It’s been a L-O-N-G series, but I wanted to especially focus in on different tools you can use to identify your characters’ personality types, by looking at least a couple different tools. I started with the D-I-S-C, but you’ll need to finish it. Just Google the DISC personalities, and you’ll find a wealth of information. [bctt tweet=”Giving your characters unique and individual personalities will make them more interesting, plus your readers will care about them..” username=”@donnalhsmith @a3forme”] #amwriting #characters
Today, I’m wrapping this series up with an encouragement to delve into personality types, characteristics, emotions, and motivations.
Tom Sawyer’s book Fiction Writing Demystified, has a long chapter on creating vivid, memorable, and engaging characters. We looked at a bit of that another time.
I’ll just list a few things to think about as you’re creating your characters.
- Write their backstory, which is their biography. Where and when were they born? Family background? What were the circumstances surrounding their birth?
- What is their emotional makeup? The personalities will help you figure out how your character is wired.
- What does each character want? How far are they willing to go to get what they want?
- How will you work in conflict between characters that drives the story and fuels the plot?
- What are the opinions of the characters? How can you use those to create conflict?
- How can you make your protagonist the kind of character that everyone can root for? Likeable, strong, catalystic, yet identifiable, while still being larger-than-life?
These are just a few of the questions to ask yourself in beginning to creating extraordinary characters. [bctt tweet=”Compelling characters don’t just happen. They are created by you, the author.” username=”@donnalhsmith @a3forme”] #amwriting #characters
