How to Create Fictional Characters

1. How to Create Fictional Characters The five parts of characterization

2. step #1: Appearance • What does your character look like? • Does she have black hair and blue eyes? • Is he short with wispy hair and a mole on his left cheek? • Is it twelve feet tall with blue spikes and purple spots? • Anything unusual you can add will make your character more memorable. • Think of your favorite characters or other popular characters. For example: PippiLongstocking’s bright red pigtails that stick straight out to the side, or Harry Potter’s lightning bolt scar.

3. step #2: Actions • How does your character act? • Is she a ghost haunting her hometown? Does he fight demons and monsters? • Maybe he is always shy and quiet unless someone is picking on his little sister. • Or perhaps she’s loud and bubbly and never sits still unless she’s sleeping – and even then she often talks in her sleep.

4. Step #3: Thoughts • What does your character think about? • Does she brood all day about not being allowed to fly to the moon? • Does he wish he was a superhero so he could save his city from evil? • Tom the Builder in Pillars of the Earth often thought about how to feed his family at the beginning of the novel. • In The Glass Castle Jeannette worries about her parents living on the street. • In Bernice Bobs Her Hair Bernice worries that she won’t fit in and that people will make fun of her because she is different.

5. step #4: Speech • How does your character speak? • Does he have a lisp? • Does she have a gravely, smoker’s voice? • What types of things does your character say? Maybe he speaks with a British accent and calls everyone “mate.” Or perhaps she says, “You know?” after ever sentence she says. • Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye, for example, has a very distinctive, casual way of speaking.

6. step #5: Interactions • How does your character interact with other characters? • Does he always steal the younger kids’ lunch money? • Are she and her twin sister finishing each other’s sentences one minute and stealing each other’s boyfriend the next minute? • You should consider your character’s best friend and your character’s worst enemy. For example, knowing the Harry Potter’s best friend is Ron Weasley – a normal, harmless wizard-to-be, and his worst enemy is Voldemort – the most evil and feared wizard of all, tells a lot about Harry Potter’s character.

7. Remember • The more unique the character’s qualities, the more memorable the character. • Notes used, with permission, from suite101.com