![]() ![]() Personal agency is the ability to exert power over one’s life. By defining who or what your character loves most in the world, you reveal to readers what they’re willing to fight for. There’s no motivator more powerful than love. By giving your character interests that extend beyond the goal they’re working to achieve, you lend additional depth and realism to readers’ understanding of your character’s life. What do they envision for themselves in an ideal world? What dreams do they wish could come true, and why do they feel their dream is unattainable (at least in the present moment)?Īll work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Consider what your character desires for their life. Hope and longing are powerful human emotions. ![]() Determining the ghost that haunts your character can inform many aspects of their characterization, from their goals and motivations to their personality, world-view, flaws, and false beliefs. By giving readers a glimpse of your character’s backstory, you can lend context to their characterization and the conflicts they experience throughout their journey.Ī “ghost” is an aspect of a character’s past - often a form of guilt, grief, or grievance -that haunts them throughout their journey. Well-developed characters have lives that extend beyond the confines of the page. What will push them to act despite obstacles and hardships? To encourage readers to invest in your character’s journey, determine why your character wants to achieve their goal. Defining your character’s goal can help you address your story’s plot with confidence and clarity.Ĭonflict means little without emotional context. ![]() If this holds true for your character, then determine what they need to realize or achieve to lead a happier life.Ī character’s goal determines the arc of their story, prompting the actions they’ll take and the conflicts they’ll encounter. Often, what a character wants isn’t actually what they need to resolve the issues they’re experiencing in their life. ![]() What do they want to have or achieve to lead a more satisfied life? Consider what your character believes will resolve this discontent. When your character first appears on the page, they’ll likely be dissatisfied with their life in some way (or become dissatisfied due to early events in their journey). How do they spend their days? What are their daily joys and trials? Establishing this reality is key to laying the foundation for your character’s first appearance on the page. Whether good or bad, past or present, determining your character’s most important relationships can help readers better understand your character’s world.Ĭonsider what your character’s life is like before their story begins. Relationships are a defining aspect of our lives. Defining the quirks that make your character unique can help further distinguish them in readers’ minds, as well as lend to their relatability and/or serve as a key character flaw. A character’s voice commonly manifests in their mindset, speech patterns, vocabulary, opinions, internal narrative, body language, and mannerisms.Įveryone has strange qualities and habits. Elements like your character’s upbringing, education, religious and political beliefs, relationships, and societal influences can all impact their unique world-view.Ī character’s voice is the unique way in which they engage with the world as determined by their world-view, personality, upbringing, and other key characterization elements. Doubts, fears, flaws, and regrets can all lead characters to formulate false beliefs about themselves and the world that impact nearly every aspect of their characterization.Ī character’s world-view can be defined as their breadth of knowledge and perspective concerning the world in which they live, which impacts how they think and interact. The human experience is rife with internal conflict. Never mind the conflict that a good flaw can create. By giving your character a moral shortcoming, negative character trait, quirk, fear, bias, and/or limitation, you develop a realistic character with whom readers can relate. By exploring how the characteristics that define your character impacts their voice and lived experiences, you allow your character’ s personality to breathe life onto the page. Your character’s personality is more than just a list of positive and negative traits. However, don’t forget to consider other insightful elements of your character’s appearance, such as their mannerisms, gait, physical tics, and body language. Helping readers visualize your character by establishing their height, build, and coloring is important. Consider using your character’s name to showcase the era in which they live, to hint at their ancestry, establish a naming system for your fictional world, or otherwise lend additional depth to your story. Though they may seem simple, names can hold great power. ![]()
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