Melissa Charles author

In case you missed it, you can find the other three entries here: the beginning, inspiration and outline.

Now we’re looking at characters.

For me, characters are where the story really comes alive. The better I know my imaginary friends, the better the story works.

There’s a lot of advice on how to get to know your characters. Personally, I like the character sheets that come with Scrivener as a basic starting point. I also happen to love the Writer’s Thesaurus series by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi. The Positive Trait Thesaurus and Negative Trait Thesaurus can be a wonderful tool to help flesh out your characters.

Some characters show up fully formed, just strolling into your head fully formed.

Others you have a vague idea as to who they are, and need to build them out more, which is where the thesauruses I mentioned can be helpful.

I strongly advise filling out character sheets, though. Even if you consider yourself a pantser, a character sheet can save you loads of time and frustration, having to comb through what you’ve already written to confirm what eye colour a character is supposed to have.

Side note: I also fill out the place sheets. My current WIP takes place in a small town. Every freaking named place gets its own sheet, if only so I don’t screw up the name later. I also have used ‘find and replace’ generously when I’ve just stuck in a placeholder name because I’m on a roll and don’t want to spend an hour coming up with the perfect name. I swear, the name of the bakery and cafe in my WIP have each been changed at least four times. I think I finally have them right now.

Knowing the primary traits of your characters helps the plot, because it’s easier to know how they’d react in given situations, and don’t have to go back and correct moments where they might’ve acted completely out of character. Consistency matters.

If you’ve established that your character doesn’t like small spaces, they’re not going to be the one to be eager to head into the small, dark tunnel. Sure, they’re still going to go if you need them too, but they’re going to have FEELINGS about it. Internal monologue, physical reactions, etc.

And that’s where things come alive for the reader.

You can have the best plot in the world, but if the reader doesn’t connect with your characters, the chances of them finishing the book are greatly diminished. They need someone they can root for, either to succeed or fail.

So, there you go. How to write a novel, in three steps.

Sort of.

Of course, there’s a whole lot more to the craft, but the foundation for me and the way my brain works, begins with those three things: idea, outline (to one degree or another) and characters.

I realize that some folks would argue that setting should also be a primary building block, and for other writers, that may well be the case. For me, the setting is usually dictated by the idea, and is then expanded when working on the outline. That’s why I didn’t make it a separate step.

Best of luck in your writing journey!