A Guide to Writing

Characterization

[8] Connections to the Audience
The audience wants to relate to your character, so make them relatable. We want them to contain a little piece of us. We want to see ourselves reflected in the mirror, even if the mirror is broken and we see a twisted, messed up, maybe even psychopathic version of ourselves. So if you included something about them loving something like chocolate cookies, then we might like your character a tad bit more.

[9] Expression and Complexity
Your character needs an complex personality, which means that they shouldn't be too easy to predict. Now, that doesn't mean when your character is faced with a decision they should go out of their way to make it unpredictable, that's bad. Your character should be like - gasp! - real people. Real people have layers and little surprises sometimes that are good, bad, and embarrassing but a whole lot of interesting.

[10] Strengths
The audience likes to read about characters who are good at something, if your character is not good at anything and this isn't a book where your character is supposed to be bad at everything so much it makes it funny, your character is like a sack of potatoes. Now the strengths don't have to be physical, they can be internal strengths where they're a scientific genius or emotional in the right ways. But it could be that your character is just bad to the bone and can know a guy out with one fast sucker-punch.

[11] Flaws
Why do I see so many characters on wattpad without flaws. Not only do they not have physical flaws, they're always right. Or they always know what's going on. No, stop that! Your story isn't interesting if your character isn't a complete failure at something! Your story is boring and unbelievable, and even though we're probably writing fiction, we at least want the characteristics of your characters to be believable.

Sherlock Holmes for example, who is such a great detective (strength) but is such a terrible human (flaw) is creating enough tension that the story is so taut that it could snap and take out someone's eye. Balance your characters out, if they're good at something, they need to be bad at something, too.

[12] A Voice
Gosh, no I don't mean that you can't have a deaf-mute character. I just mean that your characters should have a unique way of speaking. Are they hesitant or bold? Brash or kind? Reflect the way they act in their speech, we should be able to tell who's talking if some of the dialogue tags were stolen by an editor or something. We should also be able to tell how they grew up. Rich? Make them think they're above others (unless they're the exception of the nice rich kids.) Does your character reflect her mother? Father? Make the speech reflect who they actually are.

[13] A Look
Characters need to look like something. Now, some writing advice says that an author should let their characters act as physical ciphers. Which means no description so that, gosh, I don't know, we can all imagine them however we want them to look like.

Screw that crap, George. Just don't tell the readers about every chipped nail, height, or eyelash. Make what you tell us unique, it should stand out. If the character is exceptionally tall, then it's ok to add the height. But what is it with all the short characters I see on wattpad? Off-topic. Tell us about the perfect suit but the dirty shoes. The scar running from her eyebrow to her chin. The dark circles under their eyes. Whatever. Just tell us the character's look, and let us assume what it tells us about him.

[14] Emotions
Characters without emotions are like robots. We don't want that robot crap in a character, got it? You don't have to tell us straight out how they're feeling, but you can imply it. Characters feel things just like we do! They feel sorrow, shame, confused, angry, upset, and happy. You can use these things to make us know the character better. If they encounter something that should make them happy but it makes them upset, we want to know why! Use these to your advantage.

[15] Mysteries
All characters need something to drive them to do whatever it is they need to do. It also makes the reader want those questions answered just as much as the character does.Questions drive narrative, remember that.

[16] Secrets
Your character should not only have questions, they should have answers that they never want to share with anyone. Otherwise known as secrets. The characters should know things that he doesn't want revealed to others, which complexity for the character and causes tension for the reader.

[17] Ability to Surprise the Reader
If your character can't surprise the audience any more, they're useless. Don't make them so unpredictable that they'll be like,"I just killed a man! Now, I'm turning into a parrot that will feast on the flesh of my victims!" No. A character should be able to make the reader do a double-take, whether it's jaw dropping or fist pump worthy. It's not just about acting on impulse, it should be showing depth in the character, like cleverness or capability. The character needs to be more than we expect.

[18] Consistency
This is the counter to surprising the reader. We only need a little bit of surprise from your character. Make sure that whatever your character does makes sense. If it's a romance, don't make it a love triangle and the have someone come into play that we've never even heard of until they're already married.

[19] Quirks
Your character shouldn't have too many quirks. Think of it like Ticci-Toby (creepypasta reference,) he fidgets, right? That makes him stand out in our minds, just like if you make your character fidget or click their pens constantly (may the Lord help those around your character.) Now it may not seem like a big thing, but later on in the story you could make your character have ADHD or RLS.

[20] History
This is what I never see on wattpad. Characters never have history but it is such a vital part for their personality. Your character has been around, they need their past. I especially don't want to see your character magically have karate skills when they need them most. To make that acceptable I would say to have your character remember their second grade karate class that they quit, but only a small portion on the actual class (stances, positions, blocks, you get the point.)

[21] The Right Name
I know, I know, this seems so incredibly shallow, but listen here reader. You came to my book and I'm spilling some secrets, so pay attention. Characters shouldn't have the same first letter of their names unless they're of opposite genders. Like Adam and Ashley are ok, but Ashley and Ally aren't. It's unprofessional and confuses the readers.

For example, in this one book I read there were twin sisters of a huge family. Guess what. All of the children had a name that started with 'a' not to mention the fact that I couldn't tell the two twins apart. They were the main characters, how the crap am I supposed to keep up, hmm? Another good point would be saying that character shouldn't even sound the same, example: Leah and Mia. No, don't do that, it confuses the reader, too. Also, try to keep your character's name within their time period, maybe look up the top 100 names of that year.

[22] Room to Develop
Characters need to grow. A good way to do that would be to have them start out with plenty of flaws and as the story continues, have some of the flaws disappear. But they need to disappear for a reason. If your character is particularly picky about their friends, have them work on trying to be less judgmental and hopefully by the end of the book it'll be taken care of.

[23] Livability
We don't have to like your character... necessarily. We just need to be able to hunker down with them for a 200 or 400 page book. We need to be willing to spend time with this character if we're going to read your book. But how to accomplish this? Well...

[24] Gravity
We have to want to be near your character. Make them as big and as interesting as they can be so we're drawn to them like a moth to a flame. Making your character boring is deadly for your book.

[25] You, of Course!
Your character can not and will not be here without you. You are the master of this project, so make it worthwhile. The way you do things should be special, so your characters are going to end up special as well.