Everything You Need to Know about Creating Great Characters

Characters drive your story’s plot and help readers connect emotionally with the narrative. Well-developed characters make readers care about what happens to them, which keeps them invested in the story.

Essentially, characters and their level of development are one of the key parts that will make or break a book, and integrating human emotion is a critical step to getting your readers to connect with your story.

In my Pillars of Writing blog series, I mention that every successful novel is made up of several pillars: conflict, plot + story structure, pacing, tension, and character development. These elements work together to create an engaging, hard-to-put-down book. Each of the pillars relies on the other, just like a building.

The conflict serves as the driving force of the story and helps to create tension and suspense, while well-developed characters allow readers to become emotionally invested in their struggles and experiences. Having a clear conflict and well-developed characters is essential for a good story. 

Writing the Characters that Readers Want

In the current market, readers prefer plot-driven fiction—this means the book’s protagonist must overcome a major obstacle by the end of the book. Along the way, the character must overcome smaller obstacles to achieve their big goal. Every scene in your book should show character development or move the plot forward in some way.

EDITOR’S TIP: Having a balance of fast-paced action and slower, character-building moments can help create a more dynamic and engaging story. With clear conflict and well-developed characters, a book can be more engaging and interesting. Readers will be more invested in the story, making them want to read on.

CREATING CHARACTER PROFILES

I’ve created a tier system of how to create character profiles. This is an important aspect of creating characters for your book. The lowest level of character development is including their basic demographics: name, age, physical description, their background. These basics serve as the foundation for the character’s behavior and choices throughout the novel.

EDITOR’S TIP: Characters must be real on the page. To be well developed, each character must have a past, a need, a fear, a dream…and this must be shown through action, dialogue, or memories. This information should be incorporated at any opportunity you can. 

• LEVEL I: Name, age, physical description, background
• LEVEL II: A past, a need, a fear, a dream
• LEVEL III: Upbringing, relationships, worldview

The most successful authors come to me with these character profiles filled out. They are able to describe who their character is. Deeply knowing your character is an important goal authors should have to write their characters authentically. Knowing these things about your character will help you understand how your character will react to different situations in the book.

1. Create interesting characters.

Are you genuinely interested in the characters you’ve created? If you’re not invested in them, neither will your readers be. Make sure your characters have clear motivations driving them through the story. Readers should understand their goals and why these goals matter to them—whether it’s shared through action, dialogue, or internal thoughts.

EDITOR’S TIP: If you struggle to create well-rounded characters, draw from real life. Observe the people around you, interview them, or even reflect on your own emotions and experiences.

Above all, your characters must have a source of motivation to guide them through the book. What goal are they trying to achieve? Sharing backstory, internal thought, or conversations with other characters will help show (not tell!) your main characters’ motivations. Integrating human emotion is a critical step to getting your readers to connect with your story. These are the characters that your readers will remember.

2. Appearances + TRAITS

What do your characters look like, and why does it matter? Appearances can influence how characters are perceived by others in the story, and how they perceive themselves. For example, a character with small, squinty eyes might be unfairly judged as devious, which could frustrate him if he’s actually a kind-hearted person.

It’s important to include characters from diverse backgrounds. Sharing the goals, fears, and dreams of characters from different demographics allows readers to relate on a human level, which builds empathy and adds richness to your story.

What makes your character stand out? Are they introverted or extroverted? Funny, cynical, optimistic? A blend of unique traits makes your character memorable.

Characters can have:

• different ways of speaking (like using a catch phrase);
• different temperaments (one character might be optimistic, whereas others might be glass-half-empty types); 
• be overly emotional or distant and aloof

You can also use personality frameworks like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, but you don’t want to turn the character into a stereotype. Let their actions show depth beyond labels. People have positive and negative traits—and both of those should be shared on the page.

3. Characters need depth.

Characters and their level of development are some of the key parts that will make or break a book. In reading about your characters and their adventures, readers will naturally begin to develop relationships with them—and as we all know, that’s what makes for a good book, right?! 

The best books are the ones that do this well, so I cannot underscore enough the importance in making sure that you get all those major plot components right. Characters must be real on the page. To be well developed, each character must have a past, a need, a fear, a dream…and this must be shown through action, dialogue, or memories.

Keep this “depth” part in mind when designing your secondary characters and the book’s antagonist. An interesting antagonist blocks your protagonist from reaching their goal, and should be your protagonist’s equal. That’s what made the conflict between Harry Potter and Voldemort so compelling—they were so closely matched that it wasn’t clear who was going to win.

Every character should have a goal that propels the character through the story. Consider their motivations: Why does your character want what they want? This is something many authors miss. Motivations add depth and help explain a character’s actions, making them more relatable and realistic.

Your protagonist can have a fatal flaw that leads to his or her downfall. As the author, you can exploit your protagonist’s pitfall, use it against them, and force them to change (to create a character arc).

4. develop characters APPROPRIATELY. 

When doing your character development, be sure not to spend too much time going on and on and on about characters’ pasts. Incorporate more character development at any opportunity you can, in order to truly allow your readers a glimpse into your characters’ lives and what they’re dealing with. Your protagonist should have the most character development to make him or her much more likable and more relatable to your readers.

There are several ways to develop characters:

• Narrative: The structured telling of a story, encompassing the sequence of events, characters, and settings that guide the reader through the plot. Incorporate more character development at any opportunity you can, in order to truly allow your readers a glimpse into your characters’ lives and what they’re dealing with. Your protagonist should have the most character development to make him or her much more likable and more relatable to your readers.
• Backstory or flashbacks: Where the narrative shares a character’s past experiences and history that shape their motivations and actions within the current narrative. A flashback scene interrupts the chronological flow of the story to reveal events or experiences from a character’s past. Try to keep backstory or flashbacks to a maximum of 4 pages.
• Dialogue: In conversation with other characters, your story’s protagonist can share details about their life—whether it’s something about their history, their beliefs or worldview, their family, their goals, or something else.
• Internal thoughts reveal a character’s thoughts, emotions, and conflicts that may not be apparent in their actions or dialogue. This is a helpful tool—one of my personal favorites for showing character development. However, too much internal monologue can slow the pacing, so it’s important to balance it with dialogue and action to keep the story engaging.

5. Secondary characters should feel real, too.

Your secondary characters are more than just sidekicks—they play an important role in propelling your protagonist forward. Even the “bad guys” need a touch of humanity. No one is wholly good or evil, and giving your antagonist a complex personality will make the conflict more interesting.

Each secondary character should have unique details, from the way they speak to their temperament and quirks. Draw inspiration from the real world—think about the people you know and what makes them distinct. Adding these layers to your characters makes them more memorable and relatable.

Secondary characters are just as important to the story as your protagonist, as these characters will help propel your protagonist through the story. Secondary characters may behave poorly, causing your protagonist to get upset (or other emotion) and react in a way that changes the plot. Like your story’s main characters and protagonist, your secondary characters should have unique details that tell readers more about their personality and psychology.

6. USE DIALOGUE!

Every character should have a distinct voice that reflects their background, personality, and emotional state. Their internal dialogue should match their external actions.

Dialogue should feel natural, reflecting how people actually speak. (In other words, use contractions in dialogue!) Bonus points if your dialogue also reveals something about the character—whether through word choice, tone, or subtext.

Characters can have different ways of speaking (like using a catch phrase), have different temperaments (one character might be optimistic, whereas others might be glass-half-empty types); they can be overly emotional or distant and aloof. Think of all the different people you know in your life, the different personality traits and quirks that make them individual, and give some of those to your characters.

7. CHARACTER ARCS + CHARACTER TYPES

Character arcs are fun! Positive character arcs, the most common for protagonists, are where the character grows or improves in some way. In negative character arcs, the character deteriorates or succumbs to their flaws. This typically holds true for the story’s antagonist. Finally, flat character arcs are where the character remains constant, but their role is to impact the world around them.

Characer arcs often follow the story’s structure: exposition, rising action, climax, and resolution. Many plot-driven books start with “a regular day in the life” at the book’s beginning. The best books show the protagonist at the beginning of the book—who they are as a person before the story happens to them. Who the character is at the beginning of the book is not the same person they are at the end.

Static characters don’t change throughout the story. They’re effective in supporting roles or as symbols, but their lack of growth makes them less suited for protagonist roles.

Dynamic characters undergo significant changes—internally or externally—throughout the story. They evolve as a result of the events they experience. Dynamic characters are often protagonists. It’s much more engaging to read about dynamic characters than static characters.

key takeaways

How to craft compelling characters:

• Create deep profiles
• Define character goals/motivations
• Develop personalities and characer arcs
• Use dialogue and internal monologue

Checklist for writing:

• Create a detailed character profile before you start writing
• Give each character distinct goals and motivations
• Ensure that even minor characters have memorable traits

Evaluating the author’s voice is one aspect of my manuscript critique service. These are the questions I ask myself as I’m reading my clients’ work:

• Is the protagonist clearly presented and the major character in the plot?
• Is the protagonist sympathetic from the start?
• Are the characters rich and developed or flat and stereotypic?
• Do the characters behave and speak consistent with their backgrounds and upbringing?
• Does each character have depth—a past, a need, a fear, a dream—and are these brought out clearly in the story?
• Do the secondary characters enhance and enrich the protagonist’s story?
• Is there too much or not enough description of the characters? Is the description shown from the eyes of other characters and not just “told” by the author to the reader?
• Are there too many characters or too much time spent on secondary characters that detracts from the main plot of the story and the focus on the protagonist?
• Does the protagonist have a clear character arc that shows growth/change/decision/resolution to the end of the book?