Flat characters are boring characters.
People are multi-faceted and our characters should be too. That’s what makes them believable.
Here are five easy ways you can make your characters more well-rounded and fully realized.
Number 1. Give them an interesting or unusual hobby, something we will be surprised to discover about them. Is your action hero also an avid botanist who really wants to stop and smell the flowers? Does your antagonist have a desire to sculpt and so collect pottery of all kinds?
Number 2. Give them a phobia. That moment, when Indian Jones sees the snakes and says, “Snakes! Why did it have to be snakes?” is memorable and we love that our incredible action hero has this phobia, but that he must also face it.
Number 3. Give them a family. We don’t have to know all the aspects of your character’s family dynamics, but knowing where they sit in the family (first born, middle child, only child, etc.) can provide a lot of extra fodder for how they behave in the world. And letting it slip that they have an older sister, whom they’ve always hated, can provide a hint of life outside the story.
Number 4. Give them an odd personal habit/tic/habit/quirk. Does your character bite their nails? Or hate to touch anything sticky? Do they insist on sleeping in a chair?
Number 5. Give them an odd dislike for something most people love. DO they hate pizza, ice cream, chocolate, or (Oh, the humanity!) cookies?
You don’t have to do a ten-page interview with your character. or know everything about them, including their favorite color, but identifying just a few key things you can use to make them more fully realized is critical.
BONUS: Use their phobias, dislikes and likes to push their buttons and/or help them on their journeys!
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