Most of us know the necessary parts of a story: characters, setting, plot, conflict, and resolution. They are all important, but if I had to choose the most important, it would be characters. Setting grounds readers, and plot gives readers a reason to stay with a story, but characters draw readers in and make them give a damn to begin with. Without solid, believable characters, the story—no matter how intense the plot or how beautiful the setting—will go nowhere.

There is a reason why fandoms exist, why people become obsessed with fictional worlds. Some people enjoy the concept or the gadgets or something else, but if you ask a fan why they really enjoy that particular series, I would bet almost anything the response has to do with a character (or more than one). Consider your own favorite books, movies, or shows, and ask yourself why you really like them. What is it about them that earns and maintains your loyalty?

Did you say one of the characters? You did, didn’t you? Be honest.

I didn’t write this to make you question your obsession with (insert fiction title here), but as a writer, I am interested in the motivations of audiences, and as an audience member, I understand my own motivations. I know that if I can’t connect to a character, I’m not going to enjoy the story, whether it is a book, movie, show, or video game.

Writing a believable character takes practice, but I have finally, after more years than I am willing to admit, gotten to a point in my writing where I feel like my characters are believable. They are constant works-in-progress, of course, but I know they are better than they used to be, and I want to impart some of the wisdom I have learned through trial and error.

Make Them Human

First and foremost, a believable character needs to be human, and I don’t mean this in the literal sense; fantasy and sci-fi characters of other races still have to do this, even if they aren’t actually a human being.

What makes people who we are? What makes us human? We’re flawed. We make mistakes. We have vices. We get angry and shout or depressed and stay in bed all day. We read or watch TV when we know we should be cleaning the kitchen or doing the laundry. We are not perfect.

Whether a character is the chosen hero in a fantasy story or a Jane/Joe Nobody in realistic fiction, we can’t connect to them if they aren’t flawed. Perfect heroes are boring. They have no way to grow. That’s not to say that heroes or heroines can’t be special. They certainly can. But if they don’t have some flaw that makes them less than perfect, we can’t empathize or sympathize with them. We can’t imagine ourselves in their shoes or that they are real people.

Make sure your characters have weaknesses as well as strengths.

People Watch

Knowing that characters need to be human is all well and good, but you have to understand what that looks like. That means knowing how people act, how those strengths and weaknesses work together in real people. One of the easiest ways to do this is to pay attention to the people around you.

Consider your friends and family. Maybe you know someone who is extremely successful, has a great job and car, but they have trouble making lasting relationships. Or maybe you know someone who seems like they have their lives together, but underneath the calm exterior, they are struggling with something and don’t know how to ask for help. Or maybe you know someone who is has a great personality and a strong work ethic, but they absolutely can’t say no when a loved one asks for something. The possibilities are limitless really. There are examples of different combinations of strengths and weaknesses everywhere if you know where to look and how to pay attention.

You don’t need to base your characters on real people, but you can use real people as your guide.

Know Everything About Your Character

People aren’t just their strengths and weaknesses. They also have likes and dislikes. Obsessions, motivations, quirks, traumas, etc. Fictional characters need these things too, those bits and pieces that come together to make them believable and give them depth. And the more you know about your characters, the better prepared you are to put them into a situation and have them react believably, even if you don’t reveal all those bits and pieces in the story.

(For a nice character-building document, check out Writer’s Digest—signing up for the newsletter gives access.)

For example, if you have a character that suffered a traumatic event, such as a car crash or abuse, they should have some psychological effects. Many people who experience trauma have some kind of PTSD, such as severe anxiety when put in similar situations, nightmares, or even flashbacks. (I personally have anxiety in certain driving situations because of a car accident I had more than ten years ago.)

Be prepared for the reaction that makes the most sense for the character, not necessarily for where you think the story needs to go. Another example being if you have a character that suffered adverse effects from a fire, it makes no sense for that character to run into a burning building (without hesitation anyway), no matter who is in there, even if you want them to. Situations like these are where writers lose their audiences.

Build your characters to be human, know everything you can about them that you possibly can, and then let them lead you through the plot. If you know them and how they would react in any given situation, they will lead you in the right direction.

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