Character Building

Writing is hard, and some of the most challenging things in creating within a universe is its characters. If your characters aren't entirely fleshed out, there can be plot holes, and your reader can become confused quickly. That is why getting to know your character before you dive in is essential to the plot. Not only do you have to know your characters, but you also need to understand where they lay in the plot. Just creating a person isn't going to give you a plot, but it is an excellent way to start. When I was writing the most recent rewrite of Saving Tara, I had to put aside the story for a bit halfway through due to writer's block. It wasn't until I searched my characters and who they were outside of the story that I was able to get passed this. After doing so, the story felt like it simply fell into place. I was able to round out these people and give them outside pushing forces that made what I was writing more interesting. There is more to a character than just birthday and height and what they like. After I dove in I fell in love with some characters that I never thought I would love. Reine was one of them. After I gave her more substance she became more interesting and relatable. When I was first writing Saving Tara all I knew about her was her name, what she was heir to, some of her personality, and of course her birthday. You have to treat these 'characters' like real people.

Here are 5 tips to get to know some of your creations. I will be using Reine as an example of this.

1. Develop an interesting backstory, don't be afraid to be cliche.

One of the 'stigmas' in the writing community is the fear of not being unique. There are thousands of books and stories out there, its almost impossible to create a completely original character. Don't be afraid when you're developing a backstory to get a bit cliche. Reine is a twin separated at birth who got stuck in foster care. That was the base of her backstory before Saving Tara, and I can guarantee that trope has been looked over hundreds of times in media. It is the small details that let your characters stand out. These details don't even have to be in the backstory, either. Up until Reine entered Tara, she was brash, intense, and fought for herself. She gained these qualities because the only stability she knew was her own mind.

In foster care, Reine let someone close to her down. With this, she developed the personality she has at the beginning of the book. Throughout Saving Tara she is broken down and stripped of what she once knew and has to completely recreate herself. THAT'S what makes a story, and character, interesting. Get cliche with the backstory, make an orphaned superhero. People are inherently attracted to things they already know from stories they've already read. Somewhere to start with, this is to create a struggle your character often has within their past life. This could be heartbreak, disappointment, or family problems. This thing will affect how they act in your story and give them a reason to react to specific plot points.

2. Give them meaningless traits, you don't even have to talk about them in the story.

When writing, you don't have to let your reader know every single thing about a character. If you create meaningless traits, like their favorite color or what their favorite animal as a child was, this could give you ideas to bring into light later on in your story. Even if you don't, you will be able to understand your character more and, in turn, write them so that the reader can figure these things out. A fun thing I did with all my characters in Saving Tara is figure out their choice of Starbucks drinks. Starbucks isn't even a thing in Tara, but it was fun to create this list that gave me a better idea of my character's personality. With Reine, her drink of choice is a Cocoa Cloud Machiatto. She enjoys this because of the taste of bitter coffee under a soft sweet fluff. When choosing this drink, I didn't think much of it, but in a way, it shows how she is as a person. She has other thoughts and tastes under her exterior. This will also give you a look into what their tastes are. Unlike Reine, Emmet would get a Vanilla Frappuccino, which doesn't have any coffee in it at all. He hates the taste of coffee, which allowed me to give him a more vulnerable personality. He doesn't like stepping out of his comfort zone. These meaningless traits give you that little bit of dimension that can make your story more understandable and easier to read. It's like that last 10% that can push your plot from 90% great to 100% amazing.

3. Break them, your characters have someone fantastic inside of them, and you have to find it.

I'm sure you all know the saying - 'A character is like a geode, you have to break them open to find the beauty inside.' This is entirely true. The only difference is a character can be broken several times before their inner self is revealed. Don't be afraid to drag them through hell and back. The real world around us doesn't give us breaks or resting days most of the time, show that within your story. Sometimes in people's lives, they only know struggle, its okay to have your characters experience that. You must give them hope though, there must be something, or someone, that they endure this all for. That thing could even just be themselves. With Reine, her life has only been let downs and instability. Even when she comes to Tara her life sucks. But, she never gives up. She never allows any of this to destroy her. In her backstory, she breaks, which creates her unlikeable personality at first. Then within Saving Tara, I break her once again that reveals who she is to all of us. Still, don't be afraid to get cliche! Just don't make a character unable to break down. This act of breaking shows how human they are, even if they aren't human in the first place. This, in turn, lets your readers connect with them and feel their pain and struggle.

4. Understand their relationship struggles with other characters.

You can't make a character that gets along with everyone. When you create these dimensional characters, they will most definitely butt heads with other characters. You could even create someone who is specially made to create stress with another character. These struggles bring out different characteristics within them, also! Something that I did was write a short passage between two characters who don't get a lot of interaction and see how they talk to each other. They might never interact in the story but I was then able to see how this character would react with someone similar. I wrote a small interaction between Reine and Emmet's earth mother. They never met, more or less knew about each other, but this gave me an idea of how Reine would react within meeting Scarlet, who is a sort of mother figure. These struggles between characters could be behind closed doors or outside of the story, but it helps you figure out your people better. All of these tips are within understanding them. You could even create a struggle that has no impact on the story at all!

5. Fall in love with them, ask questions you might only ask a significant other.

This is the most important tip. Falling in love with a character can take time and tweaking. Not only will this help you understand your character but also give you the motivation to write more of them. When I was finding out who Reine was, I disliked her a WHOLE LOT, and in a way, I still dislike her personality. She's just a bit too aggressive and angry, and I would never enjoy hanging out with her in person. Even so, her dynamic nature made me sympathize with her, which in turn let me fall in love with her. When I say fall in love I do not mean romantically. I love writing Reine because she is unlikeable! If you put time and effort into a character you will fall in love with them if their place in the story is right. If you do all of this and it just still doesn't feel right, maybe change things up. Give your character something else or change them a bit. They're YOUR character, you can do whatever you want with them before you throw them into the plot. Sometimes if you develop someone, they'll almost create themselves. They'll come alive before your eyes, and you can see how they deal with plot lines instead of deciding how they'll react. Once they're created, maybe start thinking about them as if they are a real person. Let them make decisions about what happens. This gives your character a more authentic feel and, in turn, doesn't make the plotline feel forced.

When you're creating a character, you are creating a life. Keeping them 2 dimensional can be detrimental to the story. Your story could feel like you're forcing it down your character's throat or could even just become uninteresting. When you're writing a story, you're not only showing the world a scenario in your head, you're creating a piece of art someone can read. A lot of character building won't even make it into your story, but figuring these things out makes the story so much better. It makes your readers WANT to know these things. They'll be curious and want more. Keeping things from the reader is okay. I hope these tips will help you not only dive deeper into your character but give you a bit more motivation to continue writing. Everyone's story is worth reading, and your story will be wonderful.