When it comes to writing fiction, interesting characters are essential to a book that will keep readers engaged. Here are some tips for writing interesting characters that apply across all genres and story types.

1.) Direct vs Indirect

There are several approaches to developing interesting characters. One to keep in mind is the concept of direct vs. indirect characterization. If you have heard of “show vs. tell” before, this will be familiar.

Direct characterization is that which is told to the reader in a black-and-white manner.

Example: “The child was well-behaved as he sat in the waiting room with his mother.”

Here, the reader is told that the character of the child is acting well-behaved. It can be inferred that this means he is being quiet, respectful, or non-disruptive. The reader didn’t learn this information by observing the characters’ actions; it was told to them outright. 

Indirect characterization, on the other hand, is conveyed through other means, such as dialogue or small moments over time that the reader will have to think about to pick up on. A helpful acronym for how to achieve indirect characterization is STEAL.

2.) STEAL

The mnemonic device STEAL refers to how to accomplish indirect characterization. 

• Speech
• Thoughts
• Effect on others
• Actions
• Looks

Let’s go through each of these and see what they mean.

Speech refers to how a character talks. You can develop character through dialogue – how they speak to others and what they say.

Thoughts refers to what a character is thinking internally. You may have heard of the idea of a “internal monologue” before – a character talking to themselves. We all have a monologue in our heads and talk to ourselves. You can, as an author, show what a character is thinking through the narration. Conveying your character’s inner thoughts will make the reader feel like they know them, and they will want to know what happens to them. It will establish their character and make them more interesting.

Effect on others is how other characters react to and/or interpret the character. How does Character A, for example, react to what Character B is saying? How do they interpret Character B? This can be accomplished via dialogue – aka the characters speaking to each other. Other ways to show a character’s effect on others is through describing their body language when the character speaks or is around them, or their thoughts about the character.

Actions is what the character does. Actions can tell a lot about the character without it having to be explained. 

Looks is how the character physically appears at any given moment. For example, if they are described as smiling and sitting lazily in a chair, one can assume the character is relaxed or aloof. If they have a put-together, straightedge appearance, the reader can assume they are a Type A kind of person. Looks can also refer to facial expressions, such as reacting to their environment or what another character is saying. 

Overall, using the STEAL method will help you write interesting, well-developed characters. If you are big on taking notes about your writing, you can create a chart with each category and take notes for each character. 

3.)Flat vs round characters

Author EM Forster once said that one can think of characters as being “flat characters” or “round characters.” It is important to have both in a story. Flat characters are one-dimensional without many features. They exist in the background.

Round characters are three-dimensional characters, well-developed, with discernible features. Not all characters can be round, but  not every character should be flat. 

Most likely, your main character will be round, while background characters will be more flat. One can accomplish well-rounded characters through the STEAL method as explained above.

4.)Motivation

In order for characters to be interesting, the reader will have to be invested in their story. One way to accomplish this is to always be thinking about their motivations. Your main characters – and even those in the background – must act with purpose. Why are they doing what they are doing? You do not need to answer that question outright, and should answer it over time through the story. Keep your characters’ motivations in mind as you write your story or fiction novel. 

5.)Build on tropes

There are many character tropes out there – types of characters or molds for characters – that have been seen across time. You do not have to avoid using tropes; instead, you can build on them. Character tropes can be used for inspiration and then fleshed out more, or even subverted. Character tropes such as the Wise Elder, Manic Pixie Dream Girl, and Dumb Jock, for example, can be used as starting points for your characters. 

We hope these tips and methods will be helpful in crafting your characters for your novel!

Have a novel full of interesting characters that you would like to publish? Contact us!

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As you sit down to write your manuscript, you picture the gold shining vision of the final manuscript you want to create. You just want to hurry up and get to that version, the version you’ve dreamt of, but every amazing manuscript has a messy first draft.

Do: Focus on structure

Every story should have a beginning, middle, and ending. The beginning of your story should include the ‘inciting incident’ or the event that spurs on the events of the story. The middle should consist of conflicts that challenge your protagonist and raise the story’s stakes. Finally, the ending should include the climax and whether or not your protagonist gets the object of their desire (IE what their goal is to achieve throughout the story).

Instead of focusing too much on every single plot point, focus on hitting these beats and getting the story from Point A (the beginning) to Point B (the ending). In order to help one achieve this, it can help to create a brief events list. This simply involves breaking the story into that three-act structure and writing down (in one to two sentences) what happens in each section. For example, in a fantasy story maybe the ‘beginning’ involves a character finding out they have been chosen for a quest, which they accept. Then, next to that statement, write the events that lead to that conclusion for your protagonist. Who tells them about this quest? How do they take it? What makes them accept the task?

Do: Get to know the tone and characters

Rather than mastering your tone and characters on your first attempt, your goal should be to get to know both of these elements over the course of the first draft. Think of your first draft as your opportunity to figure out the tone and characters in your story rather than for either of them to feel perfectly crafted on the first try. When it comes to tone, on your first draft it will likely change drastically from beginning to end or even just scene by scene. It’s not uncommon for a writer to go into a novel with a light funny tone only to discover that the story works much better with a sardonic darker tone. Use your first draft to play around with your narrator’s voice and POV. It may give you more editing work to do later, but it will also allow you to figure out what works best.

Additionally, in terms of your characters, writing up an informative character sheet won’t allow you to get to know your characters nearly as much as actual scene work. On your character sheet, your protagonist could come across as very dry but their actual voice (once you start writing them) could sound completely different than you pictured. Furthermore, a character could end up making completely different decisions than you had thought they would make. If this is the case, let your character take the lead and see where it goes. Sometimes this won’t work and other times it can lead to the best character writing.

Don’t: Focus on language and details

Your first draft is the time to experiment with your language and details, not to meticulously focus on them and make sure they’re super consistent. One of the quickest ways to encounter writer’s block on your first draft is to get too bogged down with your language and making sure everything sounds nice. Even your favorite author has first drafts that are horrendous and sloppy… that’s kind of the point of them. Don’t be afraid to skip over areas where you’re struggling and just add a note in letting future you know what needs to happen there. Or if you’re in the writing groove and then lose your rhythm, don’t force yourself to try to mimic what you had previously been doing. Focus mainly on the story structure and leave the details for second and third draft you to handle.

Don’t: Worry about character development and plot holes

Since you’re still getting to know your characters in this draft, try not to focus too much on character development outside of the basics. You theoretically know the arc you’d like each character to have, but this initial draft is there to see if the characters will fit what you were thinking. They may make decisions that contradict the arc you had originally planned for them so just get to know them, see the choices they make, and then reorganize them into an arc on a later draft.

Plotholes are going to be plentiful on your first draft, that is just the nature of the beast. Perhaps you reach a point in the story where your protagonist is cornered and you’re not sure how to write them out of the situation. But wait, you think of a device that you could add to the story to aid the characters at this moment, but that would leave the audience scratching their heads wondering how this device appeared out of nowhere. Don’t worry about this now, you can always go back and add the device in an earlier chapter to make the moment more satisfying. Focus instead on getting your characters where they need to be, you can fix plot holes and inconsistencies later.

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On the other hand, sometimes stories come from a place much closer to home. Each of us has our own stories throughout our lives, moments that have shaped us into the person that we are today. Although not every author is interested in writing a memoir or autobiography, examining the important moments in our own lives and the ways that they’ve formed us is a great way to help create that connection between events and character in your own novel.

For example, take a particularly embarrassing moment that you had in middle school where you spilled milk all over the front of your pants in the middle of the cafeteria. How did that moment, and the feelings that it elicited, change your behavior, how you acted, and your perception of yourself and the world as a whole?

There are also the good important moments, like when you got your first job out of school or met your partner or when you and a family member had a really heartfelt moment together. How did those moments change or shape your life? How did your perspective or character change based on that moment?

Writing Prompt: Make a list of the most important character-shaping moments throughout your own life and why those instances changed you. Choose one and write a scene from that moment. As you’re writing the scene, make sure both you and your readers can see the connection between the event and character development.

Make sure that your readers can see a difference in the character (you) before and after this important event or moment. And, if you want to keep it more anonymous, feel free to change up the character names or even embellish the event if there are portions you can’t completely remember. Being good at embellishing is another important writing skill, right?

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One type of event that almost always causes variations of emotions simultaneously is departures. Types of departures can range from a very mild event like leaving a party early to more extreme ones like your character moving to a new city. It could be a character going on vacation, running away from home, leaving a relationship, or simply throwing away a treasured childhood toy. Each of these events can hold within them a varying degree of emotional response for your character.

For example, let’s take something mild like leaving a party early. On the surface, you may think ‘oh, they were just tired now they get to go home and rest.’ As they’re walking home, they’re probably experiencing a sense of relief. They’re exhausted from staying up late, the social interactions with people they barely know, the drunken debauchery, they’re immediate response is probably a sense of relief. But, as they keep walking, perhaps they get a little sad. Their friends were all still having fun when they left, they’re probably experiencing a bit of FOMO (fear of missing out). What’s wrong with them? Why do they have to be such a party pooper? They think to themselves as they continue to walk.

Now, let’s take the idea of a character leaving their life behind and moving to a new city. Bigger events such as these involve an acute sense of grief for characters. They’re leaving behind the life they knew, the people they knew, the life that they thought they would have. Not only do they grieve that they’re possibly losing friendships/relationships, but they’re grieving this version of themselves that would’ve existed in this city. So you may think it’s all tears and tantrums, but your character may also have a hopeful sense of curiosity battling their grief. Who will this new version of themselves be? What friends will they make? Who will they grow to become?

Writing Prompt

Consider a protagonist or a character from your manuscript. What sorts of departures have they experienced recently? What departures have shaped their life thus far? And, finally, what departures will occur to them over the course of your manuscript?

Outline these three scenes, considering the various emotional responses that your character will feel during each event and why. Then, write these scenes and see how they play out!

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Give them a motivation

One of the biggest cop-outs is when you see a villain whose motivation is that ‘he’s just crazy’ or he/she has an inexplicable psychotic desire to gain power or kill people. Sure, that may be the case for some people, but that doesn’t make for a compelling villain. In order for your villain to really stand out, they need to have a true and understandable motivation for their actions. For example, take Thanos from the MCU. His goal is to wipe out 1/3 of the world’s population with the infinity stones, not because he inexplicably relishes in destruction but because he believes overpopulation causes people a lot of problems for the world. While his actions won’t make sense to people, his motivation for his actions does.

They’re not fully right or wrong

Though it would be easier to write villains if this weren’t the case, the world simply isn’t just black and white. People aren’t either totally good or totally evil. No one wants to see a protagonist that never does anything wrong just like no one wants to see a villain that is pure evil. It may seem easy to simply write a villain that wants to burn the world to the ground, but it’s much more interesting to see a villain/protagonist relationship where you can kind of see both sides as valid.

One of the greatest examples of this is Killmonger from Black Panther. His goal is to share Wakanda’s technology with African American people around the world so they can rise up and defend themselves from the oppression they face. While you aren’t in favor of his ultimately violent goal, you do understand him wanting to help people in his circumstances and it makes you even question Black Panther and view him as a little selfish for keeping the technology confined to Wakanda and not helping others. This morally gray dichotomy makes for an incredibly compelling story.

Make them truly formidable

Another way to heighten your villain is to make them feel impossible to defeat. Whether they simply be a school bully or a Thanos-level supervillain, the more hopeless the situation feels for the protagonist, the more formidable the villain will feel and the more rewarding the defeat will be. For example, let’s take the Vicious series by V.E. Schwab. The villain of this series, Eli, gains the superhuman ability of immortality. So that leaves the reader wondering- how do you kill someone who is un-killable? Or how do you defeat someone who can’t die? Whether it be superhuman abilities or simply making them have strengths where your protagonist is weakest- make your villain feel impossible to defeat.

Give them a history

Just like the character work with your protagonist and main characters, you’ll need to do thorough work into the history and backstory of your villain. The last thing you want is for your villain to feel like they exist purely as an opposition force to your main character. You want them to feel like they’re their own person with their own life and struggles who happened to form a contentious relationship with your protagonist. In addition, including the character history of your villain in your story is an excellent way to allow them to appear more three-dimensional, relatable, and interesting to the readers.

Give them positive qualities

As we said earlier, people being one hundred percent good or evil is boring. Your villain can be cruel and sadistic, but maybe they’re also incredibly smart? Maybe they’re charming or funny? Maybe they have a family member they love and want to keep safe? You want to create the type of villain that people will think ‘it’s such a shame they’re evil’ because they have such a confusing balance of good and bad qualities. Those are the most fascinating villains.

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1. Pick an object that is ugly, and create a character who finds it very beautiful. Have the character describe the object in a way that convinces the reader of its beauty. Now write a second version where you choose a very beautiful object from the POV of a character who finds it ugly. Convince the readers that it’s ugly. For example, a character who finds an old running shoe beautiful or another who finds a sunset ugly. The way your character reacts to certain stimuli tells the reader a great deal about who they are and what makes them unique.

3. Describe a character’s bedroom in such a way that it tells us about a person’s greatest fears and hopes. For example, a character who has a college application on their desk and has a box under their bed labeled ‘KEEP OUT’. A person’s belongings can tell us a lot about them. What would your character have in their room?

4. Root through your desk drawer until you find a strange object- an object that would probably not be in other people’s drawers. Have a character who is devastated to find this object, and tell the story of why this object devastates them. For example, let’s say you have an old grocery list in your desk drawer. Maybe your character finds this and is devastated because it was written by his nanna who passed away a few months prior. Maybe the contents make him think of all the times his Nana made him those very foods. Objects can be a great way to bring back different emotions, foreshadow, or show guilt. This is your opportunity to play around with that!

5. Do some research online and choose a piece of art you’ve never seen before. Now imagine a living room inspired by that piece of artwork, and show the room after a husband and wife have had the worst fight of their marriage. Without specifically saying what happened in the room, use the objects to reveal why the room is in the state it’s in (for example, there’s a picture of the couple broken on the floor or the contents of the wife’s purse poured onto the ground).

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1) When handling character development through a scene, there is always what’s on the surface and then what’s beneath the surface. Write a scene about a couple fighting while playing a board game. They’re fighting about the game itself, but what are they really upset about? Use the game itself as a tool to show what’s really upsetting them (ex. They’re upset about money, have them play Monopoly or if they are upset about politics, have them play chess).

2) Another important aspect of character development is being able to show character through action alone. Describe a character walking across an expanse field or lot and describe how they walk and their mannerisms. The reader should perfectly understand your character’s personality simply by the way you describe the walk and actions between one side of the lot and the other.

3) Your characters must go through highs and lows over the course of your book- especially when it comes to what they want most in the story. As an exercise in writing this, describe an hour in the life of a character who has recently lost their ability to do what they love most (a pianist who has severe arthritis; a runner who became a quadriplegic).

4) Your characters will have different reactions to different people throughout your story. This will be based on varying factors such as their personalities and familiarity with a particular character. Write a scene where a stranger stops your main character, saying they know them, and insisting your main character is someone they are not. Describe exactly how this case of mistaken identity makes your character feel. Does this upset your character? Does this make your character insecure or paranoid? Does meeting someone new make them happy?

5) Each character in a story must have their own distinct personality. This means each one will handle situations differently- from a crisis to a mild problem. To practice differentiating between character reactions, write a scene where a risk-averse character is stuck in a hostage situation with a risk-happy character.

6) Showing character through action can get fairly repetitive for most writers. How many different ways can someone shrug or sigh? For the next week, watch strangers carefully and take notes in your phone about any peculiar gestures or body language. Combine the three most interesting ones to describe a character as he/she goes grocery shopping. And keep the rest for later use, you never know when you’ll need them!

7) One of the most important parts of character writing is choice. Your characters must be faced with choices throughout your book so your reader can learn about who they are through their decisions. Write about a character faced with a critical decision. This character, then, witnesses a big event (it could be awe-inspiring or disheartening). Describe and show how witnessing the event helps the character make their decision.

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Standalone

A standalone novel requires a lot of preciseness. It is a self-contained story so, for readers, it will feel clean and complete within itself. However, because the story will be contained within the confines of a single book–rather than several–not a single moment can be wasted. Every scene has to be important and purposeful, you don’t have the liberty of being able to write cute or heartfelt scenes that don’t advance the plot or develop your characters…it’s crunch time. When writing a standalone novel, every scene needs to answer the questions: How does this further the character arc? How does this further the plot?

This also means preciseness in terms of charting out the plot strands as a whole. A standalone novel must have a main thread that is being followed clearly, so don’t make the plot too complicated. There can be side plot points as well, but there has to be a clear narrative structure. If things get too complicated, you most likely won’t be able to come to a satisfying resolution by the end. Speaking of which, with a standalone novel you absolutely need a satisfying ending. That doesn’t mean a happily ever after per say, but because there won’t be another book you can’t end on a horrible cliffhanger. You have to give the readers–and the characters–the ending that they deserve.

Series

A series is a completely different beast. Think of it in terms of the cinema: a standalone novel is like a movie whereas a series is like a TV show. Because you have multiple books to fill, you’re given a lot more freedom in certain ways. You can have super complicated and intricate plots with overarching themes that will be revealed by the end of the series. Readers will also be able to spend more time with your characters and thereby grow to love and care for them more. However, because you have more time, readers have higher expectations. They want plot points that relate back to the first book of the series: they want continuity and consistency and surprises. You’ll need to do a lot more work charting out your series as a whole, rather than just letting it happen as it goes along and seeing where you end up.

Because a series is longer, you have the freedom to write those little funny or sentimental scenes that may have got the ax in a standalone novel. However, be warned: your pacing must remain consistent. How many times have you heard the phrase, “The second one wasn’t as good as the first one…”? We’re guessing quite a lot. Authors tend to exhaust their ideas in their first book to win over readers and then the pacing of the second book ends up way slower because they’re using filler info. Make sure each book in your series is comparable in terms of pacing, plot/character developments, and payoffs.

What’s right for you?

When deciding whether your idea should be a series or a standalone novel, focus on how complex or simple your book idea is. For example, fantasy and sci-fi books typically work best as a series because those ideas are really complicated and take longer than the length of a single book to tell the full story. On the other hand, contemporary novels typically work best as a standalone. This is obviously not true in every case, so make sure you think through your idea and how long you’ll need to tell the full story. If you feel like it’d be hard to condense the idea into one book, go with a series. And if you feel like it’d be hard to figure out how to expand your idea into multiple books, a standalone is probably your best move. Don’t force your idea to be something it’s not.

Are you ready to publish your book? Contact us today!

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Now, we’re not saying you should never use adverbs in your writing. For example, in some cases, an adverb is the most concise way to phrase something. There are no good alternatives to words like daily or lovingly, so rephrasing them as “on a daily basis” or “in a loving manner” isn’t going to do your prose any favors.

However, the vast majority of adverb use comes across as simply lazy or redundant. The use of an adverb is redundant when it restates a characteristic already inherent in the word it modifies. For example, take the phrase, “He tiptoed quietly down the stairs.” The adverb quietly is modifying tiptoe, but the word tiptoe by definition means to walk quietly. You’ll want to avoid adverb redundancies like this in your writing.

Adverb use is viewed as simply lazy when it is used in place of writing a colorful, descriptive sentence. You’re using a single word to summarize something that could be fleshed out into more detailed prose. By using a single word, you’re oftentimes missing some character development opportunities.

For example, take the phrase, “She lightly knocked on the door.” There may be cases where this phrasing is acceptable if this is not a suspenseful or important moment in the story. But by using the adverb here, you’re missing the opportunity to create suspense and character development.

Take this phrasing instead, “She tapped on the door, just once. Though it was soft, in the silent hallway it was like a shockwave.” In this instance, we create suspense and character because we can actually feel that ‘she’ is nervous about whatever lies beyond this door.

An adverb should only be used as a last resort. There’s no need to remove it completely from your writing, but in cases where you notice redundancies or opportunities for better prose, cut it out. Experiment with your metaphors and similes, see what kind of imagery you can paint with these small moments. As a writer, think of it like you’re going on a no-adverb diet. You’re obviously going to cheat every once in a while (let’s face it, we all do). But if you’re making healthy choices the majority of the time, your writing will thank you for it.

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So, how do we get to know people? Well, we talk to them. We listen to them. We observe them. We ask them questions. Just as you would with a real person, the best way to get to know your characters is to actually create spaces and scenarios where you can get to know them in different ways. In other words, write your character into a few specific scenes.

1) Therapy Session

Therapy can be a good setting to get to know your character because that’s a setting where people tend to be more open and vulnerable. And, if your character doesn’t become more open and vulnerable when placed in this setting, that can say a lot about them, too.

Essentially, what you’ll write here is a therapy session between you and your character where you act as their therapist. So, yes, you’ll be writing yourself in as a character in this scene. That can make some writers a little uncomfortable, but one of the main struggles for writer’s is differentiating their character’s voice from their own voice. This is a great exercise to help with this problem because you’ll literally have yourself written into the story to compare.

Have your character walk into the room, sit across from you, and say to them something along the lines of, “Thanks for coming in today. What did you want to talk about?” Like a real therapist, make sure you’re trying to get to the heart of their concerns without putting words in your character’s mouth. Say things like, “So what I hear you saying is…” and “How does that make you feel?”

It’s best to begin this exercise by solely focusing on the dialogue, but if you start to notice mannerisms or interesting body language, go ahead and note that, too.

2) Morning Routine

Now, do not for a second think we’re suggesting that you begin a book with your character waking up. Please don’t- hundreds of books do this already. However, part of getting to know your character is seeing how they act in different circumstances under varying conditions. How do they act when they’re alone and unobserved?

Write a short scene about your character going through their morning routine. Are they a morning person? What do they do when they first wake up- do they jump out of bed or hit the snooze button a few times first? How do they react to their reflection? Are they the type of person who prepares a full meal or grabs a protein bar before quickly rushing out the door?

Walking yourself physically through your character’s morning in-scene will help you get to know them better in a myriad of ways. A person’s living space can say a lot about who they are. So, noticing what kind of books they have and how messy their room is can say a lot about them already. Also, a person is arguably the most honest version of themselves when they aren’t being observed. What does this bring out in your character? Is it good or bad?

3) Compare and Contrast

For this last exercise , you’ll need to create two short scenes. The first you’ll create is a scene between your character and a person that they care for. This could be a parent, a close friend, the mailman- anyone for which your character has a natural affinity. Put them in a setting where your character is comfortable. That could be their own house or a park that they often went to as a child. You want to create a very comfortable environment for your protagonist.

In the next scene, your protagonist is having a conversation with a stranger, in a foreign environment. It doesn’t have to be somewhere where your protagonist has never been before, but it has to be somewhere where they aren’t particularly comfortable or at ease.

This exercise will help you discover how your character reacts to different environments, settings and people. Your protagonist could be the type of person who is just as sweet, kind, and at ease with a stranger as they would be with a close friend or family member. Or your protagonist could be the type of person who pulls back and becomes more guarded in the scene with the stranger.

It’s also a great opportunity to get to know your character’s mannerisms and gestures. What position do they sit in when they’re comfortable vs when they’re uncomfortable? What do they do with their hands? How does their expression differ?

Depending on how the scene unfolds you need to ask yourself- how and why is my character different between these scenes? Is their willingness to be kind to a stranger good or is it naive? Is their hesitation toward the stranger born of a past experience or trauma? It’s very rare to find someone who will act exactly the same way in every interaction and setting, so adding this layer to your character will help you get to know their voice in different settings and levels of comfort.

Your character must feel as real as you are, but also entirely different from you. It’s an incredibly challenging feat, which is why great writers receive such high praise. But, when you get it right, your readers will love your characters, laugh with your characters, and mourn your characters as though they truly are real.

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