Top 6 Ways to Make Your Characters Believable

You don’t want to write a story and have your characters walking around like a thin slice of cardboard, do you? Here are my top 6 ways to make sure your characters have depth to make them not only believable but enjoyable for your readers.

1. Pain

No one’s life is perfect no matter what social media is trying to portray. Everyone goes through hard times, and everyone cries. Show these emotions in your characters to make them connect to your readers. It doesn’t have to be a pain that’s life changing. It can be emotional, mental or physical but have them experience some discomfort in their life. Perfect isn’t realistic.

2. Passion/Goal/Will to Live

Why are your characters here? What will do they have to live their lives every day?

Giving your characters passion not only makes them relatable but it gives them a purpose to why they are living their lives in your story. It gives them meaning and something to aim for. It also helps you to set up blockage that can defer your character from reaching their goals which can add depth to your story.

3. Give Them a Voice

Don’t have all your characters sound the same. Even if they were brought up together or living in the same house or even twins, each one of your characters have a unique way of saying what they have to say even if it’s just in an accent. Give them a special tone that your readers will recognize as them without the need of dialogue tags.

4. Fear

Your characters have a fear whether they want to admit it or not. When it comes to the antagonist their fear is failing at destroying the protagonist. Don’t try to hide your characters fear because making that fear present adds suspense to the story and makes your readers want to read on.

5. Unconditional Love

Everyone loves something whether it’s themselves, somebody else, an object, something that’s fake or something that’s real. Love is there for everyone so don’t forget to show their selfish side or their compassionate side when it comes to what your characters love unconditionally.

6. Hate

Your characters don’t have to like everything. In fact, having a strong dislike will make them more believable because people don’t like everything. Saying what your characters don’t like is as informative as saying what they do like because it helps to paint an overall picture of your characters.

What do you think is another good way to make your character believable? Please leave a comment below. I would love to hear your thoughts!

Happy Writing!

-Shaquanda

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