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{{How-To Guide}}{{Mechanics of Writing}}
So you've decided to write a story. But you realize that no matter what genre you're writing, your epic plot of awesomeness won't amount to anything if the readers don't like or understand the characters.
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Even if you base your character on an archetype or other known character type, by all means, put your own spin on it. Not just a superficial difference, mind you. Instead, twist it around. Give them a different personality, background, loves, hates, goals, dreams, wishes and outlook on life. Exaggerate a certain personality trait, or give them a different trait not usually found in that character type, yet congruently fits in with your character's unique personality (for instance, give a dark brooding antihero a gallows sense of humor).
Overall, while not every character needs to be completely original, as all but [[
== '''Concept''' ==
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Planning a sensible backstory for your characters helps strengthen their personality traits and establish their way of life. If your character's story and life is solid enough, they won't feel to the reader as "just a face" that was put there to fill a slot in the plot. In turn, having your character's backstory clearly influence their decisions (even if it is not clear to the audience what the backstory ''is'') helps your readers relate to the character.
Sometimes people plan their characters from the backstory onwards. Say you have a main character Bob, who (like most other characters) has someone he cares about-- [[Dead Little Sister|let's say, a younger sister]]-- suffer a [[Death
Sometimes, this is done the reverse, building a backstory for characters that are already at the acting stage: Now say you establish early on that Bob has a girlfriend named Alice. You have a general idea of what you want her to be like: shy and quiet, loves to cuddle. That's cool. Why is she like that? Well, she was always shy, and never really broke out of that. She grew up in an orphanage, where she was picked on, so she stays withdrawn most of the time. She and Bob (and Bob's sister) grew up in the same orphanage. After Bob's sister died, he saw her being picked on, and [[Rescue Romance|stood up for her]]. And then... here they are.
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The personality is the single most important aspect of your character, you may disregard or have a bad quality on the other traits like appearance and backstory. If your character doesn't have an interesting personality, he or she won´t be interesting at all even if the other traits are great.
See [[So You Want To/Develop Character Personality|Develop Character Personality]] for more.
== '''Physical appearance/
Clothes and appearance can tell quite a bit about a character. A vagrant or a street scum is going to look different from a smooth executive; high school students' clothes will give a different impression than those of a soldier and are impossible to mistake for those of the president of The United States.
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With few exceptions, characters need flaws. When a character has flaws, [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief|not only does their personality become more real, but it also makes them more human]].
[[This Loser Is You|Characters that have the same flaws]] as the audience are considerably easier to identify with than their [[Mary Sue|less]] [[The Ace|flawed]] [[Boring Invincible Hero|counterparts]]. For instance, a character that feels [[Green
It's important to take care of giving true flaws to your characters. Giving fake flaws like [[So Beautiful
== '''This Character is you''' ==
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== '''Variety Among Characters''' ==
The first step to building characters is interaction. If a group of people is traveling together, they need some similarity, for the most part. At the same time, you need some variety in how they act and think. You don't want your [[Five
* The character's hobbies, as well as the qualities that endear the character to the hobby.
* The Character's goals.
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* [[Mary Sue]]: Your character cannot be right/ be the most powerful/do the right thing all the time. You don't want a [[Boring Invincible Hero]] in there.
** Canon Sue -[[Author Avatar]]: While it's not bad to [[Escapism|give your characters exciting lives]], if they are simple [[Author Avatar|Author Avatars]], have no real defects and struggles, and are used as a medium just to fulfill [[Wish Fulfillment|your desires]],[[Willing Suspension of Disbelief|your character won't be believable]] as imperfections make characters human and therefore [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief|"more realistic" and deep.]]
* [[Rape
** By the same token, don't [[Wangst]] about it. Try to find a realistic balance.
* People commit two mistakes when adding a [[Dark and Troubled Past]] and a [[Freudian Excuse]]. One is that they treat it as if it's not there; the second is that they blow it out of importance when it ''is'' brought up. Acknowledge that a character that has gone through a life-changing event will be different from those around him. On the other hand, do not let it take the character over and have a strong effect decades after it had happened unless you plan to show the character as a severely traumatized individual.
* [[This Loser Is You]]: A character that's all flaws can sometimes be as annoying or even more so than [[Mary Sue|one with none]] that's the importance of balance.
* [[Designated Hero]]: There are two metrics of likeability that a character can be rated on. One is the question of whether other characters in the same work like them. This is important because the sum total of characters, as a whole, are the [[Author Avatar]]; if the character is liked or respected by (most of) the other characters, then we know that The Author wants ''The Reader'' to like that character too. The other metric, however, is whether The Reader does like that character. '''In general''', the answers to these two questions should always be the same; readers should like the characters you want them to, and dislike the characters you want them to. If the answers are ''different'', then something is very wrong with your ability as a writer. You need to spend some time questioning what virtues your characters are supposed to feature, what flaws your audience is finding in them, and how you got from one to the other.
The most basic tenet of Audience Reactions is this: '''The audience is always right'''. It doesn't matter what you were ''trying'' to do, it matters what you did. And, for good or ill, if the audience doesn't like what you did, they don't have to give you money anymore. And money is probably something you need if you want to continue making interesting characters. When in doubt, assume the audience knows their head from their ass, and adjust accordingly. This does not mean you have to completely change how you write characters, or which virtues and flaws you want to assign them; it means you have to step back, [[deconstruct]] those flaws and virtues, and ask yourself what makes a character sympathetic (or not), and why.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Make Interesting Characters]]
[[Category:So You Want To]]
[[Category:Mechanics of Writing]]
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