So You Want To Be An Author? Author Talks: Character Development

In my personal opinion, a book can have a fantastic plot and be incredibly well written but still fall short if its characters lack depth. From an entertainment perspective, I desire tension and want characters that I can relate to in some way, even it’s something small and insignificant. I can’t relate much to an FBI agent chasing down terrorists, but maybe he likes toast and jam for breakfast, and by golly, I like jam on my toast too! Those little details may have zero impact on the overall plot, but they are the pieces that help your audience connect with your story. I’ve read fantastic manuscripts that fall short because the characters are lackluster and without depth.

So, how do you fix that? How do you develop characters that can stand on their own as unique individuals?

For starters, avoid tropes at all costs! We get it, your lovely leading lady has luxuriously long, thick hair and a heaving bosom… but, like, what else? A woman’s entire identity should not be based on her hair and bosom—ladies, you know what I’m talking about. The same can be said of male characters. I like a statue-esque, rippling muscled, chiseled jaw as much as the next person, but if your main character is all marble muscle and as dense in the head as a statue, I’m left wanting more.

Your characters MUST become real to you. They MUST become like friends. Before I ever start writing a book, I think about my characters. What do they like to eat? Do? Watch? What is their relationship with their parents? Is this a Disney movie, where one or both parents are deceased? Okay, that was maybe in poor taste, but you know what I mean—how does the death of a family member affect them? Is your character angry that she grew up without a mother? Does she rebel against femininity because her father and six older brothers raised her? Are her shoes always dirty?

These little things may not actually make it into your book, but when that character is real to you, your readers will pick up on it.

I’ve had characters that I’ve written who I start to dislike as their story progresses. It’s tempting to go back through and change them to make them a more palatable, “perfect” character, but the parts that I don’t like are often the parts that I most relate to. I am flawed—we all are—so having a flawed character makes sense.

I have one book that I’ve been working on for years—okay, ‘working on’ is being too kind. I have one book that I have been sitting on for years. Why? Because the natural development of my main character is something I don’t like, but it’s who she is. Now I need to figure out how to adapt my idea of the perfect story around this character, who is currently stuck in a place I don’t know how to get her out of. Will it happen? Absolutely! But I have to work to understand her, not try to change her. And it’s hard.

I’ll leave you with this: outside of the hero of your story, who is your character? Think of their life: their hobbies, passions, hurts. All of these things work together to create a realistic and relatable character. You don’t have to use every little character detail in your book—just understand who this person is, and your audience won’t be able to help but connect with them as well.

Yours,

J.Hieb