How to develop a fictional character for your book

The most exciting part about writing a story is building your character. And building your character doesn’t mean describing his/her physical appearance, it’s a much deeper process. It might seem daunting at first but today I’m going to break it into easier chunks which you can understand.

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How does your character look?

Yes-yes, I know. I told you that physical appearance is not the only thing you need to describe but you can’t avoid it. Describing the character based on his/her physical features could be confusing at times. But that shouldn’t stop you from creating your dream character. If you get stuck just picture any real-life example. Think of a friend of yours.

How do the eyes look? Are they striking green eyes or maybe stormy grey? Think about their hair. Is it blonde and bouncy or thin and inky black? And one thing to keep in mind is to try and compare your descriptions. If his/her hair is brown then what kind of brown? It could be brown as coffee or maybe something else.

You can also describe their facial features. Does your character have a narrow face? Does he/she have thick eyebrows that define their face?

How does your character think?

We, humans, are indeed very unique. I cannot think like you and you cannot think like me. The same applies to fictional characters. Emotions bring life to your characters. You can make your character more realistic by telling the reader how they think or feel in a particular situation. Your character might be more optimistic than others or might be too scared to try out new things. If you want to show the readers how the character thinks then here’s an example.

Lizzy sat under the afternoon sun and watched her friends surf. Her friends had tried their best to convince Lizzy to join them but she refused. She chided herself for being so scared.

Here, we are explaining how the character feels in the third person POV (point of view). It clearly tells the reader that Lizzy did not like surfing rather than directly telling them that. By this, we let the readers form a mental framework about the character and learn about their fears and weakness. This leads to my last and most important technique for building a fictional character.

Internal conflict

Every character has an internal conflict. Now, what’s an internal conflict? Good question. No one is perfect and sometimes characters too struggle with something or the other. Internal conflict might make the character weak but that’s what makes it all real. And that’s why you’re writing a story. Help them overcome their fear and problems in the story.

I hope you found these tips useful. If you have any queries about building your fictional character feel free to comment down below. #PragyaShashidharan #WritingTips #Fiction