Now NovelRead Now Novel’s best character writing blog posts below. Learn how to create a cast for your story that is rich with bold personalities. The best stories make it easy for us to connect with characters and become invested in their story outcomes. Learn how to describe characters’ faces, postures, speech and more. You can also find helpful guides on creating conflict between characters, different kinds of relationships between members of the cast of your story and more.
Think back to the first time you met someone you now know well. Can you remember what you noticed about them first? Describing characters’ first appearances effectively is key to building characters who linger in the mind. Here are 6 tips on how to describe your characters at first introduction:
Fiction is full of villainous characters who readers love to hate (and, sometimes, hate to love). Learning how to write a villain that your readers can understand as a complex human being (as opposed to a cardboard cutout) can give your novel depth. How do you write a villain who feels human; real (though not necessarily sympathetic)? Here are 7 tips:
Character backstory – the past events and formative experiences that shape who your characters are – is key to creating characters of breadth and depth. Here are tips to weave backstory into your story believably:
Writing fiction, there are at least three ways we create character voices. The first is through viewpoint narration (narrative voice). The words a narrator uses create a distinct persona through elements such as style, subject matter and tone. The second way is written dialogue, showing the content and manner of characters’ speech. The third is via other characters’ viewpoints, when they describe a character’s voice. Read these tips for making a character’s voice memorable:
Realistic dialogue moves stories along. When you give each character an interesting voice and persona, it’s a joy to read their conversations. Varied, entertaining speech takes readers into the heart of your characters. Here are six ways to make characters’ speech colorful and interesting
Character motivations make characters’ paths credible. When a character’s behavior reveals their deeper drives, urges and impulses, they feel fully human. Read 6 questions that will help you work out characters’ motivations:
This guest contribution by the team at Reedsy explores ways to subvert character clichés for a less predictable story.
Great, character-driven stories often have deeply flawed characters at their heart. Human flaws such as lust for power, greed and jealousy explain the errors many tragic figures from books make, from Mr Kurtz to Lord Voldemort. Read this character flaw list (with examples) for inspiration and develop interesting character weaknesses:
Character mannerisms – the things people repeatedly do with their faces, hands, or voices without always realizing – help to create detailed characters. Sometimes we use mannerisms for humour, at other times to tell characters apart. Read tips for creating mannerisms, believable quirks and tics, that tell your reader more about your characters:
