4 Dimensions Every Character Needs
How to make your story more realistic by creating lifelike people to drive it
When crafting characters, we have to do our best not to just follow a simple formula. After all, we aren’t trying to fill out an algorithm, but rather, create a creature in our minds that’s almost human — one we can spell out on the page for our readers.
This is no easy feat.
While I don’t dare to suggest that your characters must all fall into certain archetypes or have certain predetermined characteristic criteria that you fill out for them, I do believe that there are some dimensions you can sketch our for your characters beforehand.
1 — An understood past
Your readers will assume quite a bit if you don’t indicate anything others. When we show a character in a particular town, we assume they’ve always lived there. When we’re told about their dog, we assume they like them unless told otherwise.
Good writers create characters with an understood past. We don’t need to know every detail, but we’re given a few hints and clues as to the life they’ve lived up until now. And we know that the rest will be told to us as needed throughout the exciting story ahead.
2 — Preferences and opinions
While your character should never be spelling everything out or walking the reader through play-by-play of every moment and interaction of the story, preferences and opinions are a great way to let your character shine through as a human-like persona.
When do they choose to interrupt? How do they interrupt? Who do they do it to and why? What do they enjoy? What do they go to? Who do they like spending time with?
So much of what makes us up is what we like and how we go about pursuing those preferences and eliminating those dislikes in our life. Make that a part of your character’s life and you will surely make them at least a little bit more believable.
3 — Dynamic relationships
A good, solid character is one who has dynamic relationships. This means they don’t just have flat and stagnant relationships with every character. Like I said above, they have preferences, and within that there are also people that they enjoy more than others.
Also, through the course of a story, a character is bound to have disagreements and rifts in a relationship with other people. Expressing these well is key to making your characters more believable.
This can also apply to giving your character new relationships. Let them meet some new people — whether it be at a new school, their new love interest, or just the person they order coffee from that morning.
4 — A goal
Every good character has at least one goal. After all, that’s what’s driving this entire story — intentions and the obstacles that get in the way of achieving those intentions.
Without a goal, the story doesn’t exist and nobody cares about your character. Make your character care about something, and all of a sudden we’ll start caring about them.
Storytelling, as I’ve mentioned before, is an art form and a science. It’s a code that many people attempt to crack with no avail. I hope this piece has been helpful to you, and that you’re able to go along and crate slightly more believable and enjoyable characters for your next story.
Best of luck!
