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Creating Believable Charaters
What Works, What Doesn’t
When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature. ― Ernest Hemingway, Death in the Afternoon
Amy Tan’s Masterclass segment on creating believable fictional characters is my inspiration this time, since even though the story is fiction, you want your characters to be believable. Over the years, I have tried these things, and I can attest to their effectiveness.
When we are writing our fictional character, we often find inspiration from those around us, not every little detail of course, but when we are writing, creating a believable character begins with what we glean from our lives and experiences, as well as the people around us.
A lot of my stories were inspired by my best friend, and one of my biggest supporters. She always encouraged me to write, and even though she has been gone for almost 18 years, if I had only used happy emotions, the stories wouldn’t have sounded real!
Creating characters is like throwing together ingredients for a recipe. I take characteristics I like and dislike in real people I know, or know of, and use them to embellish and define characters. ― Cassandra Clare
Ever read a book or a story with a character who is good or evil, but neither seems grounded…
