Character Building (Quick and Easy)

Character building has always been the hardest part of writing for me. Making each character sound unique? It’s hard. Especially when you don’t figure it all out first. So today, I’ll be going over how I get to know my characters, before I start writing.

A Basic Summary

I’ve learned that character building works best for me if I write out a simple, 150-200 word synopsis of the character. It lists just the basics, and doesn’t go into in depth description, but it gives me everything I need to know to get started.

Things I Include In A Character Synopsis

1) Physical Features

I always include a few physical features that stand out about them. Like hair color/type, eye color, body type, and anything that defines them (scars, birthmarks, etc.). This gives me a basis for character description, as well as a reference for when I forget these details.

2) Personality Traits

Including key character traits (funny, kind, harsh, selfish, heroic, heartless, etc.) is very important for me. If I don’t pinpoint a few defining traits, I lose sight of my character, and they become bland. But if I jot down a few traits, I have something raw I can build from, and always go back to. It is also a good method to follow a character’s growth. (If they start out with X trait, and it changes to Y trait.)

3) Character Motivation

After I’ve got personality traits narrowed down, then I go and find my character’s motivation. Why they do what they do. This works well for heroes as well as villains. After you know character traits, you can discover a realistic motive for your character. A character who is kind and forgiving probably isn’t going to to be out for revenge, but someone who is ruthless and greedy might be. Every character needs a realistic motive.

4) Backstory

Backstory I always do after I discover the motive, because I often discover backstory while I’m discovering motive. Because once you have a motive, you need to know why they have that particular motive, and why it is important to them.

5) Character Growth

Once I know all of this^ about my characters, I can figure out how they are going to grow throughout my story. How will they grow? Will they have a positive arc or a negative arc? Once you know this, you’ve basically got a whole character.

5) Relationship To Other Characters

Relationships are very important to whole characters. Relationships are what shape people and make them grow, so why should characters be any different? You should know character’s relationships to one another. Are they siblings? Lovers? Friends? (Etc.) Do they help others grow? Do others help them grow? Once I’ve got my characters mostly whole, I round them off with the other characters.

Leave Room To Grow

When you are shaping a character, you need to leave them room to grow and change naturally. You shouldn’t have to force growth on a character. Your characters will always grow more once you start writing, so don’t be too strict with them. Just, keep them on track.

Building characters is like potting plants, you always leave room for growth, otherwise it won’t be healthy.

Anyways, that’s how I build characters. Are there any special ways you build characters? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!