Besides having an intriguing story plot, characterization plays an important role of bringing to fore the central idea of your fictional book. Put simply, the characters help you show your readers what you have pre-imagined in a relatable manner.
In this blog, we discuss 4 things to consider when writing a compelling character and 6 things that a compelling character should have.
Things to Consider When Crafting a Compelling Character
- History
While drafting a compelling character, it is important to take into consideration the character’s past, including their upbringing, culture, and significant life events, as these can shape their personality and motivations. When these have been understood, it becomes easier to shape their actions to events later on in the book.
- Appearance
The appearance of a character includes the character’s age, gender, physical appearance, and style of dress. It helps readers visualize the character.
Having properly understood the background of the character, the information can now be applied to determine the physical look of the character. The knowledge of the character’s history will also help you know if he or she would wear indigenous attire or English clothing, all in a bid to help create a picture in the mind of the reader.
- Characters relationship
Another thing to consider is the existing relationship between characters and how it affects their personality as individual characters. Each character has unique qualities that help beautify the plot of the story when combined perfectly with another character.
- Character’s personality
These include the character’s attitudes, values, habits, likes, and dislikes. These are the things that determine the character’s role and impact in the fictional book. You have to carefully decide what they act like under certain circumstances and be able to succinctly help them express themselves.
The above will help in shaping the general build-up of the character, thereby bringing about his or her compelling delivery.
Things That a Compelling Character Should Have
- A Clear Goal or Desire:
The characters should have a motivating factor that drives their actions throughout the story.
- Complexity:
A compelling character should be multi-dimensional and complex. They have strengths, weaknesses, fears, and desires that make them relatable to readers.
- Growth and Change:
Over the course of the story, the character should grow and change in some way. This could be a change in their beliefs, attitudes, or behaviours when and where necessary.
- Consistency:
While characters should be capable of change, they also need to be consistent so that their actions are believable and make sense within the context of the story.
- Relatability:
Readers should be able to relate to the character in some way. This could be through shared experiences, emotions, or goals.
- Flaws:
Character flaws make them more human. Humans are not perfect, and neither should your characters. Giving your characters flaws makes them more human and easy to relate with enough to draw empathy from the readers.
Conclusion
Drafting the perfect character with reader-compelling qualities can be cumbersome, but having the above knowledge as discussed above can add an edge to your fictional book writing. At Pen-Impact, we offer book writing and editing services, and we can be reached at info@pen-impact.com