Creating realistic, or believable, characters is one of the biggest challenges for a fiction writer.A well-written character will make your reader care about what happens to them.A realistic character is interesting and unique, but also likeable.This is a tricky balance to achieve, but fiction writers have come up with several approaches to creating realistic characters that are believable to the reader.
Step 1: Your character is named.
Your character will have a big name.Think about people in your life that remind you of the character.Changing the spelling or using a variation of the name can be used to play on an existing name.For example, Kris or Tara instead of Chris.Don't make up names.Your character may be less believable if you have made up names.Don't make up names for character's from another culture.It is likely to be unrealistic and may offend.Look for names that fit with your character's background and don't seem odd in terms of your role or position.To find a name that matches your character's time period, try looking up historical name trends.There are character name generators online that you can use.
Step 2: Pick out your character's gender, age, height, and weight.
If your character were to fill out a census or a form at a doctor's office, what would they tell you?Though you may not use this character information in your story or novel, your character's gender and age will affect their point of view.Scout will view the world of the novel differently than her father, who is an older man."Young teen" or "mid-thirties" will usually suffice in most cases.
Step 3: Tell us about your character's appearance.
Your character's physical characteristics are important.A description of a character's hair color or eye color can signal to a reader that the character has an ethnic background.A certain type of character can be indicated by these descriptions.It shows the character's personality when you describe her physical appearance as: "She had dishwater blonde hair and gray eyes that glazed over when she was bored."
Step 4: There are markers or scars on your character.
A distinguishing marker that distinguishes Harry Potter is his lightning bolt scar.Birthmarks, like a mole on your character's face or a marker due to an accident, can be used.You can make your character feel different by using scars or markers.The reader can learn more about your character.Scout's brother was described on the first page of the novel as having broken his arm when he was thirteen.He was rarely self-conscious about his injury when it healed, because his fears of never being able to play football were alleviated.His left arm was shorter than his right, and the back of his hand was parallel to his thigh, when he stood or walked.He couldn't have cared less, so long as he could pass and punt.
Step 5: Your character has a fashion sense.
It is possible to show the reader more of your character's personality and preferences by wearing clothing.A character who wears punk t-shirts, black jeans, and Doc Martens is likely to come across as a more conservative character.When describing a character's clothing, be specific, but don't repeat descriptions too much.Establishing your character's style of dress will make it clear to the reader that they can refer back to.In Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep, the main character Philip Marlowe describes his clothing in two concise sentences: "I was wearing my powder-blue suit, with dark blue shirt, tie and display handkerchief."I was clean, shaved and sober, and I didn't care who knew it.
Step 6: Determine your character's background.
Your character's station in life will affect how she handles certain situations and everyday occurrences.A young African American man in Washington, D.C. will have a different perspective than a young Southern man.A middle class woman living in New York will have a different experience than a woman on food stamps.Your character's background and class experience will be an important part of their perspective as a character.If your character's station in life factors into their point of view, they will feel more realistic and true.The characters in the fiction of the author use terms that indicate class and background to the reader."Maybe if you'd been engaged to a super-open-minded blanquita you could have survived it," he wrote in "The Cheater's Guide to Love".Your girl is a bad-ass salcedense who doesn't believe in open anything; in fact, the one thing she warned you about, that she swore she would never forgive, was cheating.
Step 7: Research your character's career or profession.
It is possible to make your character more believable by looking into their profession or career.A character who works as an architect should know how to design a building and see a city skyline in a unique way.If you are writing a private detective character, they should know basic P.I.Protocol and how to solve a case.Your character's career is convincing in your story if you use library books and online sources.It is possible to speak to someone who is in the profession of your character.To make sure you get the details of their profession right, interview them about their daily habits at work.They might be willing to give feedback on your writing.
Step 8: Your character should have a purpose or desire.
The purpose or want of your character is one of the most distinguishing aspects.Your character's goals should drive the story and be unique to them.Your character might be a young African American man who is trying to get into the NBA.Your character might be an old woman who is trying to find her son.Making your character's purpose or goal specific will make them seem realistic and believable.One of the key aspects of your character's goal is that they should have a small and large goal, such as trying to get a girl and confirm love is real.Give your character small and large goals so that they feel specific and universal to your reader.
Step 9: Consider your character's weaknesses and strengths.
Flat characters on the page will be a hero and a villain with no flaws.To create a well rounded character, give your character strengths and weaknesses.If your character is going to be the underachiever in your story, the weaknesses of the main character should be taken into account.Your character may be shy, but has a good mind for puzzles.Your character may struggle with anger or rage, but they try to keep their emotions under control.If your character's strengths and weaknesses are balanced, it will make them more endearing and realistic for your reader.Mary Sues are perfect characters who don't have flaws.
Step 10: Your character should have a story.
Not all characters have to be motivated by a past trauma or fear, but creating a backstory for your character with events which may have harmed or damaged them can create tension in the character's present life.There are events in the character's life before the story begins.It is possible to make the character more believable on the page.A character who refers to previous events will give the character a more developed presence in the story.In the short story "The Cheater's Guide to Love", the reader is told of the narrators past transgressions while he was with his girlfriend.This is the reason why the narrator's girlfriend leaves him.The narrator's background is a major plot point in the story and it is showing the reader more about him.It widens the scope of the story, as the reader is dropped into the narrator's immediate drama, but this drama stems from past events that he must face in the present.
Step 11: You can make a nemesis for your character.
A force that is working against your character is one way to create a realistic character in your story.In real life, we are often faced with opposing forces or challenging individuals, so a nemesis will add an element of reality to the story.The nemesis could be a family member or a partner.The character's nemesis should correspond with their purpose or desire.A character trying to get a basketball scholarship may have a nemesis in the form of a teammate or a coach.A character who is trying to win back a girl he cheated on may have a nemesis in the form of his inability to control his own desires or be monogamous.
Step 12: Don't be afraid to say things in a way that's easy to understand.
Informal words, phrases or slang are called colloquialisms.Your characters should sound like the people you meet every day, and that includes any slang or informal terms they might use.Two teenage boys will not greet each other with: "Good day, sir." Instead, they will say "What's up?"If it is being used too much, it can begin to feel extraneous.There is a balance between proper English terms and slang.
Step 13: Think about code changing.
Code switch is a language shift made by a character in response to someone else.It happens in everyday life for people who are trying to blend in.If you are writing a character from a certain background, setting, or class, you should consider how they will use local slang in their dialogue and description depending on who they are speaking to in a scene.A Jamaican man will likely use patois and slang like "Yah, mon" or "Stay ire" when talking to another Jamaican.A Jamaican man may say "Yes, sir" or "stay cool" when speaking to a white police officer.
Step 14: Dialogue tags can be used.
Dialogue tags are similar to signposts.They say dialogue is attributed to characters."asked" and "told" are some of the more commonly used dialogue tags.Dialogue tags don't need to be very descriptive.The purpose is to show which characters speak.Dialogue tags can be used to build believable characters.Each tag should have at least one of the following:Scout, she, Jem, he, you, they, we, the man, etc.There is a word indicating how the dialogue is being spoken.Adjectives and adverbs can be added to the tags to give more information about the speaker.For example, "Scout said quietly to Jem" or "Jem whispered harshly to Scout".Adding an adverb can be used to indicate a certain mannerism or emotion in a character.Don't use too many words in your dialogue tags.If you can only use one word per scene for one character's dialogue tag, that would be great.
Step 15: Out loud, read the dialogue.
Your character's dialogue should be representative of how they interact with others.Dialogue in fiction should be more than simply telling the reader how a character gets from A to B, or how the character knows another character.To make sure the character's dialogue sounds legit, read it out loud.The dialogue should make sense to the character.Lee uses dialogue to distinguish the characters in a scene.She uses terms that represent children living in a small Southern town in the 1950s.He said he was Charles Baker Harris.I thought you'd like to know that I can read."How old are you?" asked Jem, "four-and-a-half?" "Goin' on seven."She ain't even started to school yet because she's been read since she was born.Lee distinguishes between Charles Baker Harris' dialogue and Scout's dialogue by using slang terms and colloquialisms.The dynamic between the three speakers in the scene is created by this.