Every novel has at least one thing in common – characters. This simple guide will show you exactly how to create characters your readers will love. You’ll learn how to develop realistic, interesting, and most importantly, relatable characters by working through a simple yet effective process.
Don’t miss the free printable Character Interview Packet at the bottom of this post!
How to Create Characters
These steps are listed in numerical order. But you don’t necessarily need to follow this order. If you find doing step ten first works better for you, go ahead and do that. It’s your story. Make them your characters too. This post was designed to help you layer your characters. Starting with the most basic elements, you will slowly add details to create a complete picture.
Step One: The Name
This is the basic step, but it may plague you for your entire plotting process. Try to get it out of the way early. Decide on a name for each of your main characters. Then move on to secondary and tertiary characters. Make a list of these names and keep them for future reference. You might even want to jot down a couple of notes next to each name as inspiration comes to you.
For the bullet journal setup of this entire process, see the bottom of this post.
There are so many ways to do this. You could choose a name that’s special to you. Find a name you think sounds cool. Create a name out of an acronym for something else. Use a name generator. One rule is not to give too many characters names that start with the same letter. Also try not to give characters names that are similar, like Alice and Allison, or Janice and Janet. Other than that, have fun with this step. It only gets more complex from here.
Step Two: Physical Description
What does your character look like? There are various schools of thought about the relative importance of character appearance. The level of detail needed can vary from novel to novel, and from character to character. It may be easier to simply create a portrait of each main character if you have some artistic ability. If not, try to picture the character in your mind then describe them as if you were trying to explain how they look to someone else.
One trick that some find useful is the mug shot technique. Imagine your character has committed a crime. The police are searching for this character but have no idea what they look like. It’s up to you to provide as many details as possible to give them a complete picture. Some questions you could ask yourself include:
- Does your character have a specific gender?
- What color hair and eyes do they have?
- What color is their skin? (I never describe skin color because I want to leave that up to my reader’s imagination. But many other authors do.)
- What facial features does the character have? A sharp jawline? A beard? Piercings? Tattoos?
- What body type do they have? Are they tall or short? Are they heavy or slim?
- Do they have any distinguishing marks or features?
- What type of clothes do they typically wear?
- How do they carry themselves?
- Do they walk in a unique way? Are they light on their feet? Are they disabled?
- What language do they speak?
- Do they have an accent? How does their voice sound?
- Remember for any unique features you may want to provide a backstory for how that particular feature was acquired.
Step Three: Goal(s) & Motivation
This is not the same as Step Ten (Hopes, Dreams, and Wishes). Here, “goals” refers to the character’s specific goals for the novel. What are they trying to achieve? What is their motivation? This should play a major role in your story’s overall plot. Another name for this is the character’s driving force. Learn more about a character’s driving force here.
The driving force is what motivates the character to keep going, even when things seem bleak. It could be love or hate, revenge or greed. Whatever the driving force is, make sure that is both strong and easy to explain to your readers. The main question that keeps readers turning pages is “Why?” You’ll want to keep that question in mind as you develop both your characters and your plot.
Use a grid or list method to understand this element of your character better. Write the character’s name at the top of a page in your writer’s notebook. Then list out their goals, if they have more than one. Next to each one, work out the exact motivation for that goal. For example, say your character needs to climb to the top of a mountain. There could be several motivating factors (driving forces). They could need to climb to rescue someone, hunt down a foe, or beat a world record. But there can be subtler motivations as well, such as escaping crushing loneliness or boredom or proving to themselves they are still useful. The trick is to keep asking yourself why until you’re completely satisfied with the response. If you’re not satisfied, your readers won’t be either.
Step Four: Good & Bad Habits
Make your characters more human (or humanoid for some genres) by giving them some unique habits. Everyone has habits. It’s a part of life. Your character should too. It’s important to note that not everything you figure out about your character will make its way into your novel. But the more you know, the more real the character becomes. When it comes to writing, it’s always better to have more than you need.
Grab your notebook and take some time to write about your character’s habits. What good habits do they have? Are they an early riser? Do they always make their bed? Are they super organized? Then list their bad habits. This is not the same as the character’s “fatal flaw” – discussed next. But everyone has one or two habits they’d like to break. Giving your character some of these will make them more relatable. For example, they could bite their nails, or smoke or drink too much. You decide what habits suit your character best. Then decide which ones are important for your story.
Step Five: The Fatal Flaw
This is what really makes your character the most relatable. We all have flaws and your characters should too. But their fatal flaw is more than just a bad habit. It is an essential part of who they are. And it is what they ultimately must overcome in order for the conflict of the novel to be resolved.
The fatal flaw is a demon your character faces within themselves that has the potential to lead to either their downfall or death. In many cases, this character trait develops at an early age as a survival instinct. The character must use this trait to defend themselves at first. But then it somehow morphs into a problematic feature of their personality. This is where you really begin to dive into your character’s psyche. You have to get to know them really well in order to fully understand their fatal flaw.
First, decide what the fatal flaw is. But do you love your character too much to give them this handicap? Can’t think of anything to suit their perfect nature? Well here is a list of 123 fatal flaws to choose from. Then figure out how this fatal flaw developed. Was it from an abusive childhood? Did a bad romantic relationship result in this flaw? Find the reason behind the trait. Then create a quick sketch of how that flaw grew from a survival instinct into a defect in their personality.
After you understand all of this, you will really start to understand your character. They should become much more real after this step. Understanding the fatal flaw mechanics will also assist in creating and resolving your story’s conflict.
Step Six: Friends
Speaking of making things easier… Who is helping your character in your story? Identify all of your character’s friends that are critical to your story structure. Ask yourself these questions:
- Who are they and how did they meet?
- Is their meeting part of the story? Should it be?
- How long have they been friends?
- Why are they friends?
- Who else is friends with these two characters?
- How will this friend help your character resolve the main conflict? Note – If the answer to that last question is “They won’t,” then you don’t need to include that friend in your story. At least not in any major way.
There’s a saying I’ve heard before, “You are who you chill with.” A person’s friends will tell you a lot about who they really are without actually having to spell it out. Use your character’s friends to help provide backstory and highlight certain features of your character. Explaining how they became friends should give insight into both characters’ personalities. Most people become friends because they are similar in nature. The main things to glean from this exercise are how your character’s friends help define them and how those friends will help resolve the main conflict.
Step Seven: The Nemesis
This step is absolutely critical in order to fully understand how to create characters. You are not developing your anti-hero or villain. Whatever you choose to call this character, they are the one who stands in the way of your main character. What you are doing is explaining who your character is in relation to their nemesis. This step is only necessary for your main character(s).
This idea is from John Truby’s “Anatomy of Story,” which I highly recommend you read immediately. In the book, Truby describes what he calls “character webs.” Character webs are a method for creating characters as they relate to all other major characters in a novel. For example, say you have a main character and their nemesis, plus two other important characters. So there are four characters total. In order to define each, you must understand how they relate to one another. Describe their relationship, how they interact, why they interact that way, what their goals are, etc…
Still not clear? Check out this infographic for a better idea of how this works. Or better yet, check the book out for yourself. I promise you will not regret it.
In this example, you would first give a brief description of each character as a stand-alone. But then you would start to add details and information where the black lines are. So how does Character 1 know Character 2, 3, and 4? Ask yourself as many questions about these relationships as you can. Then repeat the process from the perspective of each of the other characters. By the end, you should have very well-defined characters. You could use this method solely as your character development process. But for this post, just use the basic concept to flesh out some information about your main character and how they relate to their nemesis.
Step Eight: Backstory
This is one of the most alluring aspects of a novel. It’s why origin stories are so popular. People always want to know why. Specifically, your readers want to know how and why your character became who they are in your story. They want to know which people and what circumstances influenced their development.
That’s why this step involves both plot development and understanding the psychology of your character. Think about your character for a minute. Try to really get inside their head and see the world from their perspective. Perspective is all about perception. So how does your character perceive the world around them? Why do they see it that way? Ask yourself these questions to figure this out:
- Where did they grow up?
- Under what circumstances were they raised?
- What was their childhood like?
- Describe their family relationships.
- Did they have a lot of friends?
- What was it like for them as a teenager?
- Did they go to school?
- Did they start working young? If so, why?
- Was there any abuse or turmoil?
- What traumas did they incur and why?
Remember, not all of this information will wind up in your story. But understanding your character’s origins will help develop your plot more efficiently and with more fluency. Keep asking questions until you are happy with the information you developed about your character’s backstory. Then set it aside for later. Pull from this information whenever it seems necessary and appropriate to add it to your story.
Step Nine: Quirks and Hidden Talents
Now we are down to the really technical information. You already know so much about your character. You may even decide you can skip this step. But it’s important to know these things about your characters. Often, hidden talents can provide entire chapters and plot exploration points.
The exercise for this step is relatively simple. Make a list. You could include anything that pops into your head. But a better way would be to think about your overall story. What happens in the story? How can you develop a useful talent or quick within your character? Connect what happens in your story to your character’s fundamental traits.
For example, say the story involves rescuing someone from an evil monster. Your character is a retired acrobat. In order to get past a minor conflict in the story, your character must use those hidden acrobatic talents. The use of this talent may offer a simple problem-solving tool. But, your character’s hidden talents should be more than just a fun fact. They should offer opportunities for backstory exposure, conflict resolution, and character development in your storyline.
Step Ten: Hopes, Dreams, and Wishes
This is your character’s reason for living. What are their deepest desires? What do they want from life? This ties in with motivation and goals, but it isn’t the same. Your character may have a task to complete, a goal to reach with a specific motivation to achieve that goal. However, their hopes, dreams, and wishes may be entirely separate from that.
For example, in Game of Thrones, Ned Stark has the goal of saving the kingdom from an evil plot he uncovers. He is motivated to achieve that goal to save his best friend, protect his family, and keep his home safe. But his hopes and dreams revolve around returning home with his wife and children to live out a peaceful, undisturbed life in the North. That is what he wants from life. But life has other plans.
This step really forces you to get inside your character’s head. A good exercise to try is to write a journal entry from the perspective of your character. Describe a bad day and then go from there. Write about how they wish things were different. How would they change things if they could? Why do they want things to change? Describe their ideal life. What makes them happy and why? What is buried deep within their heart?
Thoughts?
By now you should have a pretty solid grasp of who your characters are. What other things do you think are important to know about a character? What methods do you use to develop your characters? Do you think there’s a perfect method for character development? Share your thought and ideas with me in the comments!
How to Create Characters – Bullet Journal Set Up Ideas:
The title page for your character setup should include that list of names you generated for Step One. You may need one or two pages. For your main characters, leave room only for adding in page numbers. There will be too much information about them to keep here. For your secondary characters, leave enough room for a few notes as well as page numbers. You won’t need as much detail for them, but it will likely be too much to squeeze in here.
Finally, tertiary characters are pretty much just named characters in your story, like a minor shopkeeper. Record their name and their title as it relates to your story. Leave room to write down a few notes about them so you can remember where they belong in your storyline. But you shouldn’t need more than a few lines. If you do, they are most like secondary characters that need better development.
Repeat this process for each of your main characters. For secondary characters, use one or two pages to write a small story about who they are and why they are important to your story. Include all the information that will be critical in your plot development. Again, tertiary characters should only need a couple of notes that can be kept on the main collection page.
Coming soon – Printable character development worksheets you can add to your writer’s notebook. In the meantime, grab the free character interview packet below to get started.
