A Quick Overview of Character Applications for the Aspiring Writer

Writing a good book requires a lot of character interaction. But if you want to create memorable characters and make them irresistible to your audience so that readers can't help but to become effortlessly invested in them, you need to make sure you remember to include these few character fundamentals when designing and executing your story:

Follow me on Twitter: @NicoleMDixon 
Website: www.nicolemdixonauthor.com
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Author of the Bandita Series (Sunstone Press)

1) Character Development – Detail your characters so the reader not only learns to care about them, but understands why they should. People want to read books in which they get to feel as though they are living the adventure alongside your characters, and being able to discern in their mind's eye what these heroes, heroines, or anti-heroes look like brings them along seamlessly. A great book causes emotions to swell within the reader, and a great way to influence those emotions is to create an attachment between the reader and your characters, and most definitely, your protagonist.

Character development is a necessary component when it comes to reader sentimentality.

2) Character Conflict – Your protagonist, and even ancillary characters, ought to have an inner struggle. It makes them interesting in the reader’s eyes, and gives readers a sense of their humanity. This actually touches on Character Flaws (number 5), FYI, where I mention that a good character may do something beneath them because they feel it's their only option, while a bad character may surprise you with good in their heart and prove a redeeming quality.

3) Character Goals – As a story progresses, the main characters, whether protagonist or antagonist, ought to have goals set that they must reach, whether it’s something they need to attain or defeat. It helps promote tension and conflict, and also adds to the plot of their story.

4) Character Arc – This is the evolution of your characters. Have they learned anything over the course of the story? How have they evolved, for better or for worse?

5) Character Flaws – Character flaws not only make the character more interesting, but they make the character much more relatable to the reader as a human being, even if the character only exists on paper. Character flaws should not only be given to the protagonist, but to the antagonist as well, i.e., good guys do bad things, bad guys do good things. Life is complicated that way, and it also lends more credibility to the characters, drawing the reader in and garnering sympathy or disdain. Will the “good” guy shock the reader by doing something the reader disapproves of and criticizes? Will the bad guy suddenly redeem themselves?

Never make your characters one-dimensional. If you do, your story may lack excitement and fail to inspire the reader.

**Hint: As an idea, if you're an aspiring writer, you can try a simple exercise in learning to recognize these character rules. Try reading children’s books to help you see these rules applied at their most basic level. The stories are short, making these points easier to spot. 

A Quick Overview of Character Applications for the Aspiring Writer

Writing a good book requires a lot of character interaction. But if you want to create memorable characters and make them irresistible to your audience so that readers can't help but to become effortlessly invested in them, you need to make sure you remember to include these few character fundamentals when designing and executing your story:

Follow me on Twitter: @NicoleMDixon 
Website: www.nicolemdixonauthor.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nikkimdixonauthor

Author of the Bandita Series (Sunstone Press)

1) Character Development – Detail your characters so the reader not only learns to care about them, but understands why they should. People want to read books in which they get to feel as though they are living the adventure alongside your characters, and being able to discern in their mind's eye what these heroes, heroines, or anti-heroes look like brings them along seamlessly. A great book causes emotions to swell within the reader, and a great way to influence those emotions is to create an attachment between the reader and your characters, and most definitely, your protagonist.

Character development is a necessary component when it comes to reader sentimentality.

2) Character Conflict – Your protagonist, and even ancillary characters, ought to have an inner struggle. It makes them interesting in the reader’s eyes, and gives readers a sense of their humanity. This actually touches on Character Flaws (number 5), FYI, where I mention that a good character may do something beneath them because they feel it's their only option, while a bad character may surprise you with good in their heart and prove a redeeming quality.

3) Character Goals – As a story progresses, the main characters, whether protagonist or antagonist, ought to have goals set that they must reach, whether it’s something they need to attain or defeat. It helps promote tension and conflict, and also adds to the plot of their story.

4) Character Arc – This is the evolution of your characters. Have they learned anything over the course of the story? How have they evolved, for better or for worse?

5) Character Flaws – Character flaws not only make the character more interesting, but they make the character much more relatable to the reader as a human being, even if the character only exists on paper. Character flaws should not only be given to the protagonist, but to the antagonist as well, i.e., good guys do bad things, bad guys do good things. Life is complicated that way, and it also lends more credibility to the characters, drawing the reader in and garnering sympathy or disdain. Will the “good” guy shock the reader by doing something the reader disapproves of and criticizes? Will the bad guy suddenly redeem themselves?

Never make your characters one-dimensional. If you do, your story may lack excitement and fail to inspire the reader.

**Hint: As an idea, if you're an aspiring writer, you can try a simple exercise in learning to recognize these character rules. Try reading children’s books to help you see these rules applied at their most basic level. The stories are short, making these points easier to spot. 

Developing Your Characters

This is a short one:

First of all, pacing is everything in a story, especially if you're like me and write epic length novels.

How does pacing play into developing your characters? Simple. Don't get too involved in their backstory. Give some pertinent information into their past, absolutely, but don't spend a whole hell of a lot of time going into this and that. A) Most readers don't care, and B) You'll lose your readers. Do you want to lose your readers? I didn't think so.

The development of your character doesn't necessarily lie within their backstory anyhow. Sure, their past plays a part in who they are, but you don't need to get into their past right off the bat. In some stories this is critical, of course, but it adheres mostly to sci-fi stories and the like. If you're writing regular literature, the development of your character can be fulfilled as you tell the story in present tense. In addition, over time, your characters will reveal themselves in due course, and your readers can learn all about them based on their behavior or thoughts/thought processes, or how they interact with other characters. Those last two sentences are two of the most important things you need to know in terms of developing your characters. And even then, don't spend too much time in describing what they're all about. And again, you can use their development to your advantage by allowing their personalities to unfold as you tell your story.

One of my favorite reasons for writing from the 1st person POV, or even reading from the 1st person POV is because you are in the character's head. Whatever their thoughts are, they become your thoughts. There's nowhere for them to hide. When a writer writes from the 2nd person POV you still get a nice glimpse of who you are dealing with as you read, but often you must make some speculations, and that's not to say it's a bad thing, AT ALL!!! It's quite fine! It's only my opinion as to why I appreciate the 1st person perspective.

Developing Your Characters

This is a short one:

First of all, pacing is everything in a story, especially if you're like me and write epic length novels.

How does pacing play into developing your characters? Simple. Don't get too involved in their backstory. Give some pertinent information into their past, absolutely, but don't spend a whole hell of a lot of time going into this and that. A) Most readers don't care, and B) You'll lose your readers. Do you want to lose your readers? I didn't think so.

The development of your character doesn't necessarily lie within their backstory anyhow. Sure, their past plays a part in who they are, but you don't need to get into their past right off the bat. In some stories this is critical, of course, but it adheres mostly to sci-fi stories and the like. If you're writing regular literature, the development of your character can be fulfilled as you tell the story in present tense. In addition, over time, your characters will reveal themselves in due course, and your readers can learn all about them based on their behavior or thoughts/thought processes, or how they interact with other characters. Those last two sentences are two of the most important things you need to know in terms of developing your characters. And even then, don't spend too much time in describing what they're all about. And again, you can use their development to your advantage by allowing their personalities to unfold as you tell your story.

One of my favorite reasons for writing from the 1st person POV, or even reading from the 1st person POV is because you are in the character's head. Whatever their thoughts are, they become your thoughts. There's nowhere for them to hide. When a writer writes from the 2nd person POV you still get a nice glimpse of who you are dealing with as you read, but often you must make some speculations, and that's not to say it's a bad thing, AT ALL!!! It's quite fine! It's only my opinion as to why I appreciate the 1st person perspective.