5 Steps to Better Writing

Characters, Description and Style

Part III - Characters, Description and Style

[This is a long one]

Characters

Characters; imaginary people that inhabits a literary work.

Characters are the foundation of our story. Without them there would be no one to live your plot, act it out. They are the people we have to care about. We don’t have to like them but we do have to care about what happens to them. Mostly it’s good if we like them too.

So make characters likable as well as interesting and care worthy. To make characters likable we need to give them life. Want, needs and dreams. They should feel like they existed before the story started and like they will continue to exist after it’s over.

They need to be people. Only not real people. Just fake real people.

That’s the reason you can’t just use yourself or your best friend as a character. You are real. That doesn’t work. Sure, you can be made into fake real people but then you won’t be you. So stop trying to use real people as a base for characters. It simply isn’t the way characters work.

You see characters need to have a purpose where as real individuals do not. Characters need to have clear character traits& skills. Real people do not (even if some do.) Characters need to have opinions, strong clear opinions. Characters need to have desires, goals and dreams. Real people may or may not have these things.

Most of all characters need to be a mix of purpose &skill & flaws.

Purpose – in two ways.Firstly, your character has to want things, be things. Even before the Inciting Event the hero should have dreams, wants and needs. A purpose for their fictional life.

Secondly the character has a purpose for the story. Even minor characters have to have a purpose, a reason for being in the story. They have to have some sort of impact. If a character could be removed or merged with another one then you don’t need or want him.

Skill – your characters will need things to make it through the story. You need to equip them. Not all the tools or skills your hero need but they need to have a least the skills to try.

You can’t throw a fifteen year old girl into a demon war and expect her to be able to kick ass.

Likewise you can’t have a character be clueless about social etiquette if she’s going to be infiltrating the royal court.

You need to give your characters skills that will be useful to them.

Because just like the girl fighting with demons would have no use for etiquette, the social climber would have no need of fighting skills. Don’t give them skills they don’t need, just because you want to. And don’t give them ALL the things they will need. Remember the story should be about your hero struggling.

Still if you story takes place in a war-ridden country, make your character a general’s daughter to explain why she can knock out men twice her size without breaking into a sweat. Her daddy has been training her since she could walk.

Or let’s say, your character might need to have a great deal of patience to cope with the trying tasks ahead - give him an annoying little sister.

Show by action or dialogue that your characters have these skills before they are called upon to be used against obstacles and enemies. We should not be surprised your main character can throw a knife into a bad guy’s eye. We should already know, or at least have a clue, she’s awesome with knifes.