Monday Motivation: Ten steps to a compelling character
Once in a while, when I have the time, I allow myself the luxury of writing an extremely abbreviated Monday Motivation.
I was trawling through old notes of mine and came across a short and concise advisory list for anyone wishing to create a fictional character. It’s one I devised some years ago for a weekend retreat.
I thought, reading it now: gosh, difficult to improve on that.
So here it is: a recipe for creating a compelling and relatable character:
- Give them a goal.
- Give them a vulnerability.
- Give them a flaw.
- Give them a history.
- Give them a personality.
- Give them a distinctive voice.
- Make them complex, and contradictory.
- Make them active; give them agency.
- Let them fail.
- Make them suffer…
Happy writing,
Richard
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