Creating Realistic Characters

Your characters are the foundation of your story. For this reason, it is essential that your characters are as three-dimensional and as real as you can make them. Unfortunately, too many authors are so focused on their plot and "telling a story" that they often force those characters to do things that are simply not realistic. As a result, the readers simply cannot connect with the characters and their experiences.

So, how do you make a realistic character? The answer is surprisingly simple.

Think.

Start first with knowing who your character is. This does not have to be in the story and no, you don't need to do a full biography on your character. But you do need to think about it. What is their career? Why did they choose it? What motivates them during the day? This is all of that Goal, Motivation and Conflict stuff. Again, you do not need to put this into the story.

There is an angle to this I want you to take. Start with someone who is not over the top. Your character might not believe in one night stands because that was how they were raised and you can leave it with that. Your character did not need a traumatic experience in the past to get them to this point. It could just be the way they are.

Now think about situations he or she would be in. Again, what would a normal person do in this situation? Although someone getting dumped by their boyfriend in a restaurant might be normal (a shame but it does happen), the odds are the heroine is not going to take the glass of red wine and throw it across the table to soak the jerk. She might wish she did, but the reality is that people would not do that. It is more likely she would stand up and walk out. She could then go home and scream, but the odds are, the breakdown would not happen in public.

Think of your characters as just moving through your plot. When you throw a roadblock or a situation in front of them, stop and determine what they would do in the situation. Not how you are going to get them to the next scene. One of my authors does this all of the time. She will often tell me things such as "I need to get the hero and heroine into bed and get on with the romantic side of things" but then will follow it up with, "But it can't happen yet because they would not likely be at this point of ripping each other's clothes off." And, it is this approach that often has reviewers talking about how realistic her characters are.

So, quit focusing on the plot and focus on what your characters would likely do in that situation. You will be pleasantly surprised.