Creative Writing 101: Where to Begin With Creating Characters for Your Novel or Short Story

Once you have a solid idea of what your plot will be, your next job will be to begin the process of creating the characters necessary to carry it out.  For beginners in novel or short story writing, this can be a daunting task. 

First of all, you want to fit the right character with the right part.  Just as in casting a play, you want each part to be played by a character perfectly suited for it.

Secondly, you don’t want your characters to be stick figures or one-dimensional cut-outs.  You want your characters to be made of flesh and bone. You want them real.

So how do you create characters with depth and who play their parts effectively? 

You can begin developing your characters after you decide what characters you will need to carry out your plot.  Once you determine the available parts, you can begin what I like to call the tryouts.  This is where you decide what kind of character you want for each part, which takes a great deal of visualization.  Here is where you consider things like physical appearance and personality. 

Once you have thought through the basics, you will begin the process of bringing your characters to life.   Bringing your characters to life is giving them something to care about.  Everyone cares about something, whether they admit it or not, or even know it or not. Therefore, every character in your story should care.  What they care about will largely determine the part they play in your story.

Think back to the last novel you read.  Think through each character, and you will find that each one cared about something or wanted something. 

 Ability to care about something or desire something is the spark that will give your character life.  And, lively characters build lively novels and short stories.  So, caring is where you must begin.