Creating 3-Dimensional Characters Part I

I love creating characters.

That is, by far, my favorite part of the writing process.
But creating believable people with hopes and dreams and regrets and flaws can be pretty hard, huh?

I mean, you want this character to be so real, the reader thinks s/he might hop off the page. You want the reader to look at this character like a best friend.
You want this character to seem like a real person.

So, how can I make my character more like a real person?

Personally, I like to start off with a short description of my character-to-be. You know, just the basics...

Name:

Age:

Weight:

Height:

Hair Color/Style:

Eye Color:

Something along those lines works perfectly. You can be as detailed/vague as you want with this bit. I like to be a little vague--but that's just my personal preference.

For Skye, it looked a little like this:

Name: Skye Hatton

Age: 17

Weight: 113 lbs.

Height: 5 ft. 2 in.

Hair Color/Style: Sandy brown----About shoulder-length, straight

Eye Color: Green

The one I did for Ophelia looked a little different in spots:

Name: Ophelia Kierse

Age: 6-21

Weight: 125 lbs.

Height: 5 ft. 5 in.

Hair Color/Style: Blond----Reaches right below her shoulder blades, wavy

Eye Color: Light blue

All right, have you got a basic description? Good.

Let's move on.

Now you can get to work on fleshing that character out a bit. And how do we flesh our characters? With traits and flaws, of course. Below that basic description you took down earlier, start listing off traits and flaws you want to include.

Skye's list looks a little something like this:

-Abrasive

-Crude

-Emotionally/Mentally Unstable

-Impulsive

-Good-natured

-Hot-headed/Easily Provoked

-Paranoid

-Introverted

-Loyal

This is a draft of Ophelia's list:

-Adaptable

-Compliant

-Book-worm

-Creative

-Accident-prone

-Loyal

-Self-conscious

-Sneaky

-Impatient

In Lights Out, Skye's character didn't really hold up to the draft of traits I'd written down beforehand, but that's all right. I like it when my characters develop themselves.

With Ophelia, I've been working with these characters for about four years now. I'm not expecting them to stray from their lists much, but who knows? They might just surprise me.

So, now you've got that list of traits ready, right?

Onwards!

By now, you've got a 2-Dimensional character laid out in front of you. So, how can you make this 2-D character more 3-D?

With a good, solid back story to explain those traits.

A good back story can be the difference between an amazing character and a forgettable character. Take a good look at that list you just wrote up and think about why your character would act like that. Think about all the things that must have happened to shape him/her into the person s/he is in your story.

This is a good time to start pretending. (You all know how much I like to pretend.)

Imagine you're sitting across from your character and ask them a few questions about his/her childhood.

Questions to consider:

*What is your first memory?

*What is the first thing you remember learning? How were you taught?

*How was your relationship with your parents? Why?

*What was your relationship with your siblings like? Why?

*Did you enjoy school/have many friends?

*If so, who was your best friend?

*Are you still friends with that person? If not, why?

*What's your best memory? Worst?

All right everyone, this post is getting a little long.

Tune in next time for part two of Creating 3-Dimensional Characters!