How to create your main character

On a recent episode of the podcast, we discussed the idea of having the basics of a story planned, but no characters to move the plot. We pretty much come to the conclusion that a plot without characters isn’t actually a plot.

I don’t want to rehash what we talked about in this post, but I do want to take a quick look at what comes next. If you have the beginnings of a plot, but no characters, what do you do? Where do you start?

So here are four questions to ask yourself when creating your main character.

Is this the best character to tell your story?

Don’t just create some random dude and insert him into your book because you can’t come up with anybody else. A random dude won’t be able to realistically drive the plot. There needs to be some connection between your main character and your overall story. Random dudes are the characters that the plot happens to, not the other way around.

If you’ve planned out your character well, he or she will have plenty of strengths and weaknesses. Use those to make that connection. And yes, it is cool (and common, and realistic) to have the “common man” fall into the uncommon adventure. But that doesn’t mean your common man doesn’t need to be well thought out and have unique abilities that make him the best character to tell your story.

Is this the best character accomplish your goal?

Maybe another way to look at this question is to first ask “what is your goal?” Why are you writing this story? If pure entertainment is your goal, then create an entertaining character. Look at what makes an entertaining character and make it work. But also make sure it fits the tone of your story. Don’t, for example, use a character who is too humorous if the tone of the story is dark and serious.

If redemption is your theme, make your character the type of person who needs to be redeemed, but also keep the character likeable enough for the read to care about said redemption.

Is this character you?

Unless you’re writing an autobiography, the answer to this question should be no. We don’t like Mary Sue and neither should you. I understand that there is a little bit of all of us in the characters we create, but it’s important to throw as many “no you” things into your character as you can, otherwise the “you” stuff will be the largest identifier of your character.

Is this character real?

Writing is reality. When you are writing (political commentary excluded) you are writing a truth. If not true to our world, true to the world inside your story. And that world must be filled with real, believable characters if you have any hope of drawing in your readers.

I like to do the “would a real person react that way” test. If your character does something blatantly stupid, out of the ordinary, or out of character, your reader will role their eyes and say “oh come on.” And then possibility throw down your book because it’s “unrealistic.”

So keep it real 🙂

I know coming up with realistic interesting characters can be a difficult thing to do. What I’ve been doing with the novels I’m working on right now is to use some fairly detailed character sheets and do a bit of pre-writing. I don’t consider writing a bunch of backstory (that no one will ever see) for your main character a waste of time at all and I think it’s definitely something you should consider while you go through these four questions and getting to know your character.

Especially if you happen to be one of those writers who can come up with a plot, but no characters.

Best of luck with your writing, and if you’ve got any character tips you’d like to share, feel free to leave them in the comments section!