Well, I find most of the time an un-believable character is the most believable. It varies from reader to reader, but for me, I think it's important for the main character to be as unique as possible. The stranger the character, the more real she/he becomes.
Most authors create character profiles before they start to write, I don't. I find it harder that way. I think that as the story progresses, the characters more or less create themselves. I normally start with a basic idea, like if the main character is evil or not, then work from there.
Sure, you can jot down there characteristics before you begin the story, but I think the characters are brought to life as you write. It wouldn't matter what I wrote in the character profile, because my character would probably end up being the complete opposite.
Characters need to be people. Real people. Real people have imperfections, they don't always do the right thing or think things through, they make mistakes, and they get hurt. Nobody likes a perfect character, or an absolutely good or absolutely evil character. I think believable characters need to have layers, but they also need to be balanced.
When I create a character, I think about how I would react, or how people I know would react in whatever situation they're in. A lot of it is just logic, and knowing how to observe other people.
They can be larger than life as in Charles Dickens or barely penned as with E.M. Forster, each author has his own special vision of a character. I create mine from observing real people and then sculpture each according to my will and desire. However, sometimes they refuse to submit and find my characters have a life of their own beyond my control.
I used to write RPGs so I had to learn to make characters believable quickly without taking players out of the storyline. Once I've got the initial idea, I work backwards: why would the character be in that situation? what has he done? What influenced him to be the person who made those decisions?
Sometimes it can be interesting to find out that one of the characters did something for a reason you'd never initially considered.
i think a believable character is a mixture of good and bad. i like a character with eccentricities, but only if they can be explained. i base many of my character's on various aspects of myself, although i also create from completely from scratch.
A character has to have flaws, a blind self to her own weaknesses and one where her own experiences will eventually help her to evolve into a well adjusted person. But I think some quirks have to remain, after all no one is perfect!
I'm creating a character right now. I am listing her strengths and weaknesses, her appearance, her likes and dislikes, her family & friends etc. All will play a part in her story
I think a character has to be relatable, have the ability to grab an audience and release them at the appropriate times. I start by thinking about the message or story I want to tell. Then I create a character around that story.
use personal experience- need to be able to apply empathy and translate it to character.
When I write fiction or even use people as examples in articles, I find that authenticity works, and not the fluffy view of the "perfect" person.
Cant answer that, I don't write fiction. Only real life stories.
That's the biggest difficulty: believability. So often, real living people have such impossible lives that we would never find them "realistic," ironically. Flaws are important. They bring characters down to normal people. Weaknesses help too. I find that basing characters on real people or my own self can help immensely.
Putting a logical person in unusual situations and letting your audience sense and believe in their thought processes after to me is what makes a character believable. We all love characters who, when faced with some situation, do something that makes us think, "Wow, that was so cool," or "Man, I'd have done the exact same thing." It's one of the things that made "Forrest Gump" so fulfilling for me, I could see why Forrest reacted to some of the events in his life the way he did.
The way I create my characters? I use real people or close derivatives thereof, fantasy characters get a bit too "fantastical" for me sometimes.
The character has to have a beginning, middle and an end. The character has to come from a special place within you in order for someone who is reading it, to relate or believe that there can be a person of such value.
I won’t write a character unless I can really invest the time in them. If at the end of it I can’t say, wow I can’t believe that happened to so and so, then there is no character worth writing about.
A character is only believable when the reader can put themselves into their position, feel and experience what they do. |
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