How to pick out a character for your novel
The novel has several elements that make it complete. Reader may be fascinated by sudden twists and turns of the plot, he can examine an aesthetic fulfillment from author`s writing style. But an extra-attention must be paid on the creation and development of the characters.
Not only main characters must be perfect but also each of them. They must be deliberately forethought in order to attract readers attention and make him keep reading your story as long as it possible.
How people define fictional characters? According to their distinctive features. Every character has a purpose in the story. But all in all they have an aim in common: to be unique. So the author must put maximum efforts to its unlikeness. There could be dozens, hundreds of fictional characters, but if the author fill them with enough distinctive features, the reader will at least remember his function in a story and recognize him when he appears in later scenes.
Here are some suggestions of how to create memorable fictional characters.
1. Tags
Your ideas might be in a big chaos, but if you have started writing a story you must have had general ideas about what the hero of your fiction will be. For instance, Draco Malfoy is “male, blond-headed arrogant attention seeker” or Hermione is “ female, responsible excellent student, who can replace Edubirdy”. Note this features and develop them gradually.
2. Origin
Character treats depend on the place where are they from. What national peculiarities can affect the personality of the character? To what customs did he get used? What is special in the way he speaks, is there any accent? Everything comes from the place where character was born and used to live. At it is a field to put some puzzles in your story!
3. Age
Depending on age person have different experience. The level of it depends both on the age and situations in which he was engaged. Also think over hero`s birthday date. Character is a child so treat him like your own.
4 .Name
When young parents pick up a name for their baby they feel enormous responsibility because this name stays with a child till the end of their lives. Fictional writers have usually more babies than simple mortals, so the burden of name giving on their shoulders is harder. Therefore, name your character as your own child. Fictional characters live longer than ordinary people, imagine that in future people will mention your hero as often as they mention “Sherlock Holmes”, “Harry Potter”, “Robinson Crusoe”. To make up a name you can:
● Use names of people who surround you;
● Refer to characters from pop-culture (literature, movie industry, music);
● Borrow it from famous personalities (history, celebrities, etc);
● Blend name of street where you live with the name of your pet (the most radical way).
If your hero is not from a fantastic story make sure his names should fit the norms of when he was born. It is as hard to find Bardolph today as Zack in Medieval ages. However, if character name for your book do not correspond to patterns, you can turn it to his distinctive feature. It is funny to see Bardolf hanging out in the night club, isn`t it?
5. Personality
In the tags you have already defined basic treats, which must character from your novel have. But if you start to introduce him to the reader with the set of adjectives it might become boring. It is better to reflect the personality of the protagonist through the actions. What will your character do if he finds a homeless dog? Will he feed her or push her away? All the events in the novel must have an impact on the characters because life is a chain of reasons and consequences.
Well, now you have everything to start creating the unique character for your story. Give way to the inspiration, then you will reach surprising results!
