RedHunter2296
Competitive Professional In Being Ignored
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Today's lesson: How to write more realistic characters.
Writing characters is every author's greatest challenge. after all, they are the ones who MUST MOVE THE PLOT, not preferably not the other way around. They are the ones by whom the story could begin, they will help it progress and they are definitely the ones who have to finish what happens.
But the first part, although not very related to the title, is to choose the right kind of characters for your story.
If what you are writing is a children's story, you should look for simple characters, easy to understand and follow. Each character should represent a single theme or concept that anyone can quickly understand. The grumpy character, the funny character, the sweet character. They should also preferably stick to their role as much as possible. The grumpy character should remain grumpy during most of the time and situations. But be careful, I'm not saying that they should just stay grumpy, of course they can have moments where they behave differently, but you should keep those moments as very specific and infrequent because they will be the ones that will leave a mark on the readers.
If a plot is more psychological or what some pretentious people want to call "deep and artistic", you should look for more introspective characters. Characters that don't talk much but spend time constantly thinking about and describing themselves and the actions that happen. But don't mistake being melancholic all the time as being "deep" either, no one likes to see that all the people in a story suffer from severe chronic depression.
If it's an action-centered story, you're looking for action characters. Strong and determined characters, they know what they want and how to get it, the only thing they have to do is to act. Normally underdeveloped in exchange for the show, but that doesn't mean they have to be blank roles. What you really should do is give the characters a strong, quick-to-understand personality, something that readers can quickly grasp their way of thinking. The tough guy, the greedy and avaricious, the damsel in distress, the loving mother.
And the rest I don't know, but I think you get the idea. Try to make the characters according to the story you want to tell, because that will help a lot when writing them.
Now we will try to go for what the title says, how to write more interesting and realistic characters, which is why everyone came in the first place.
So let's go to the first tip.
1- Each character is the protagonist of his own story.
I think that although it may not seem like it, it is something that many authors overlook. But no one in the real world sees themselves as a secondary character in someone else's story.
But what does this mean?
Well, each character in the story must do their best to improve their situation or motives within the story. As they say, each character pushes for his side.
The protagonist of the novel must try to achieve his goals by his own means, defeat the villain, date the girl he likes, get the money, and so on.
But at the same time the other characters must also be doing the same by their own means, or at least show it, the villain must actively try to defeat the protagonist, the girl may actively make excuses not to go out with him or maybe she is looking for a date, maybe the boss at work is looking to rip off the protagonist and underpay him.
But no character should be passive, no one in real life just sits around waiting like a lifeless doll for others to come to you so that you can be "alive" again.
2- Limited points of view
Another important tip that many authors also overlook, and that I personally consider crucial in every story.
Not all the characters know everything that happens in the plot.
It is vital that you consider what information is available to each character and how they act on it.
Not even the protagonist should know all the movements or plans of the villain. But the same goes for the villain, he also shouldn't know everything the protagonist is up to. And the same goes for all the characters.
Don't be afraid of creating misunderstandings or people making mistakes due to lack of information. On the contrary, try to highlight them, after all they are different points of view because they are different characters, with different motives and information.
To create a quick example. The villain of the story has just created a brand of water bottles, the same is poisoned: Villainous Poisoned. The protagonist already knows this so he creates his own, Pure Water Protagonist. Well, the villain does not know that such a brand of water belongs to his rival, and he himself consumes Pure Water Protagonist because all he knows at that moment is that it is non-poisoned water. But now what will happen to the friend of the protagonist who takes Villainous Poisoned, because he doesn't know it is poisoned and likes its taste? What will happen to the protagonist to see his friend Villainous Poisoned drinking in front of him for no reason, from his point of view?
How will the friend react when Villainous Poisoned's information is revealed to him?
All these things add to the credibility and believability of a story, as no one in the real world knows everything, and misunderstandings happen all the time.
3- Every person has a story before the story
Another mistake I see authors making is believing that the characters did not exist before the story happened.
Unless your character is a newborn, every character must have a background. It doesn't matter if it is not used throughout the novel. But you as an author should know the background behind each character as well as possible.
But why?
CONSISTENCY
A character cannot be a different person every time he/she appears. You can't create a character that presents contradictory information about himself all the time.
In addition, people act very much based on their knowledge and lived experiences. Someone who has lost their parents at a young age will not behave in the same way as someone who has their parents very present in their daily life. In the same way both will behave differently around children. Or they will talk about the same subject in different ways
Another error that I see a lot within the same category is that of the characters who don't have a family or if they even exist, they only give an excuse as to why they are not there.
I am not saying that the family of all the characters must be present in the novel, but at least their existence must be known. After all, everyone is someone's child, and everyone has a family, whether big or small. So it's a good idea for someone to occasionally mention their father or sister doing something inconsequential, as it reminds readers that there is a world outside the immediate present of the text.
4- Ways of speaking
A less important tip, but related to the previous one, is the way to talk about each character.
Please endow each character with a particular way of speaking, either by their tone or choice of words used, or their knowledge of different topics or experiences.
It doesn't have to be as extreme as all the characters being super unique and different. But enough to be able to distinguish them
Imagine if the characters were on a phone call, and you only had access to the written transcript of that call. Well, that's what we call dialogues.
What you are looking for as an author is for readers to be able to understand who is participating in the phone call simply by the way they speak and not by the names they mention. Someone who is understandably shy will constantly pause before answering, while someone who is quite excited will talk a lot before letting someone else answer, that's what you're looking to create.
5-Something that defines the character
This tip is rather optional and not that important, but I think it is worth mentioning.
For some characters, they may have one thing that defines them more than the rest but don't make the big mistake of making it the only thing that defines that person.
A person in a wheelchair or disabled person will clearly focus a lot of their life on that, but like all people there is always something more. A person in a wheelchair will clearly have a way of behaving in relation to their situation, probably sad, or perhaps strangely cheerful. What is clear is that he will behave differently when it comes to sports, but he will probably give a normal answer when you ask him about his favorite food, he won't answer like he likes to eat tires after all, will he?
6-Two faces, the normal and the real one
This tip is more focused on characters or stories that are more action-oriented, but it can be used for almost any story really.
It is said that you will never see a person's true personality until they are faced with the possibility of death.
A story switch that can completely change any character, a free pass, so use it to your advantage, and develop your characters!
Show how your characters behave in the face of real difficulties and show your readers what your characters are made of.
A perfect moment to surprise your readers. Maybe the protagonist realizes that he is not as special as he thought he was because he was chosen for the ring. Like that selfish and stingy character seeing that he won't survive another day he prefers to go out in a blaze of glory and pride. As the quiet one of the group currently has a plan that get everyone out of trouble and is the true hero of the story without wanting it.
7-Nobody is perfect
Finally, another important point that many authors also overlook, is something quite simple.
What flaws does each character have?
Not everyone is perfect, everyone always has something they are bad at. Bad at studies, maybe they are not so nice in certain conditions, maybe they are afraid of some things.
But don't just put a disadvantage and that's it. Your duty as an author is to make that weakness, that problem be highlighted in the story and how the characters must adapt to it, maybe not overcome it, but at least overcome the moment of the problem.
This almost immediately makes any character more interesting. Don't be afraid to address difficult issues or highlight contradictions of the characters at this time.
A perfect and extreme example, can a hero be a hero if he is a racist?
A good person at heart, but with a slight black spot, does that make him a villain?
What happens if he doesn't save someone because of their problem? That will undoubtedly give the other characters something to talk about.
Or if it is a life or death situation? What if the Hero currently wants to be seen as a good person? He will have to go out of his way to do the right thing, even if he hates it in the process.
An interesting story can develop if you are able to set the right themes to collide with each other.
a little more boring and professional recap made by AI
The text provides valuable insights and tips on how to write more realistic characters in a story. Let's analyze and discuss some key points:
Writing characters is every author's greatest challenge. after all, they are the ones who MUST MOVE THE PLOT, not preferably not the other way around. They are the ones by whom the story could begin, they will help it progress and they are definitely the ones who have to finish what happens.
But the first part, although not very related to the title, is to choose the right kind of characters for your story.
If what you are writing is a children's story, you should look for simple characters, easy to understand and follow. Each character should represent a single theme or concept that anyone can quickly understand. The grumpy character, the funny character, the sweet character. They should also preferably stick to their role as much as possible. The grumpy character should remain grumpy during most of the time and situations. But be careful, I'm not saying that they should just stay grumpy, of course they can have moments where they behave differently, but you should keep those moments as very specific and infrequent because they will be the ones that will leave a mark on the readers.
If a plot is more psychological or what some pretentious people want to call "deep and artistic", you should look for more introspective characters. Characters that don't talk much but spend time constantly thinking about and describing themselves and the actions that happen. But don't mistake being melancholic all the time as being "deep" either, no one likes to see that all the people in a story suffer from severe chronic depression.
If it's an action-centered story, you're looking for action characters. Strong and determined characters, they know what they want and how to get it, the only thing they have to do is to act. Normally underdeveloped in exchange for the show, but that doesn't mean they have to be blank roles. What you really should do is give the characters a strong, quick-to-understand personality, something that readers can quickly grasp their way of thinking. The tough guy, the greedy and avaricious, the damsel in distress, the loving mother.
And the rest I don't know, but I think you get the idea. Try to make the characters according to the story you want to tell, because that will help a lot when writing them.
Now we will try to go for what the title says, how to write more interesting and realistic characters, which is why everyone came in the first place.
So let's go to the first tip.
1- Each character is the protagonist of his own story.
I think that although it may not seem like it, it is something that many authors overlook. But no one in the real world sees themselves as a secondary character in someone else's story.
But what does this mean?
Well, each character in the story must do their best to improve their situation or motives within the story. As they say, each character pushes for his side.
The protagonist of the novel must try to achieve his goals by his own means, defeat the villain, date the girl he likes, get the money, and so on.
But at the same time the other characters must also be doing the same by their own means, or at least show it, the villain must actively try to defeat the protagonist, the girl may actively make excuses not to go out with him or maybe she is looking for a date, maybe the boss at work is looking to rip off the protagonist and underpay him.
But no character should be passive, no one in real life just sits around waiting like a lifeless doll for others to come to you so that you can be "alive" again.
2- Limited points of view
Another important tip that many authors also overlook, and that I personally consider crucial in every story.
Not all the characters know everything that happens in the plot.
It is vital that you consider what information is available to each character and how they act on it.
Not even the protagonist should know all the movements or plans of the villain. But the same goes for the villain, he also shouldn't know everything the protagonist is up to. And the same goes for all the characters.
Don't be afraid of creating misunderstandings or people making mistakes due to lack of information. On the contrary, try to highlight them, after all they are different points of view because they are different characters, with different motives and information.
To create a quick example. The villain of the story has just created a brand of water bottles, the same is poisoned: Villainous Poisoned. The protagonist already knows this so he creates his own, Pure Water Protagonist. Well, the villain does not know that such a brand of water belongs to his rival, and he himself consumes Pure Water Protagonist because all he knows at that moment is that it is non-poisoned water. But now what will happen to the friend of the protagonist who takes Villainous Poisoned, because he doesn't know it is poisoned and likes its taste? What will happen to the protagonist to see his friend Villainous Poisoned drinking in front of him for no reason, from his point of view?
How will the friend react when Villainous Poisoned's information is revealed to him?
All these things add to the credibility and believability of a story, as no one in the real world knows everything, and misunderstandings happen all the time.
3- Every person has a story before the story
Another mistake I see authors making is believing that the characters did not exist before the story happened.
Unless your character is a newborn, every character must have a background. It doesn't matter if it is not used throughout the novel. But you as an author should know the background behind each character as well as possible.
But why?
CONSISTENCY
A character cannot be a different person every time he/she appears. You can't create a character that presents contradictory information about himself all the time.
In addition, people act very much based on their knowledge and lived experiences. Someone who has lost their parents at a young age will not behave in the same way as someone who has their parents very present in their daily life. In the same way both will behave differently around children. Or they will talk about the same subject in different ways
Another error that I see a lot within the same category is that of the characters who don't have a family or if they even exist, they only give an excuse as to why they are not there.
I am not saying that the family of all the characters must be present in the novel, but at least their existence must be known. After all, everyone is someone's child, and everyone has a family, whether big or small. So it's a good idea for someone to occasionally mention their father or sister doing something inconsequential, as it reminds readers that there is a world outside the immediate present of the text.
4- Ways of speaking
A less important tip, but related to the previous one, is the way to talk about each character.
Please endow each character with a particular way of speaking, either by their tone or choice of words used, or their knowledge of different topics or experiences.
It doesn't have to be as extreme as all the characters being super unique and different. But enough to be able to distinguish them
Imagine if the characters were on a phone call, and you only had access to the written transcript of that call. Well, that's what we call dialogues.
What you are looking for as an author is for readers to be able to understand who is participating in the phone call simply by the way they speak and not by the names they mention. Someone who is understandably shy will constantly pause before answering, while someone who is quite excited will talk a lot before letting someone else answer, that's what you're looking to create.
5-Something that defines the character
This tip is rather optional and not that important, but I think it is worth mentioning.
For some characters, they may have one thing that defines them more than the rest but don't make the big mistake of making it the only thing that defines that person.
A person in a wheelchair or disabled person will clearly focus a lot of their life on that, but like all people there is always something more. A person in a wheelchair will clearly have a way of behaving in relation to their situation, probably sad, or perhaps strangely cheerful. What is clear is that he will behave differently when it comes to sports, but he will probably give a normal answer when you ask him about his favorite food, he won't answer like he likes to eat tires after all, will he?
6-Two faces, the normal and the real one
This tip is more focused on characters or stories that are more action-oriented, but it can be used for almost any story really.
It is said that you will never see a person's true personality until they are faced with the possibility of death.
A story switch that can completely change any character, a free pass, so use it to your advantage, and develop your characters!
Show how your characters behave in the face of real difficulties and show your readers what your characters are made of.
A perfect moment to surprise your readers. Maybe the protagonist realizes that he is not as special as he thought he was because he was chosen for the ring. Like that selfish and stingy character seeing that he won't survive another day he prefers to go out in a blaze of glory and pride. As the quiet one of the group currently has a plan that get everyone out of trouble and is the true hero of the story without wanting it.
7-Nobody is perfect
Finally, another important point that many authors also overlook, is something quite simple.
What flaws does each character have?
Not everyone is perfect, everyone always has something they are bad at. Bad at studies, maybe they are not so nice in certain conditions, maybe they are afraid of some things.
But don't just put a disadvantage and that's it. Your duty as an author is to make that weakness, that problem be highlighted in the story and how the characters must adapt to it, maybe not overcome it, but at least overcome the moment of the problem.
This almost immediately makes any character more interesting. Don't be afraid to address difficult issues or highlight contradictions of the characters at this time.
A perfect and extreme example, can a hero be a hero if he is a racist?
A good person at heart, but with a slight black spot, does that make him a villain?
What happens if he doesn't save someone because of their problem? That will undoubtedly give the other characters something to talk about.
Or if it is a life or death situation? What if the Hero currently wants to be seen as a good person? He will have to go out of his way to do the right thing, even if he hates it in the process.
An interesting story can develop if you are able to set the right themes to collide with each other.
a little more boring and professional recap made by AI
The text provides valuable insights and tips on how to write more realistic characters in a story. Let's analyze and discuss some key points:
- Individuality of Characters: The author emphasizes the importance of tailoring characters to fit the specific needs of the story. Whether it's a children's story, a psychological narrative, or an action-centered plot, characters should be designed to align with the genre and contribute meaningfully to the plot.
- Protagonism and Perspective:
- The tip to consider each character as the protagonist of their own story adds depth and complexity to their motivations. This ensures that characters are actively pursuing their goals, creating a more engaging narrative.
- The idea of limited points of view introduces an element of mystery and suspense. It prevents characters from having omniscient knowledge and encourages the development of misunderstandings, adding realism to the story.
- Character Backgrounds:
- The notion that every character has a story before the main plot unfolds is crucial. It emphasizes consistency and prevents characters from appearing inconsistent or contradictory.
- The mention of characters having families, even if not present in the narrative, adds depth to their backgrounds and reinforces the idea that they exist in a broader context.
- Distinctive Dialogue: The advice to give each character a unique way of speaking contributes to the richness of the narrative. It helps readers distinguish between characters solely based on their dialogue, fostering a more immersive reading experience.
- Character Defining Traits: The suggestion that characters can have defining traits beyond their main characteristics adds nuance. It acknowledges that individuals are multi-faceted and can have interests or attributes that go beyond what is immediately apparent.
- Dual Faces of Characters:
- The idea of revealing a character's true nature in the face of adversity is a powerful storytelling tool. It allows for character development and can lead to surprising twists in the plot.
- This concept adds a layer of complexity to characters, showing that their behavior can change under extreme circumstances.
- Imperfections and Flaws:
- The emphasis on giving characters flaws and highlighting these imperfections throughout the story is crucial for creating relatable and interesting characters.
- The example of exploring difficult issues, such as a hero having racist tendencies, demonstrates the potential for complex and thought-provoking narratives.
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Punctuation.
