Give Your Characters Dimension

 

By Andrea Merrell

I’ve always said I don’t have an artistic bone in my body, at least when it comes to sketching and drawing.

When first asked to draw a simple box—many, many moons ago—it looked something like this:

Proud of my accomplishment, I was surprised when the teacher said, “That’s a good start, but there’s more to it. Your box is flat. Lifeless. It needs dimension.”

I stared at my paper, confused and trying to figure out what she meant. It looked fine to me. Then she demonstrated, and the result was:

Wow! What a difference. She made my box come to life.

And that’s exactly what we need to do with our characters. Give them depth. Dimension. Make them come to life.

When we create characters, we want them to be memorable. We might first concentrate on their age, appearance, and occupation, but there is so much more.

Since we’re not perfect, we don’t want to read about someone who is. We love to see strengths, but we also want to see weaknesses. When the characters’ flaws are exposed, readers can better relate and connect with them.

Here are some questions to ask yourself when creating your protag’s profile:

• What is her background?
• What type of family did she grow up in?
• What makes her tick?
• Has she suffered great pain or loss?
• Does she have irrational fears? If so, what are they?
• Has she suffered abuse or trauma?
• Does she have trust issues?
• What is her goal, her greatest desire?
• How does she pursue it?
• What causes her joy or angst?
• Does she have annoying habits?
• How does she deal with others?
• What does she think about herself?
• Does she have a unique voice?

Fleshing out your characters is easy and can be a lot of fun. Think about the people you know. The ones you come in contact with.

 “Be creative. Make them funny, loveable, irritating, charming, evil, mysterious, predictable, arrogant, or just plain quirky. When your readers connect with your characters, they will remember them long after they read the last page of your story.” **

These are just a few suggestions. If you have others that have worked for you, we would love for you to share them.

** Excerpt from Murder of a Manuscript: Writing and Editing Tips to Keep Your Book Out of the Editorial Graveyard.