The Art of Characterization

    Characters are the subject of your story, thus they must be well thought out and fully developed. A good character will change along with your story. A great character will grow with your reader. 

    Now what do I mean by that?

    Obviously, your character is going to be reacting to the events of  your story, and how those events change them is critical. The choices they make drives the plot, but those choices also have to make sense to who they are. A good character will not make the same choices in the beginning of the book and at the end of the book because they will hopefully have learned something along the way. 

    The moment when your character makes your reader feel something is the moment when you've mastered your character. What this means is that your character has become relatable, which makes them feel all the more real. 

    Think of some of your favorite fictional characters. Maybe its Tony Stark. Maybe it's Draco Malfoy. Or maybe it's Katniss Everdeen. But what do they all have in common? They all have faults; None of them are perfect. A perfect character who always makes the right choices is boring. You can make them as traumatized as you want, but if they never make mistakes, they won't be very likeable. Nobody can relate to little miss perfect because we're all imperfect. 

    In order to make your character as real as possible, you have to know them as well as you know yourself. There's an exercise I like to do when creating my characters that helps me flesh them out: put them in scenarios not pertaining to your book and write about how they react to them. What would they do if they were given the wrong plate of food at a restaurant? How would they spend a rainy day? It's these small thoughts that help you, the writer, get to know your character, which will make it much easier to write about them.

    When you're writing, you also have to consider your character's voice. Not every person talks the same, thinks the same, or acts the same, so your characters shouldn't either. Their individuality is another layer that helps your readers grow attachments to certain characters and come to hate others. Every little aspect that makes a character unique should be explored, if only briefly, at some point in your story. 

    The strongest character I've ever written is one that I completely despise. She always makes the wrong decisions, but she reasons through them in a way that makes a bit of sense. The end result makes me hate her, but that's because she's so relatable. She has a level of irrationality that we're all afraid to admit within ourselves. She is a good character because the readers feel very passionately about her. 

    My last bit of advice is to let the characters tell the story. Let them be funny, let them be mean, let them be hypocritical, let them have their own emotions. Their personality should shine, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes, they'll grow on their own and take you to a place you never expected. By the end of the story, a great character could be considered a fictional friend.

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