One of the main keys to writing a good story is the characters.
People will read a bad plot with good characters before reading a good plot with bad characters, and that’s just the way it is.
Personally, creating characters is one of my favorite things about writing a story. It is so much fun to come up with these people and give them personalities and quirks as if they’re real, because soon enough they’ll become real to you.
Here’s an in-depth questionnaire (and some sample answers) to fill out when creating characters so that they will become lovable and realistic to your readers:
Name: Persephone “Perse” Miller
Age: 26
Parents: Alyssa (accountant) and Stu (military officer) Miller
- relationship- decent, better with mom
Siblings: Lincoln Miller, 20, lives at home
- relationship- bad
Home Location: New York City
Home Description: A basic industrial apartment, lots of plants and flowers, colorful patterned rugs, a single breakfast table that’s always covered with scattered papers, a chest in the living room where she keeps her sword
Physical Description: Fair skin and rosy cheeks, light brown wild curls, freckles across her nose, light emerald eyes, average build- subtle athletic, fairly short
Clothing Description: Fairly casual but cute, she loves overalls and bandanas in her hair, light makeup, flat shoes and sneakers
Nationality: Mixed race- strong Kenyan, Scottish, and French roots
Languages: English, French, Italian, conversational Spanish
Personality Description: She’s pretty strong-willed and independent, so she never ceases to make her opinion known. She’s a natural leader, but isn’t often put in those positions. Perse is extremely loving, kind, and gentle toward everybody she meets, unless they find pleasure in putting others down. Then she’ll beat the crap out of them.
Hobbies: She didn’t do well in school, but since graduation she has found a new love for learning- hence the four different languages. Along with teaching herself at home, she also enjoys painting, gardening, and cooking.
Places They’ve Been: Out West, Canada, Scotland, Greece
Things They’ve Done: Saved all of New York without anybody knowing, battled dragons, saved a prince, played Annie in her school’s production of Annie, went skydiving
Greatest Fear: Being completely alone, despite her love of independence
Biggest Goals: Eventually have a family, leave a legacy of love and bravery for younger girls, make her parents proud
Little Quirks: Throws her pajamas in the dryer before bed so they’re warm, loves to paint designs on her jeans and overalls, wears a leather bracelet that was given to her by her best friend who died at twenty-two, has worn the same pair of Converse since high school
Favorite Food: Her homemade chicken envelope
Favorite Drink: Water or coffee
Most Treasured Possession: Her grandmother’s sword and her pet hamster, Ron
Deepest Secret: She secretly lives a double life of medieval battles, quests, and adventures. She has also killed more people than she would ever want to admit- especially to her parents.
Relationship Status: Single, but has a cute little “will they, won’t they” relationship with her quest partner, Forrest. She had a boyfriend in high school, but he cheated after leaving for college so she dumped him and moved to NYC.
Role in the Story: Protagonist, point of view. After her obnoxious younger brother is kidnapped by her worst enemy- mistakenly believing she cares about him- she is forced to save him thanks to her parents, who also run the quest agency.
Status in the Beginning: Independent, happy, hates her brother
Status at the End: Independent, confused over her emotions, not sure how she feels toward her brother
BOOM!
Now you have a character. Don’t use mine, obviously, but feel free to use that template to create your own!
If you use that “survey” as a guide to create your characters, they will feel so real to you that the writing will come easy. I promise, the more time you invest, the more your readers will love your babies.
So just go for it and have fun!
-Caylie < 3
Tea and Typewriters 