How to Write Believable Characters

The most important part of any story is the characters. Indeed, the characters ARE the story. If you don’t have believable characters, you don’t have a story – no matter how good the rest of the writing may be. When creating fun and realistic characters, the thing you want most is for your characters to stand out in the reader’s mind.

Avoid at all costs characters that are boring or predictable. Stereotypes, in other words. Characters should be compelling. They should surprise the reader. Be unique, and set themselves apart from the pack. They should be living, breathing human beings.

Ernest Hemingway famously used the analogy of an iceberg. Only ten percent of what an author knows about his or her characters should be found in the story. But if the author doesn’t know the other ninety-nine percent, the character won’t be believable, he said.

The terms, “flat” or “round” are used to differentiate between stereotypical characters who are predictable, and complex characters who surprise the reader. But a round character not only must surprise us, he or she must CONVINCE us as well.

Picture it this way:
Consistent and predictable = bad. (Flat)
Complex and able-to-surprise = good. (Round)

REVEALING CHARACTER

There are three primary ways of defining character:
1) Scenes
2) Narration
and,
3) a combination of the two.

SCENES – also known as “showing”. Scenes comprise dialogue, action, or settings depicting thoughts, speech, or feelings, of characters. Narrative, on the other hand, (also known as “telling”) is the author describing the character for the reader. Usually, authors use a combination of the two, and rarely is one or the other used exclusively.

Lets look at several ways to depict and reveal character:

1) APPEARANCE – Narrative description depicting the way the character looks is perhaps the most basic way to introduce a character.
“At fourteen, Delbert was gangly and awkward. His most striking feature was his sapphire-blue eyes, set wide apart in his slender face. His self-consciousness was apparent in the way he clutched his calculus textbook close to his chest.”

We see here two other, more subtle ways of characterization. One, the character’s name. And two, the character’s possessions. We could go even further and include his or her environment:
“Above Delbert’s meticulously made bed, in the corner of his well-kept room, was a picture of Albert Einstein.”
Of course, the author could have saved time by simply writing, “Delbert was a nerd.” But some of the richness would have been lost in such an unthinking description.

2) ACTIONS – What the character DOES. A character’s behavior and mannerisms also go far in revealing WHO a character is.

” Felicity sashayed down the halls of Franklin High-School as though she owned the place. Honey-blonde curls bounced as she waved to everyone she passed, her thousand-watt smile illuminating the path before her. If she perchance passed a mirror or pane of glass, she invariably stopped to fix her hair or check her makeup.”

3) DIALOGUE – What a characters says. This is perhaps the most powerful means of depicting character, of revealing their motivations, their intentions, their desires.

“I can’t believe you’d treat your own mother that way! Didn’t I raise you better than that? Didn’t I give you everything you ever wanted? Sacrifice my whole life to make sure you had the best clothes, drove the best cars, and went to the best schools?”
“But mom, you did all that for yourself! To impress your rich friends! I never asked for any of that stuff!”

We see from this example that it’s not only WHAT a particular character says, but what other characters say TO them or ABOUT them that can reveal their character.

4) THOUGHTS OR FEELINGS – But what if a character is a sneaky, slimy sort? The kind who doesn’t necessarily speak what’s on his or her mind? Here the author can use the character’s thoughts or feelings to depict character.

“When he got in the car, the hitchhiker immediately began to admire the car’s expensively crafted interior. As he ran his hand over the oiled leather seating, he pictured himself driving the car, and wondered how difficult it was going to be to operate the standard-shift transmission. He wondered too, if anyone would miss the driver when he didn’t come home later that night.”

So without a single word or action from this character, we’ve learned more than we wanted to learn about him.

5) WANTS AND NEEDS – Depicting those things that your character DESIRES is the foundation of all good stories. Since a character’s desires are the driving force behind their actions, a character who want’s NOTHING does NOT belong in your story. But when you have a character who not only WANTS something, but URGENTLY YEARNS for and craves it with every ounce of their being? NOW you’ve got the makings of a great story! Particularly when someone (the antagonist) or something (like a desert, or an ocean) stands between your character and the object of their longing.

DESIRES –
“With a three-year prison sentence looming, Steven wondered how he could ever possibly make it. He’d never in his life loved anyone or anything as passionately as he loved Gloria. From the moment he awakened in the morning, till he rested his head at night, the only thing he thought of was Gloria. Even now, he struggled mightily just to make it through a another day without her. She was his food, his air, his water. Gloria was his triumph and his tragedy. And asking him to go without her was like asking a drowning man to tread water for three years.”

NEEDS – Needs, as opposed to WANTS, also drive character development. But in a different, more primal way.
“In his drive to reach the summit, Jacob drove himself past the limits of endurance. It was only noon, and already he’d pushed further than he’d climbed in the previous twenty-four hours. The storm was coming fast. He could see it in the distance, black and terrible. And with only two hours of oxygen left in his tank, he had a decision to make. He eyed his climbing partner from the corner of his goggles and wondered how much longer he could go on.”
From this example, we see the difference between needs and wants. Here, the character’s dire need for oxygen drives his thoughts, motives, and actions, not for the gratification of desire, but as a matter of survival, leading him to take measures he might not otherwise embark upon.

6) FLASHBACKS – Flashbacks (if not overused) are a wonderful way to instantly access any point in time in your characters’ past, opening up vistas of opportunities to motivate them in interesting ways.
“As she stood there face to face with the woman, she was reminded of a bully she’d encountered as a child. All at once she was ten years old again, and the taunts rang out in her ears. Even now, twenty years later, the fear and rage were palpable. As her hands balled into fists and the blood rose to her cheeks, she knew there was no controlling what happened next.”

There are still many more ways to reveal character. But the examples listed here are a good place to start. And remember too, that just because your characters must be unique and compelling, does NOT mean they can’t be ordinary. Ordinary people often do extraordinary things. Therefore, if we wish to write about ordinary characters – our goal is to make them ordinary in a unique and memorable way.

Happy Writing!