Creating Characters Who Don’t Suck
How to make your characters as wild as your plot
Okay, you’ve created your organized novel outline (unless you’re a pantser like me, in which case, the idea of an outline is ludicrous). Now comes the fun part — fleshing out your characters!
Developing an exciting character is easier than you might think. Often, we steal and borrow characteristics and traits from people we know for the unique people in our stories.
For example, that sweet tatted-up guy with the pitbull named Delilah, who lives in #204, or that cashier who works at Country Grocer who laughs just like Betty Rubble from the Flintstones. Those two could inspire the secondary characters in your current work in progress!
Characters don’t have to be outrageous to be memorable. If done well, describing the ordinary can really resonate with a reader.
That’s because familiarity is relatable. Celebrating the ordinary allows readers to see themselves in our characters, creating the emotional connection your story needs to take the narrative beyond mere fiction.
Let’s give it a shot. Let's start with a single character before you even craft that story idea (or that &*#@* outline). After we’ve developed him/her/they, we can move on to the next step.
