Writing Tip Wednesday #3: Know Your Characters

If you want people to read your stories, having excellent characters is a must. It doesn't matter if they are as simple as Luke Skywalker from "Star Wars" or as complex as Frodo from "Lord of the Rings." Your reader needs to care about them, or your story is going to the trash can. There are several ways to create engaging characters and all of them involve developing them to the point where you can put them in any situation and know exactly what they will do. The easiest way is to do this is to create a character profile. Basically, you create a list of their physical and personality traits, starting from the basics such as their hair and eye color to advanced traits such as their deepest, darkest fears and desires (and trust me, the deeper and darker they are, the better, as long as they aren't simply there for shock value). I personally don't use this method because when I actually write my stories, the characters gain "free will", so to speak, and chuck most of my diligent research out the window. The hardest way to create engaging characters is to write the story out from start to finish and go back and study the character's traits. Then you pick the ones you like and use those as a foundation to build the character. I use this method sometimes, but while it works for short stories, it is not practical when it comes to novel-length tales. That's why I personally prefer to write several short scenes about the character first. Then I reread them, choose the most consistent traits displayed, and create a character profile. That way, I allow my characters to come to life without having to rein them in after they've run amok across a 250-page manuscript. Regardless of the method that you use, the key thing is that you get to know your character as well as possible. Through getting to know them, you will come to care about them, and will be excited to see what happens to them. If you, the author, are excited to see what happens to your characters, just imagine how excited your readers will be...