Giving characters goals, motivation, conflict, and stakes
The secret to a great character is the same as the secret to a great plot: Goals, Motivations, Conflicts, and Stakes (GMCS). GMCS are the scaffolding that gives your plot meaning and momentum, and similarly, GMCS provides the gas to keep your characters moving and engaged in the world and events around them.
Creating unique and relatable characters
Often, when authors are looking to create a character their readers will love, they go for relatability: making a character who the imagined reader will find familiar. Someone just like them, with similar life experiences, tastes, and opinions, who watches the same shows, shops at the same stores, and likes the same bands. While this can work for a quick hit of identification, it’s rarely enough to sustain reader investment, because this kind of character is ultimately a blank slate.
Designing flawed characters in storytelling
Common writing advice is to make sure your character has flaws. While this is broadly true, what makes a good character flaw is dependent on narrative, genre, and to a certain extent, taste.
Character backstory tips for better writing
Use backstory to help shape how your characters think, behave, and act in the story. Learn how backstory serves narrative and how to weave it into the story organically.
Write characters with internal conflict
Internal conflict is a type of conflict in a narrative where a character is in conflict with themselves, and is usually contrasted to external conflict. In broad terms, external conflict is the fight a character is having with a person, force, or thing outside of them, and internal conflict is the fight they have with themselves. Adding in internal conflict can be a great way to make external conflict feel bigger and to give your story more emotional weight.
How to craft unforgettable characters (video)
Characters are the heartbeat of stories, infusing them with emotion, depth, and resonance. In this exploration of character development, we dive into the art of creating unforgettable characters, drawing insights from Story School Season 2, Episode 4. Join us as Wattpad Content Expert Harry Hanson and Wattpad Creator and published author Fallon DeMornay share their expertise. Learn how to craft characters that leap off the page and into readers’ hearts.
