Creating Characters When You Write Fiction

 

Albert Einstein tells us that imagination will take you everywhere. Walt Disney would be a good example of someone who lived that quote. Look where imagination took him!

Imagination is what you can use when doing a character profile of someone in your novel. It's a good idea to do it for all the main characters. You have the opportunity to create a character, whether it be a prim and proper woman or a wildcat hellbent on setting the record for nastiness. You can mold your character to be whatever you want him/her to be.

Once you have your story idea in your mind, start making a profile of the main characters. Start with physical description, then go on to their family and friends. What education did they have? Jobs? what kind of foods do they like? How do they dress? What kind of voice do they have? Their biggest flaw. Their biggest dream. Habits. Are they religious? Do they have a decided political affiliation? Quiet or outgoing? Biggest regret.  Any annoying habits? 

You can go on and on. You probably will not use all the information you have written about your character. That's alright because you have everything there is to know about him/her after creating your profile. When you can see your character clearly, it will be much easier to write the story.

Some writers base a character on a real person they once knew. Like the kid in 3rd grade who was always in trouble. Or the girl who dreamed of being a ballerina, but never worked hard enough. We often take character traits of two or three people who have appeared in our backgrounds and give them to our story character.

Should you do a profile for every character in the book? No, but it would benefit you to do one for your main characters. When you, the writer, knows each one very well, it will be much easier for you to write about them and the interaction of the various characters. 

There are writers who want to develop the characters as they write. If that works for you, fine. For most of us, making a profile of our main characters can be a real help in bringing them to life in your story. Use a search engine to find more in-depth articles on this topic.