Character Development: How to Create Realistic Characters for Your Fiction Novel

Writers engage readers by creating fictional characters with clear goals and introducing challenging obstacles. The core of storytelling lies in creating conflict within the narrative. A crucial part of achieving reader connection is making characters relatable. While character development is a frequently mentioned term in literary discussions, it is an important part of fiction writing, as a key link to the main narrative arc.

In this post I’ll cover:

• The definition of character development
• Why character development is important in fiction writing
• The definition of a character arc
• Common character types
• How to bring your characters to life
• How to develop different types of characters
• Tips for excellent character development

What is character development?

Character development involves the intricate process of creating fictional characters with the depth and complexity of real-life human beings. Throughout the journey of writing a story, authors invest time and creativity in developing numerous character traits. These traits serve to fully flesh out the people who inhabit the story, breathing life into the fictional world.

In the meticulous crafting of character development, writers often incorporate various elements to ensure a well-rounded description, which includes:

• Backstory: A backstory refers to events that happened before the story’s plot, (a traumatic childhood) yet still affect the plot itself.
• Goals: A character’s goals often drive the majority of the story’s plot and character arcs.
• Flaws: In real life, every person has flaws (laziness, impulsivity, pride) therefore every character must have flaws, too, so they are relatable.  
• Personality: Personality is a pattern of thoughts, actions, and beliefs. The traits a character has will combine to create their personality.
• Worldview: A character’s worldview is a combination of their religious, philosophical, and political beliefs that shape how they interact with the world.
• Physical traits: Physical traits are what a character looks like on the outside (brown eyes, black hair, muscular, etc.).
• Moral values: Moral values separate what is right from wrong and control the way a character thinks and behaves.
• Spiritual beliefs: Spiritual beliefs include the relationship to a superior being.

Why is character development important in fiction writing?

A novel is essentially the interaction of a character navigating through events over time. The character and plot go hand in hand because, in reality, a person (character) is shaped by the experiences (plot) they undergo. If readers lack a clear understanding of who the character is (their values, fears, and identity) they won’t grasp the full significance of the events, and your story will have no impact.

Similar to real people, fictional characters have pets, hobbies, personal histories, obsessions, and thoughts. These characteristics play a crucial role in shaping how a character responds to and emotionally processes the event in their life. To improve your fiction novel, it’s important to understand all sides of your characters so that you can carefully describe how they might react when faced with the pressures of the events unfolding in the story.

What is a character arc?

Before diving into character development, let’s take a look at the definition of a character arc. A character arc is a personal growth (internal change) your character goes through throughout the story. For a story to push a character through a character arc, it must present challenges that lack straightforward solutions. These challenges play a part in the character’s moral growth, eventually conveying insights into the broader aspects of the human condition.  

Some key parts that make up a character arc include:

• A desire: something they want more than anything else
• A need: something they need, such as a moral change or a realization of the truth; different than their desire
• A flaw: something that they do not realize about themselves or others; it’s holding them back

Common Character Types

In the diverse realm of storytelling, characters come in various types, often falling into archetypal molds or, at times, recognizable stereotypes. The alignment of certain character types with specific genres adds depth and authenticity to a story – for instance, the cozy mystery genre finds its perfect match in the character of an amateur sleuth.

Here is a concise overview of the most common character types:

Archetypes

Archetypes are recurring character types found in both fiction and mythology, representing universal and timeless themes. They are like classes of characters that draw upon shared experiences, traits, and actions, aiming to create characters recognizable across diverse cultural backgrounds.

When used correctly, archetypes allow characters to become relatable and understandable to the reader. If used incorrectly, however, the characters will become flat and boring.

The most common character archetypes (and their traits and pitfalls) include:

• Caregiver
  • Traits: Compassionate, caring, selfless, loyal, loving
  • Pitfalls: Vulnerable, lack of personal goals, too selfless
• Everyman
  • Traits: Hard-working, kind, grounded, relatable, empathetic, accepting, belonging
  • Pitfalls: Unprepared, lack of power
• Creator
  • Traits: Creative, driven, imaginative, obsessive, strong-willed
  • Pitfalls: Perfectionist, selfish, unreliable, egotistical, single-minded
• Explorer
  • Traits: Driven, independent, curious, courageous
  • Pitfalls: Selfish, aimless, never satisfied
• Hero
  • Traits: Strong, honorable, courageous, persistent
  • Pitfalls: Arrogance
• Child/Innocent
  • Traits: Trusting, honest, open, caring, loving, sincere, enthusiastic
  • Pitfalls: Naïve, unskilled/powerless, vulnerable, inexperienced
• Joker/Jester
  • Traits: Likeable, humorous, fun-loving
  • Pitfalls: Impulsive, obnoxious, shallow
• Lover
  • Traits: Caring, protective, devoted, compassionate
  • Pitfalls: Jealousy, obsessive, scared of loneliness
• Magician
  • Traits: Clever, intelligent, intuitive, perceptive, powerful, disciplined, omniscient and/or omnipotent
  • Pitfalls: Selfishness, conceited, arrogance
• Orphan
  • Traits: Driven, determined, empathetic, survivalist
  • Pitfalls: Unconfident, underdeveloped, lack of access to resources
• Outlaw/Rebel
  • Traits: Strong, courageous, resourceful, natural leader, honorable, charismatic
  • Pitfalls: Lawbreaker fanatic, goal obsessed, rigid, lack of power, lack of resource
• Ruler
  • Traits: Powerful, stable, high status, charismatic, access to resources
  • Pitfalls: Controlling, greedy, fear of losing status, disliked, many enemies
• Mentor/Sage
  • Traits: Patient, wise, insightful, rational, caring
  • Pitfalls: Arrogant, isolated, passive, cautious
• Seductress
  • Traits: Clever, manipulative, charismatic, survivor, amoral, independent
  • Pitfalls: Isolated, selfish, standoffish

Stereotypes

Stereotypes are essentially cliches that can be detrimental or offensive to individuals with particular identities or histories. Often they overlook, oversimplify, or reduce the complexity of human experiences. Also, they are sometimes used for what is considered “edgy” or politically incorrect humor and they frequently hold complex political or even one-sided undertones.

Typically when stereotypes are used in writing, readers get the impression that these beliefs are facts. Understanding existing stereotypes is important so you don’t replicate them in your own story.

How to Bring Your Characters to Life

Character description is interwoven with character development. Since readers cannot physically see the characters in your story, it’s up to you to show them through body language and voice. Here are some ways to describe characters that bring them to life:

• Physical features: face (eye color, hair color/length, nose shape, mouth shape, etc), body (short, tall, thin, overweight, birthmarks, tattoos, etc.), the way they normally dress (shorts, jeans, skirts, dresses, baggy or tight-fitting clothes, etc.)
• Movement and gestures: posture, the way they walk and stand, expressions
• Voice: vocal pitch and tone, accent, dialect, how formally/informally they speak
• Actions: actions describe personality because they expose personality traits (being loyal or manipulating other characters to get ahead)

How to Develop Different Types of Characters

At the heart of exceptional storytelling lies a captivating array of character types. The main character (protagonist) must have depth and intrigue, expressing a dynamic quality that keeps readers engaged. The supporting characters (antagonists) are just as important. These characters can range from sidekicks and love interests to parental figures, villains, and anti-heroes. Secondary characters round out the story and help the reader understand the protagonist and/or antagonist on a deeper level.  

Character Development: Developing a Protagonist

A protagonist is the main character who usually has a clear goal. They are the key decision-makers in a story and they drive the story’s action.

1. Don’t make them perfect.

Flawless protagonists tend to be rather boring. Great characters develop from the trials they go through. In real life, humans have flaws so a believable and relatable protagonist should have human flaws, too.

2. Give them a character arc.

A memorable character goes through some kind of change throughout the story (the character arc). Struggles make a character’s path to their goals more interesting and intriguing.

3. Describe them clearly.

Readers like to imagine what the main character looks like. Good character development is describing the protagonist clearly so their actions and aspirations come to life. Describe their physical details as well as their personality.

4. Give them a challenge.

Your protagonist is the character driving your story, so their dilemma needs to be central to the plot. They should be the only character who can solve the problem.

5. Give them motivation.

There should be an internal reason for your protagonist to take risks and make challenging decisions. Give them motivation that every reader can relate to, such as fear, hope, or the need to be loved or accepted.

6. Allow your protagonist to fail.

To make a character feel relatable to every reader, they shouldn’t be good at everything they do. A protagonist who succeeds in achieving every goal is boring and most people can’t identify with that. It’s okay to allow your protagonist to fail. Even if they do achieve their goal, they should struggle and sacrifice to get there.

Character Development: Developing an Antoganist

Antagonists serve as primary adversaries whose goals either clash with or directly oppose those of the protagonist. The antagonist is the most challenging obstacle your protagonist will have to overcome throughout your story.

1.  Make their motivation flawed.

Motivation is the most important part of any good antagonist. To make your antagonist believable, their motivation needs to be flawed. Flawed motivation is what separates the heroes from their enemies.

Character motivation is the driver on the road trip of your character’s story. But the road is bumpy and filled with potholes, and the steering wheel is missing, and they’re running out of gas. – Doug Landborough

https://www.dabblewriter.com/articles/types-of-character-motivation

2. Give them a believable backstory.

Rather than have an evil villain be born bad, show the reader what caused the antagonist to turn evil. Giving the antagonist a believable backstory builds empathy. Explore their past events (troubled childhood, dark past) that led up to their wickedness.

3. Identify when they became evil.

Include the key moment where the antagonist changed and embraced their inner darkness. For instance, it could be a feeling of neglect from their childhood or a traumatic experience in adulthood.

4. Make them powerful.

The villain should be a challenging match for your hero and more powerful. While readers want to see your protagonist succeed, they don’t want it to be too easy for them.

5. Show how they outsmart the protagonist.

Readers may become doubtful if your antagonist gets away with everything. You can explain this by giving them a job in which they are respected and can hide in plain sight or someone who is a helper on the inside.

Character Development: Developing Secondary Characters

Secondary characters may satisfy important roles to the protagonist, such as their friend or confidant, mentor or guardian, sidekick, or love interest.

Here are some reasons why you should use secondary characters in your writing:

• to highlight the protagonist’s arcs
• to create an atmosphere
• to shape the decisions of the protagonist
• for mystery and suspense

Some tips for secondary character development include:

1. Make them oppositional.

Providing opposing viewpoints to secondary characters enables you to dive into your themes, settings, and moral ambiguities from a broader range of perspectives. This not only maintains complexity but also keeps the reader engaged and interested.

2. Make them complementary.

Secondary characters play essential roles by aiding the protagonist with diverse skill sets, serving as a sounding board or emotional support. They encounter challenges that require the protagonist’s assistance and even offer comic relief occasionally.

Tips for Excellent Character Development

Like people, characters in a story are not perfect. They don’t always need to be likable, however, they must always be interesting. Here are some tips for excellent character development:

1. Develop characters who share the same interests as you.

The rule “write what you know” can also apply to the characters in your fiction novel. You will be spending a lot of time with them so don’t be scared to give your protagonist interests that reflect your own. However, be sure to give precedence to your passions and ensure that your main characters naturally develop from the setting and themes you’ve already established.

2. Create memorable characters.

Be sure that protagonists and antagonists are memorable in some way so that readers can tell who is who. Give them a specific quirk or quality that will be used throughout the story.

3. Let the reader see the character’s inner conflict.

Internal monologue creates intimacy with the reader and gets them to care about your protagonist. Let the reader see a character’s thoughts, which shows the character’s inner conflict, motivations, opinions, and personality. Doing this reveals character and it’s a great way to communicate information about your setting, themes, and other characters.

4. Give them the right skills.

Your characters need to have the required skills to function in your setting. If your novel is set on a ranch, make sure your character knows how to handle farm animals.

5. Surprise your readers.

When something unexpected happens, readers sit up and pay attention. The most interesting characters will surprise your readers.

6. Show the character’s observations of others.

Novels become particularly intriguing when various characters perceive different views of others. For example, one character may see the loud girl at the bar as obnoxious, yet another might view her as fun. Also, incorporate the viewer’s emotional response to the character (Is the narrator impressed, intimidated, fearful?). Showing diverse interpretations of each other in this way significantly builds a sense of complex character psychology and multiple perspectives.

7. Show character motives through their interactions with others.

Instead of writing about how jealous your character is of her step-daughter, show the jealousy to your readers in the way the mother and step-daughter interact.

Find more novel writing tips in these posts:

• Brainstorming Ideas and Techniques for Your Fiction Novel
• How to Create Central Conflict in Your Fiction Novel
• 6 Crucial Grammar Tips for Fiction Writers
• Master the Art of Sentence Structure with These Simple Rules

Books on character development:

*As an Amazon affiliate I earn a teeny tiny commission if you make a purchase. (And I mean tiny!)

• The Craft of Character: How to create deep and engaging characters your audience will never forget
• Fantastic Characters and How to Write Them: Develop Amazing Characters That Your Readers Will Never Forget (Write Better Stories)