5 Must-Dos for Creating Believable Characters

To me as a writer, the most difficult and most fun part of writing a story is creating the characters. Different writers go about all kinds of ways to bringing characters to life, and the awesome thing about writing is that there is no "correct" way of approaching anything. It's really up to you! However, I came across Brianne Toma's blog post about the things they do for characterization. It's very interesting, so I thought I'd share it with ya'll!

Source: http://briannetoma.blogspot.com/2015/10/5-must-dos-for-creating-believable.html?spref=pi

Designing Your Character

-Establish Goals and Motivations
-Prioritize Traits
-Believe The Lie
-Cue their "Aha" Moment

-Flesh Out the Face (and body...and hair)

Toma also has compiled some character template sheets, and I've recently started using these for characters in my writing project - and let me tell you, they are AMAZING. You can create your own based on Toma's template, or they've got tons out there on DeviantArt and any writing website, really. Toma also mentioned that they made this off of Scrivener, and for those who don't know what that is, it is a writing program for both Macs and Windows. Originally I heard my friend talking about it but she told me it is only for the Mac. However, I found out it was for Windows as well - you can do the free trial for 30 days, which is what I did, and after that you do have to pay for it. But it is such a helpful program, and I used it to brainstorm on my massive writing project before actually writing. Even when I did start writing, I used Scrivener because it helps encourage you to focus and limits distractions, and it keeps everything so organized, with you inputting notes, and it also has all kinds of character AND setting templates that you can check out! Overall, I highly suggest anyone at least give Scrivener a try!

Establish Goals and Motivations

This is foremost because this is your plot-driver. Your character is nothing without desire, and your book is plotless if the character isn't wanting enough to be motivated. Establish a concrete goal and figure out why they are motivated to achieve it. 

A motivation might be an over-protective family and the goal might be freedom to be their own person. 

I have a character who comes from an abusive household. She wants to be independent and do her own thing but her family restricts her. The motivation might also be the conflict. It depends and that's another subject. Focus!

Prioritize Traits

You don't want an info-dump to make the reader groan and toss your book aside (or over the fence...cough). Put your character in pieces throughout your story. What trait do you want to show first? Choose wisely. The first trait is the one that'll stick to them the entire book. Like a first impression. This trait will be in their first scene. Are they a womanizer? Lazy? Hot-headed? Family-oriented? You choose. And then choose another. Remember Shrek? Your characters are onions. Make them sweet, sharp, or purple (purple poppin' everywhere today!), but peel the layers one by one, and give your reader a taste. Just a taste.

Believe The Lie

The Lie is their belief. What do they strongly believe in? What are they convinced about that is their truth? 

Possible Lies: 

all women are manipulative See-You-Next-Tuesdays

You can only rely on yourself

money brings happiness

people are too stupid to live independently

killing murderers is not murder, it's justice

K.M. Weiland wrote an excellent post on Believing the Lie and it's where I got all the questions for it: The Lie Your Character Believes

Cue their "Aha" Moment

Characters will grow. They will change. Their belief system may be shattered. An "aha" is the moment of realization. Their Lie will be put in the spotlight and crushed before the character's eyes. Truth rises from The Lie's remains and the character sees everything, from their first scene up to the "Aha" moment. What has changed? Why? How? If your character has no "aha" moment, there is no growth, and the reader will be left empty, and your book flying over their fence.

Flesh Out the Face (and body...and hair)

I said the outside should reflect the inside. Now is the time to look at their personality through their goals and motivators, their traits, and beliefs, and consider their physical appearance. A lot of factors come into play here: their location, origin, discipline, vocation, positive or negative traits, finances, etc..

You're not going to have a soldier with long hair and a beard (unless they're special ops) but maybe they have a tattoo that indicates something more. Or a woman who is very uptight and doesn't have a single wrinkle in her wardrobe. Maybe you have a rebel teen who can't afford a professional haircut, so they cut and dye their own hair against their parent's wishes.

Physical descriptions are lesser priority than what will help move your story. There are a couple exceptions that I use, but they don't overrule the goals and motivations which push the characters through conflict.

Ultimately, it's up to you. I have given you my template in hopes of inspiring you to build your characters with depth.

For more information about Toma and their writing strategies, visit their blog (citation is at the top).