literature

Create a Fictional Character

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How To:
Create a Fictional Character

Creating fictional characters are probably the most difficult part of writing.  How does one create a believable, well-developed character? A person cannot just pull something out of their butt and call it a character. A character needs to be thought out, needs to be planned. Characters are the people who tell the story that the author is writing. It needs to be made out to be as real as the author can make it. That leaves the question, how does a person create a fictional character?

First thing that needs to be done is to give the faceless, undeveloped character a gender and a name. A person should not name the character after themselves, unless the author is writing an autobiography. This essay is talking about a fictional character. Give the character a name all its own, and do not name it after its personality. If the character is charitable, do not name it Charity.

The next step is as vital as the gender and name. The character needs an appearance. A common mistake people make is that they base a character’s appearance on the appearance of a friend or celebrity. A character needs an appearance all its own, just like a real person does. A character is a real person on paper. Copying another person’s appearance into a story when the author is not writing an autobiography is like cloning that person. Try not to make the character too attractive. No one is perfect, not even fictional characters, at least not the believable ones.

After the essentials for the character’s physical being have been decided, the next thing that is needed is a personality. Is the character selfless? Is the character conceited? Is the character valiant, or cowardly? Is the character cunning and intelligent? Give the character a personality that makes sense. Do not have the character be sweet hearted, but also violent. Be sure to give the character personality flaws, once again, no one is perfect. The character could be selfish, or maybe it cannot sympathize with others. The personality is the most vital part of the character, be sure to put as much thought as possible into this stage in the character’s creation.

Keep the character’s personality constant. Do not have the character timid in the beginning and then change them to bold in the middle just because if fits with the story that is being told. If the event in the story doesn’t fit the character’s personality, get rid of the event or have a different character involved in it. The characters tell the story, the story does not tell the characters.

Right after the personality is established, the interests and hobbies must follow. Without interests or hobbies, the character is completely lifeless. There is not a person on Earth without interests or hobbies. Without these two parts, the character will do nothing. The character must have at least one thing that it enjoys. Something for it to do. Maybe the character likes to read or draw, maybe it likes to run, or its obsessed with Mickey Mouse or Katherine Hepburn. Perhaps the character collects special edition Disney DVDs? Anything can be used for a character’s interests and hobbies, so long as it fits with their personalities. Everything about a character has to fit. It can’t just be a bunch of random things that do not make sense when put together.

An important decision needs to be made at this point. What side is the character on? Is this character a protagonist, the hero? Or is this character an antagonist, the bad guy? This decision should be considered while creating the personality, but only finalized at this point. Be sure to give the bad guy a redeeming quality, as no one is completely evil. Hitler saved a dog during World War I. Be sure to do the opposite for the hero, no one is completely good either. The decisions made at this step will affect the whole character.

This has been stated before, but it will be stated again. Flaws. Give the character flaws. Characters without flaws are unbelievable, and completely unlikeable. No one likes someone who is perfect. This is a small step in the creation process, if the previous warnings about flaws were taken seriously. Give the character flaws, a few small ones, and one really big one. This is essential.

The final step is very important. It is the time for the character to be given a background. The background can be used as an excuse for why the character’s personality is the way it is, or why the character is a protagonist or an antagonist. The background needs to be thoroughly thought out and written down somewhere for reference. The last thing the author needs is to contradict himself on a character’s background. The background should include past experiences, family history, and personal statistics such as age or birthday.

A warning should be given at this point. Do not, under any circumstance, base the character on a real life person unless writing an autobiography. A fictional story should have fictional characters. No exceptions, at all.

Now, by this point there should be a well developed, believable character. This character has all of the qualities needed to be a real person, and that means it is a real character. These are easy-to-follow steps, and should always be followed. If these steps are followed, a person can never go wrong while creating a fictional character.
This is an essay I wrote in Writing Class at school. It's a How To Create a Fictional Character. I had to write it formally, so it's kind of weird.
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WonderGirlMarie's avatar
Wow... reading over this, it's a little sad. I got the order of a few things mixed up and left so much out... it's still relevant, I guess. I might rewrite it at some point.