Getting Characters onto Paper (part 1)

Hi everyone, so today I’m going to talk about characters. 

sometimes it’s hard to get ideas, for characters. So sometimes , I have trouble deciding who they should be. Backstory , personality traits things like that. 

sometimes it’s good to take a brake for a little. and walk away from your note-pad or Computer screen. 

Listen to Music, Read a book , go for a walk, draw etc. . then after you feel settled and are relaxed and not stressed go back to your note-pad or computer. And write down your ideas for your character. A character sheet can be useful, it can be easy to collect your thoughts that way. 

giving your characters Names 

sometimes , you have a great character but they don’t have a name. don’t worry names don’t always come right away, sometimes they take awhile to come. 

But if your looking for good names, sometimes going to random name generator or a baby name website can be helpful. Also bringing a note-book with you wherever you go can be helpful, if you see any interesting names then write them down. Then you can look through your note-book , and find the name that clicks into place with your character. 

Appearance 

appearance is very important for the story. Does your character have freckles? A scar? 

do they have bangs? what color are their eyes? 

To get ideas bringing a note-book (as I said before) with you can be useful, write down things you see, without staring (people might take it the wrong way if you stare)  

then search through your note-book again for ideas. (I learned this in a writing class) don’t describe hair with one single color because shades of many colors. 

brown can have highlights of Blond or Red. Blond can have highlights of brown or other shades of blond. 

eye color , for eye color. you can describe them in many ways. Sometimes I describe their eyes like this:

the sea after the storm ( dark blue) 

they where as brown as tree bark (Brown) 

pine-needle green (dark green) 

black eyed (either dark brown or dark blue. phrase used in The Highwayman ) 

and many more. 

Personality Traits and quirks 

Making your character realistic can be hard sometimes. 

sometimes I make a character unrealistically perfect. 

If your character is overly perfect the reader is less likely to like them… 

here are some personality traits: 

loyalty 

courages 

Shyness 

edgy 

talkative 

smart 

thoughtful 

stubborn 

proud 

selfless 

kind

crazy 

clumsy 

quirks: 

has a unusual fear 

is clumsy 

has a unusual obsession with something 

does a movement with their hands while talking 

Backstory 

Backstories are important for characters, it makes them who they are… 

how did they end up going on this adventure? what made them what they want to become? 

here are some back story ideas: 

They lost someone they loved 

They where betrayed 

They come from a normal family but have a past that they are unaware of. 

They lost their memory 

and more...

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I hope this was helpful, I will be posting part 2 soon...


-Quinley

Do you like creating characters? and which one is your favorite of the ones you created? 

Feel free to comment!:)