Writing craft
How to Write Memorable Characters
A guide to writing characters that readers will fall in love with
Characters are the people we read about in a story. They aren’t always human; they can be animals, aliens, or other supernatural beings.
Novels typically have a larger cast of characters compared to short-form stories like novellas and short stories.
Characters are arguably the most important part of the story. After all, they are the reason we are reading the book, right? Like people in real life, characters have goals, and their goals lead them to make certain choices. These choices affect the plot of the story.
In fact, for the most part, you’ll realize that your characters will dictate the trajectory of the story. Because of their actions and beliefs, you can’t force certain things to just happen simply because you want them to. Character is very important.
How you write them can make or unmake your story.
Your book can have as many characters as necessary, however, all of them will fall under any one of the following:
1. Protagonist
This is basically the hero of the story. It’s usually the main character — the one the story is about. Readers often, though not always, root for the protagonist. Examples are Frodo Baggins in Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter in Harry Potter, and Alice in Alice in Wonderland.
2. Antagonist
This is the character who makes choices that put the protagonist in a precarious situation. The antagonist is not necessarily the villain of the story. Sometimes, they’re not even bad people. However, they possess qualities and goals that are opposite to the protagonist.
In Lord of the Rings, one of Frodo’s antagonists was Gollum (Smeagol). He wanted to take the ring for himself, while Frodo was trying to destroy it. In Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy is a good example of an antagonist — the typical bully, always giving Harry a hard time.
3. Villain
All villains are antagonists but not all antagonists are villains. While an antagonist may not be a bad person, a villain is evil. Their goals directly contradict the goals of the protagonist. This makes them mortal enemies. For example, if the protagonist is trying to save the planet from destruction, the villain is the one trying to destroy the planet.
In both Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, while the antagonists are assholes to the protagonists, the villains are truly vile and monstrous. Sauron doesn’t just want to take back his ring, he wants to destroy Frodo and the entire Middle-earth. Sometimes, the things the villains want are actually good.
However, they’ll use whatever means necessary to get it even if it means killing everyone else. An example is Thanos in the Marvel franchise. His goal was to save the universe by killing half the population. I don’t know about you, but he’ll make a fine politician.
4. Supporting Characters
They aren’t the main focus of the story, however, they are important to the plot or the protagonist. They help the protagonist in achieving their goals. Think of them as the allies or supporters of the protagonist. In Lord of the Rings, Samwise Gamgee is a great example of a supporting character. He traveled with Frodo Baggins to the very end.
Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, are all supporting characters in Harry Potter. Supporting characters could be the protagonist’s best friend, love interest, mentor, or sidekick. Supporting characters are also called secondary or side characters.
5. Minor Characters
They are neither the protagonist nor a supporting character, and usually have a small role in the story. They may be mentioned once or twice, never to be seen again. For example, the bartender the protagonist talks to in the bar or the man across the street walking his dog. These characters add depth and a sense of realism to the story.
However, the characters themselves don’t need depth. Often, we don’t even know their names or what they look like unless such details are crucial to the story.
As you write your story, you’ll see that all these characters will show up. But do you write them all in the same way?
The short answer is no.
Obviously, they are all different, with different goals, aspirations, values, and beliefs. Your protagonist’s mindset is different from your villain’s. Even among the supporting characters, each of them has their own values. A good book does well to capture all the nuances and complexities in all the characters. This broadly classifies characters into two: round and flat characters.
Round and Flat Characters
This classification basically determines how well-developed your characters are, such that they feel like real living beings, rather than cardboard.
Flat characters don’t feel real because they lack a lot of depth. They are usually one-dimensional or at most, two-dimensional. When they appear in the story, we know them for one stereotypical thing. For example, when cracking jokes is all you know about a character. That’s it. They have nothing else, can’t do anything else, but crack jokes. You don’t even know their backstory that explains why they’re so jovial about life.
If you’re writing your protagonist, you don’t want them to be flat. Now I’m not saying your protagonist can’t be funny. But being funny shouldn’t be the only thing about them. They can also be kind, hot-tempered, loyal, laid-back, vindictive, and so much more.
That’s what flat characters lack. They only have one trait, and that’s it. Sometimes, all they have is a name, and you don’t know anything else about them. You don’t know their motivation, what makes them tick, their passion, bad habits, and so much more. They’re just… flat. Like the earth. Okay, I’m just kidding, don’t look at me like that.
Of course, there’s a time and place for flat characters, and that’s only when you’re writing minor characters. Since they appear in only a few pages, and may never show up again, there’s usually no need to develop such characters since the reader doesn’t have to feel attached to them.
But, if you want your readers to deeply root for your characters and become emotionally attached to them, then making them round is the way to go.
Have you ever wondered why readers tend to love villains so much even though they do some of the most despicable shit known to man? It’s because the villains are very well-written. They are not depicted as people who are evil simply because they want to be evil. On the contrary, more often than not, villains have a pretty good reason for their villainy.
They have depth, as every round character should.
Round characters are three-dimensional rather than one-dimensional. When I say the character is three-dimensional, I mean that you haven’t only developed their physical features. However, you have also developed their psychology and social interactions with other people and their society as a whole.
Round characters are not caricatures. They should feel like real people because they are. In your story, your protagonist, antagonist, and most of your supporting characters, should be round characters. Anything less and your story will crumble.
Strengths and Flaws
Characters also have flaws. Resist the temptation to make them perfect without any issues. It’s unrealistic and boring. That’s not to say that your characters can’t have strengths. In fact, they should. But their flaws should be just as significant as their strengths.
If your protagonist is gorgeous, rich, has perfect teeth and grades, and has the most romantic boyfriend, but their one fatal flaw is that they can’t whistle, what in the hell is that?
You laugh, but I’ve read books where the flaw of the perfect protagonist is even more trivial than the ability to whisper.
Give them flaws that affect their lives in the worst possible ways. It’s called a flaw for a reason. There are a ton to choose from. Anger issues, low self-esteem, indecisiveness, alcoholism, kleptomania, smoking, substance abuse, laziness, cowardly, not eloquent, uneducated, social awkwardness, like I said, a ton.
But please be careful of giving your protagonist flaws that make them irredeemable in the eyes of the reader. No one’s perfect, of course, but there are some things that a reader will never forgive a character for.
The reader will overlook murder if there’s a good reason for it. However, things like rape, child abuse, and animal abuse are usually the unholy trinity of “fuck no”. Make your protagonist do any of these under whatever circumstance and readers are going to hate them forever. Unless that’s your plan, don’t do it.
Character Development
Usually, my idea for a novel begins with a vision of a character. All writers are different, so this might not apply to everyone. But developing a character to make them real to the reader is a universal concept. So you may feel free to read about how I do it.
Before I write a story, I need to have a general idea of who the main characters are. Of course, as I go deeper into the story, new characters may come up and I may even discard existing ones.
As a plotter, I have a detailed outline of every important character in my story. Since I want them to be round and memorable characters, I make sure to develop them physically, psychologically, and socially.
Physical
This is the basic level of character development. It encompasses all the physical traits of the character. Most often, new writers tend to dwell more on the physical aspects to the detriment of the other two.
The physical characteristics give you a concrete idea of what the character looks like. To develop the physical traits of the character, answer the following questions:
1. What’s their name?
2. How old are they?
3. Are they male, female, or other?
4. Are they even human?
5. What’s their skin color?
6. What’s their eye color?
7. What’s the color of their hair?
8. How tall are they?
9. What’s their weight?
10. Do they have any scars, marks, or tattoos on their body?
11. Do they have any facial hair?
12. What kind of clothes do they wear or what’s their fashion sense?
13. Do they have any piercings?
14. Do they have any disabilities?
15. What’s their superpower or what kind of magical abilities do they have?
16. Do they have any physical talents? For example playing a musical instrument, singing, swordsmanship, cooking, and so much more.
The list is not exhaustive. Ask as many questions as you can. Of course, you don’t have to include everything in your story. But it helps to know your character through and through.
Psychological
Going beyond mere physical traits makes for good character development. To do that, dig deep into the psychological nature of the character. This includes all their thoughts, beliefs, values, and perception of the world. It also includes how their physical characteristics impact their worldview.
To put it in perspective, two sisters who grew up in the same home might be polar opposites in self-confidence because of their stark difference in appearance. The extremely beautiful sister might be more confident than the ugly sister because of how differently they are treated by their family and society at large.
Someone with a scar on their face may also feel insecure about their appearance, and this may affect their behavior. This may not always be the case, of course, but we can’t rule out the fact that our physical appearance affects the way we think about ourselves. It may even be the very opposite. Someone who grew up to be called ugly and undesirable will do their best to love themselves so that the opinions of others will not get to them.
Some questions to ask about psychological characteristics include:
1. What is the character’s goal?
2. What motivates them?
3. What’s the character’s level of intelligence?
4. Are they introverts or extroverts?
5. What are their pet peeves?
6. How does their physical appearance affect them mentally?
7. What’s so important to them that not even death will stop them from getting or doing it?
8. Do they have any mental illness? If so, how does it impact their life?
9. If they can’t use magic in a world where people can, how has it shaped them?
10. If they have the most powerful magic, how has that also shaped them?
11. How do they view themselves in the world?
12. Are they secure in who they are as a person, are they timid, or do they think they’re superior to everyone?
13. Are they easily manipulated? Are they manipulative?
14. Do they have strict morals? Are they more likely to wrestle with choosing between two immoral decisions or will they not think twice about it?
15. Is their concept of morality twisted?
Social
The social and psychological characteristics are quite similar. But the main difference is that while the psychological has more to do with how they perceive themselves in the world, the social is how they interact with the world and the people in it.
Here are some social questions to ask about your characters:
1. Where did they grow up? What’s their nationality or ethnicity?
2. What’s their family like? Do they have any? Are they close to their family or who do they consider family? Who raised them?
3. Who are their friends? Do they have any best friends?
4. Do they have a lover? What’s their view on relationships?
5. Do they have pets?
6. Are they religious or not?
7. What are their politics?
8. What do they do for a living?
9. What’s their social status?
10. Are they famous? How does their fame, or lack thereof, affect them psychologically?
If you’re not sure where to start with your character development, feel free to use these questions as a guide. As I said, of course, the list goes on and on. In fact, the kind of story you write will determine what questions to answer about your characters.
Readers don’t have to know everything, but you the writer need to know. That way, you create a character that feels real to the reader.
What will your character do?
Another way I develop my characters is by putting them in different situations to see how they’ll react.
I have three novels so far and, while all my protagonists have certain similar traits, they’re all very different from each other. If each of them meets a man who disrespects their race or gender, my three protagonists, Savirran, Narvari, and Wala, will all have a different reaction.
Savirran Tharuk is incredibly empathetic and doesn’t get offended easily. She’s also very charismatic and gets people to open up easily. So she will try and have a conversation with the asshole. Savirran is the kind of character whose empathy can easily win people over. If the racist misogynist is still set on his beliefs, she will just leave him alone and not care about his opinion. Things, however, will be different if he gets violent. She will fight back without thinking twice.
Narvari Shar is not Savirran. She’s very sarcastic and witty, so anyone who says stupid shit to her will very much regret it. She will say shitty things in return and doesn’t care if it’s even more offensive than your racism or misogyny.
Nawala Ragnarson (Wala) will either completely ignore the racist as if he doesn’t exist… or she will behead him with her bare hands without warning. Well, she’s a dragon and mage hybrid, so there’s that.
Just as people react differently in certain situations, characters are also the same way. Some may run and cry when faced with an impossible situation. Others will stand and fight.
How they react is all dependent on how you developed the character. It will be odd for a cowardly character to suddenly volunteer to go on a dragon-slaying quest. Unless the character has a logical explanation for that, no reader will believe it.
It will also not make sense for a strong and confident character to suddenly run away from danger unless there’s a good reason for that.
If your story portrays a character as calm, collected, and slow to anger, readers will be confused if the character loses their temper at every little thing.
The bottom line is that don’t let characters act simply because you want them to. Their physical, psychological, and social characteristics all come together to make them who they are. Let them be who they are, and let their actions direct the flow of the story.
This is how you make them memorable to the reader. Now go create those awesome characters.
If you want to read more about the demon hunter, Narvari Shar, download Awakening, Book 1 of the Vanquisher Series for FREE.
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