Building Character: Becoming 3-Dimensional

Image by Brad Weaver. Unsplash

Have you ever had your beta readers (or editor) tell you to build up your characters more because they're a little too flat? Have you ever read a book and found yourself thinking: "that character was pretty one-dimensional"? How can we avoid having flat characters and instead make them memorable, vibrant, exciting people with problems and adventures our readers fall in love with?

Make a Character Sheet

Know your main characters before you start writing them. Write out a profile for each of your important characters with everything you think will get you into their heads. There are tons of character sheets you can find on Pinterest as samples to get you started, but the main idea is to just get to know them. What do they look like? What are their likes and dislikes? How do they react in different situations? Favorite things (foods, movies, etc.)? Maybe "interview" them! (This can also be a fun extra when you get to promoting your book). Not all the things you learn about your characters have to go in your book, but if it helps you feel like you know them better, go for it.

Motivation

Now that you know your characters, you know what they want in any situation you put them in–and how they'll act to achieve that goal. Will they be straight forward or come at it from an angle? Do they love to argue or hate confrontation? What's their stated motivation versus their "real" motivation? Is there one? More than one? This is every character's center that you should consider for ever scene, so make sure you know it (even if your character doesn't)

Quirks

Here's where you can have some real fun! What makes each character an individual? How do they stand out? What makes them unique?

Have you seen Netflix's The Residence? If not, I highly recommend it. It's fantastic. But here I'm thinking about the main character, Detective Cordelia Cupp. What makes her unique as a character isn't that she's one of the greatest detectives in the world. It's that she's an avid birder (ok this is only one of the things. But it's my example here). She takes breaks from investigating to look for birds. She gets inspiration for new ways to look at her cases from bird behavior. She sees people, potential clues, and most everything else, through birds. It drives the dude she's forced to work with nuts, until the end when he gets it.

Think about some of your favorite, or at least most memorable, characters in books or movies. What thing did they have? A hobby, obbsession, nervous tick? Were they a reader when no one around them liked reading so it seemed weird? What about in real life? Do you know someone people always say "Well that's just X, they're always like that"? These are things that can help create a memorable character.

Analyze Them

I've had some very fun conversations with my friend Karen Odden during developmental edit talks about her character Michael Corravan(Down a Dark River, Under a Veiled Moon). What would he do in certain circumstances? Why? His emotional growth (or lack of) and how much his girlfriend was willing to put up with. Basically, we put him on the coach and analyzed him if he was giving Karen a hard time in a scene. Characters can do that sometimes and that can be good news.

Sometimes characters take on a life of their own and ignore our carefully structured outlines and plots to do their own thing. It could be they've evolved beyond the story you thought they were telling. Now's the time to get a friend, a writing/critique partner, or a writing coach if you have one and try doing a session with the character giving you trouble. I call it 'coaching' your character now because that sounds friendlier (also, I am in no way a professional therapist). To an extent we all do this with favorite characters already, talking about if they would "really" do somthing or not. Think of this as another version of those talks–the character you're talking about is just one you've written yourself!

Secondary Characters

Don't forget your secondary characters! Having brilliant main characters and then letting your secondary characters be flat (or cliché) is a trap you don't want to fall into. After all, if you're debating writing a potential series, those secondary characters could be Book 2's main characters! Even if yours is a one-off book, the more depth more characters have, the better. Use the same character sheets for your secondary characters that worked for your main characters. Think about what journeys these characters are on: how does it compliment your main character's arc? Or does it go in a completely different direction? Are they learning different lessons? Go back to your favorite books and movies and look for the secondary characters: do they have moments where they shine? Are they fully developed characters, and if yes, do you see how the writers did that?

Characters are what we remember most after we've closed the page, and who we look forward to revisiting when we re-read a book. Making them as 3-dimensional as possible shows off your strengths as a writer. What works best for you to create fully formed, amazing book people?

Are you looking for a writing, marketing coach or a developmental editor? Contact me and let’s talk about your project!