Restrictions

What restrictions does your character have?

A character who is out of the world perfect is someone no one can relate too. Even Superman had a weakness caused by Kryptonite.

What restrictions does your character have to overcome in your story/movie/TV show/song?


Elsa from the movie Frozen feels like she is restricted by her ice powers, however the real restrictions are her massive fears about her powers. As the movie progresses, Elsa learns to control her fear and master her ice powers.

Everyman-ness

How relatable is your character?

The article gives the wonderful example of James Bond, while the character may be entertaining to watch on the big screen, how many of us are globally trained super-assassin's? It is extremely hard for a character to be well-liked or even memorable if no one feels like there is anything remotely in common with them.

An author must be careful also to not make a character too elitist, as an audience can't live vicariously through someone who is wholly unbelievable. A good example of this is the character Chuck Bartowski from the spy-comedy Chuck.

Chuck is a loveable goofball, who works at a local superstore. He is pushed into the CIA by a top-secret government device, and the writers of the show managed to keep him relatable and geeky the entire series.

Thoughts

What internal dialogue does your character have?

How do they think through their problems and dilemmas?

Is the internal voice the same as the external?

Does this create conflict for the character?

Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Steven Chobsky has a very conflicted internal voice, which inhibits his ability to make friends, maintain frienships, and have a healthy relationship with his family.

History of the Character

Where does your character come from? Think our their childhood and adolescence.

What events shaped their personality? What did their father do for a job? What about their mother?

How many siblings did they have, if any?

Was it a loving family or a dysfunctional one?

What events lead to their decisions later in life?

This information may not necessarily need to be provided for the reader, but the more details the author knows, the fuller the character's persona can be.

Tris Prior from the Divergent series has a very full background, coming from a faction that was incredibly law abiding and humble, Tris shed the former personality of Abnegation and chose Dauntless. The faction known for it's radical and selfish behavior. Everything leading up to this choice was influenced by her family life and childhood.

Character Defect

Everyone has some small quirk or personality trait that drives their friends and family absolutely mad. However, in writing and movies, a certain quirk can quickly become a character's best known trait, or even better, a fandom's favorite thing about this character.

Even better than a tiny quirk, a characters flaws can become a fangirl's favorite thing about him. A character you love to hate. One perfect example from the Batman series, is The Joker.


Heath Ledger's portrayal of The Joker in The Dark Night Rises has become infamous, the dark and twisted character is the perfect example of a defective character still being incredibly memorable and creative.

Ambition

What is your character's passion in life?

What goal are they trying to accomplish throughout the arc of the story?

What are their hobbies?

J.R.R. Tolkien wrote the story of Frodo Baggins. A simple Hobbit from the Shire, on the craziest of journey's. Frodo's main goal throughout the books and movies? To get the One Ring into Mount Doom.




As Frodo reached Mount Doom, he starts succumbing to the power of the Ring. His friend Sam gives him a push of encouragement, and Frodo finally accomplishes his ambitious goal.

Relationships

What kind of friends or family does your character have? How do they relate to the people in their life?

Is your character a introvert or extrovert, social or reclusive?

Characters are often defined by the supporting characters around them.



Ross and Rachel from the hit TV show FRIENDS spend ten seasons developing an incredibly complicated relationship. All the while the rest of the cast goes about their usual shenanigans. This particular cast is so close, they spend every day together, know every detail about each other, and are truly a TV family.

Character Apperance

What does your character look like?

Technically this is not the most important ingredient for a memorable or successful character. Especially for a novelist, because a reader has their entire imagination to whip up what the character looks like for them.

Another thing to remember is that a character certainly does not have to be drop dead gorgeous to be memorable. To take another example from J.K. Rowling, the villain in Harry Potter is the dark wizard Voldemort.

It is very clear the the goal for Voldemort was not to make him the most beautiful wizard in all of Hogwarts, but his trademark missing nose is what people automatically associate with him. 

Another wonderful example is Darth Vader from the Star Wars movies. You can hardly see his actual face after the unfortunate lava incident, instead his trademark, cape, helmet, and deep breathing gives him away every time.

Communication Style

When an author is developing a character, one thing that can be incredibly memorable is a characters accent or speech pattern.

Things to keep in mind...
How does your character talk?
Do they favor certain words or phrases?
What does their voice sound like?

Much of our personality comes through our speech, so think about the way the character is going to talk. Their style of communication should be distinctive and unique. 

One example that basically everyone knows is Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley from the book and movie series Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling.

Harry Potter speaks with a distinct British accent, as do his two partners in wizardry crime.


As the Writer's Digest author brings out, your voice displays a huge part of your personality. Hermione for example speaks very eloquently with a exceedingly proper British accent.

Writing Creative Characters

What is one thing that every bestselling book has in common? A memorable ensemble of characters. When an author sits down to write a book, there is a general idea, maybe some specific details that they want to include. However, the thing that captures the hearts of readers across the globe is the ever elusive "perfect" main character/s. In order to move forward writing more well-rounded, intriguing characters, we're going to read a Writer's Digest article called "The 9 Ingredients of Character Development." (http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/guide-to-literary-agents/the-9-ingredients-of-character-development)  Before we get into the article, let's dissect some of the most popular characters from novels, movies, TV shows, and music in the past five years.



Katniss Everdeen
Book/Movie Series: The Hunger Games
Notable Characteristics: Intriguing name, Bow & Arrow skills, long braided hair, determined personality, hunter, fiercely protective of her family

Without these things, Katniss would be a boring teenage girl with a weird name living in a post-apocalyptic universe. Her specific traits, the way she styles her hair, and her hobbies make her a well-rounded character that people can remember and compare themselves too.