs shape people, the reason humans are so diverse is because we have separate opinions.

Likes/Dislikes

Again, another defining factor that is similar to beliefs/opinions. Does your character have any pet peeves? Maybe they hate it when other people smack their mouths when they chew gum. Maybe they love roses but hate the thorns that come with the roses. Do they craft jewelry as a hobby and that’s why they take classes at a community college and meet their true love there? Hobbies count in the like’s section.

3. Make them suffer.

Felicia, what the hell are you thinking? I bet you all are saying I just made this awesome character with flaws and personality and stuff and now you want me to make them suffer? Well that what a story’s all about isn’t it? Conflict.

In every story, there’s a problem. I’ll prove it to you. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, a group of boys are stranded on island and must try to survive. Fault in Our Stars by John Green: Hazel versus, wait for it, herself. She’s trying not to hurt anyone emotionally since she has cancer plus she has cancer and is practically dying. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe has multiple conflicts, Okonkwo’s fall from grace and Europeans infiltrating Igbo culture. The Host by Stephanie Meyer, Wanderer has an issue with Melissa and her growing love for humans. You name a story and there’ll be a conflict. And guess what? That conflict usually involves a character. So by making them suffer, you get a story basically.

Okay, I think that’s enough about characters. The next writing elements chapter will be about conflict.

Further Readings:

How to Craft Compelling Characters  |  Inspirational Tips  |  Building Personality in a Character  |  Character Writing Exercises