Creating Fictional Characters

Characters are the building blocks of fiction. Even in stories with lots of action, the action has to happen to characters. Phonetically, the word character begins with the word "care." Characters have to care about something for readers to care about the characters, and if readers don't care about your characters, they probably won't care about your plot, either. Learn how to find and create interesting characters that readers will care about. Reveal your characters, use point of view effectively, flesh out your characters, develop a background for them, put the right words in their mouths, give them goals and motivation, and develop them throughout your story. Whether you're a "character-driven" writer or a "plot-driven" writer, you can build great story people for whatever kind of story you write.