Have you ever thought about how to make a character for your dream story? Speaking from personal experience, making characters is a lot of fun as it fires up your brain’s creative side. However, starting this process can also be difficult. You have to think about what they look like, where they are from, and what is their role in the story.
Whenever I brainstorm characters for my original characters, I keep certain aspects in mind and then build from there. One easy facet to begin with is their appearance. What does your character look like? What age are they? What ethnicity are they? If your character isn’t human, what type of being are they?
A second characteristic to consider is this: What role does your character play? Are they the main character? Are they the protagonist? Are they the antagonist? Or do they play a supporting role? Identifying your character’s role will help you develop their background, as well as planning what they do in the story.
In this blog post, I will show you 3 ways on how to make a character for your dream story. The information you will learn today is not only limited to writing fiction. You can apply these methods toward making comics, art, plays, films, and animation videos.
Review the story and storyline
In learning how to make a character for your dream story, the first step is to review the story and storyline. I will also explain what a storyline is if you have never heard of it before.
What is a storyline?
A storyline is defined as “the plot of a novel, play, movie, or other narrative form” (Google). Storylines are written in various ways, depending on the author’s methods. There is no right or wrong way to make one; however, storylines all share certain commonalities. In the next few paragraphs below, I will provide a scenario and how it can be made into a storyline.
Scenario 1
Let’s say I want to write a book where Gabriela is in her sophomore year of college and she is struggling with her classes. Her major is Botany. She is thinking about dropping out of school because she believes there is no point in going. Gabriela feels like she lacks purpose in life. One day, while Gabriela is studying lazily in her dorm room, a large earthquake happens which forces all of the students to evacuate.
After Gabriela is outside of her dormitory, she sees a huge crater in the middle of where her campus used to be. Shortly after she notices it, demons with wings start flying out of the crater. They dive toward the students in order to steal their souls. Gabriela tries to run away, but she trips over some debris. One demon notices her and it grabs her with its large claws. Gabriela struggles to pry the claws off of her; however, she feels her life is starting to fade away.
Just when Gabriela thinks it is over for her, her eyes suddenly open and they start to glow. Large vines and roots emerge from the ground, wrapping around the demon. These plants pull the demon away, flinging it toward the crater and freeing Gabriela. As she clumsily lands on the ground, more demons lunge toward her. Gabriela screams in fear and flails her arms recklessly. Trees start to form from beneath the cement, and Gabriela ends up making a small, dense forest of protection.
She notices how her hand movements are causing plant life to form from the earth. Gabriela then wipes her tears away, deciding to fight for her life and save her classmates. After successfully driving away the demons, everyone else who remains on campus is relieved. People thank Gabriela for saving them, proclaiming she is their new hero. Gabriela also feels happy that she helped people, and her heart doesn’t feel as empty anymore.
End of scenario 1
What I wrote in those previous paragraphs is an opening scenario I came up with. While everything I’ve written is considered to be a one-page summary of the opening, fleshing out a storyline requires more thought and organization. Personally I would take a look at the opening summary, scouting it for the main events.
Here is how I would say what the storyline is:
- Gabriela, a botany major at her college, creates a new purpose in her life by becoming a superhero after discovering her powers.
Do you see how this single sentence tells you the overall plot of the story? Storylines do not always have to be written in one sentence. I’m just sharing the method I use whenever I brainstorm new plotlines.
If you want to learn more about making storylines, you can click on the link below:
Let’s get back to why the first step is to review the story and storyline. Going over these aspects should come first because the character you want to make is determined by what your story is all about. Strong characters are based on solid stories that define who they are.
Even if you initially think of a character archetype, you would still need a story to act as a guide for their development. The storyline gives your character a clear role and purpose. Not having a story is like sculpting a mannequin out of clay without adding any color or features. I wouldn’t know how they move or what they even look like.
Here are three classic examples of character archetypes and how they relate to the story about Gabriela, the botanist heroine:
- Hero/Heroine: This is usually the main character who goes on an adventure or has a central purpose throughout the plot. If we go back to my opening scenario about Gabriela, it is clear that she is the heroine of that story. The demons would be the antagonists from that scene. A more powerful villain could be the demon king who appears during the climax.
- Mentor: This character is more knowledgeable than the main character, and they help the protagonist unlock their full potential. In the story scenario earlier, I talked about how Gabriela just discovered she has plant-like powers. Even though the first battle is successful, Gabriela struggles to control her powers later on in the story. She may have to travel around Earth, or perhaps to other planets, to seek a mentor who can help her. The mentor would be the more experienced botanist meta-human, Vida, who resides alone in the Infinite Forest.
- Lover/Love interest: This character is the person whom the main character can be in a relationship with. Even if there is no relationship, one or both parties have a crush on the other person. Continuing on with the previous story, Gabriela fights a second battle against the demons when another crater forms in a metropolis. This battle is different from her first one because the demons anticipated Gabriela’s appearance, preparing in advance. This army is composed of hellish soldiers, and they are led by the handsome demon general, Leon. During battle, Leon almost defeats Gabriela. However, Gabriela manages to win by creating impenetrable crystal flower petals covering the city. This demonic army retreats since they cannot break through. As they are leaving, Leon starts to become attracted to Gabriela and her evolving strength.
Those are only three of the most common character archetypes used in fiction. Reviewing the story and storyline will help you come up with ideas for your cast. The main thing to keep in mind is to think about how your character affects the plot.
Identify the character’s role
Identifying the character’s role is the second step in how to make a character for your dream story. Knowing a character’s role matters for several reasons. In this blog post, I will talk about two of these points, as well as some character types.
To start off, you can build a cast who supports each other either directly or indirectly. Let’s say you’re going to write about a superhero who wants to save the world. No matter how powerful your character is, they cannot complete this mission on their own. In real life, anyone who is successful has never achieved it by themselves.
As the plot advances, you can introduce supporting characters who join the superhero. They eventually become a team. These people can encourage the protagonist whenever they lose confidence. They help the superhero become stronger whenever they all train together. You can even have one of the supporting characters, such as the protagonist’s rival, win a battle on their own.
The second reason as to why the character’s role matters is because you can create characters who oppose the protagonist. This character is often known as the antagonist. What’s surprising is that the antagonist is not always an evil villain who wants power. This person just gets in the way of the main character’s plans. The antagonist has their own agenda they are trying to achieve throughout the storyline.
Your main character can also run into the anti-hero. The anti-hero is simply a major character who has flaws, and they represent the darker sides of human morality. An example of an anti-hero would be a cynical person who fights alongside the protagonist during one battle. This anti-hero only helps because they are trying to protect their home, not because they care about saving the world. In the next clash, the anti-hero battles against the main character because they are offered money or something valuable by the antagonist. Characters can either be supportive of or against the protagonist.
If you would like to learn more about character types, you can click on the link below:
Identifying a character’s role essentially means these two pointers:
- What part do they play in the story?
- What is their purpose?
Once you answer these two questions, you will attain a general sense of who your character is and why they are significant in the plot. I will answer them by using my example of Gabriela, the plant-heroine.
What part does Gabriela play in my story?
Gabriela is the protagonist. She is a college student who isn’t a fan of school, but she attends university because her parents want her to go. In most of her classes, Gabriela has terrible grades since she feels like school is a waste of her time. The only thing Gabriela cares about is when she goes to her botany class to study plant biology. She also likes to garden, so she spends her time taking care of plants after her classes are done for the day. Despite having this passion for botany, Gabriela secretly wishes to do more with her life.
What is Gabriela’s purpose?
Since she is the main character, the story will naturally revolve around her. Gabriela is a college student who struggles with her studies and feels that life is pointless. People who have been in Gabriela’s shoes can relate to her internal dilemma. I wanted her to feel like she is only floating through life mindlessly because I once felt that way before. There are people in real life who are currently going through these circumstances. However, Gabriela becomes a superhero for this story and discovers her purpose is to defend the world from the demon army.
This transition shows that people can become the heroes of their life and go on their own unique adventures. In real life, someone who feels miserable can try to explore different professions or talk to new people in order to gain perspective. Everyone has the choice to do what they want to do. It is okay to take the time to figure out what life means to you.
It is necessary to identify the character’s role because this comprises the most significant aspects for developing the storyline. The persona your character stars in determines what major events happen, as well as whether they fill supportive or oppositional parts.
Flesh out the details
The third step in learning how to make a character is to flesh out the details. This is where you truly develop your character down to the tiniest elements.
There are infinite ways to do this. But for the sake of this post, I will break this process down into three categories. These consist of personality, relationships, and changes.
Personality
A character’s personality pertains to their general outlook on life, as well as how they interact with other people. Another way to look at this is How would you describe your friend if you had to write about their traits?
Here are some questions to consider:
- What kind of person is your character? Are they kind? Are they mean-spirited? Or are they in the middle?
- How does your character see life? Are they an optimist? Are they pessimistic? Do they have a neutral viewpoint?
Continuing with Gabriela, I would describe her personality as unmotivated in the beginning part of the story. She is passionate whenever botany is involved, but she is generally unmotivated about everything else. Gabriela would initially have a negative outlook on life due to a lack of purpose.
Once she discovers her powers and saves people, she gradually develops an optimistic view of life. Gabriela enjoys superpower training with Vida, as well as helping people. When she isn’t saving the world, Gabriela is kind to others by showing homeless people how to grow crops. She even rescues cats who get stuck from climbing tall trees.
Relationships
Relationships deal with how your character is connected to other people in the story. This can involve relatives such as your character’s parents, siblings, grandparents, or children. Even if they don’t have a biological family, your character could have a best friend, rival, or love interest.
I will list a couple examples of these below:
Roman and Mila: These would be Gabriela’s parents. Roman and Mila care about their daughter’s future and want her to excel in university. They call Gabriela every week to check on her progress, typically asking about her grades. Roman is a somewhat strict father who cares about performance, wanting Gabriela to take over his herb business once he retires. Mila is a carefree and kind parent whom Gabriela feels comfortable confiding in.
During the first battle, Roman and Mila see on TV that demons attacked the university Gabriela is staying at. Her parents rush to the airport, taking the first flight to go to their daughter. Gabriela is only able to meet her parents after the first battle has concluded. Roman and Mila were shocked to learn that Gabriela has superpowers since the couple is only human. Her parents eventually support Gabriela wanting to save the world, as well as learning how to control her powers.
Leo: Leo is one of the three generals who serves the demon king, Adriel. Leo used to be human, but he became a demon 100 years ago in order to save his village. His village was about to be attacked by a neighboring kingdom. The king of the land where he resided didn’t want to help since he was a coward. Leo made a deal to become a demon so that he could be strong enough to save the village. As a result, he defends the village but he was ostracized from his hometown since people were too afraid of him.
Leo feels like he lacks purpose until the demon king, Adriel, approaches him. Adriel witnessed how Leo defeated an entire army on his own, so he offers Leo a position to be one of the generals. He reluctantly accepts and has been fighting alongside Adriel ever since then. Although Leo has been a demon for an entire century, a part of him feels sick whenever he hurts people or steals their souls. Leo’s recent campaign against the humans is foiled when he meets Gabriela, a metahuman who specializes in botany manipulation. After his failure, he spies on Gabriela in order to find ways to defeat her. His personality gradually changes when he sees how kind and compassionate she is to people. Leo would be both Gabriela’s rival and eventual love interest.
Changes
Changes involve how your character becomes different as the plot progresses. Not everyone in the story goes through changes. However, a solid character will change after undergoing some development.
Here are some questions to consider:
- Does your character’s personality change? How were they before? What kind of person did they become at the end of the story?
- What main events affected your character? Did your character go through any positive or negative experiences?
- Does your character get into a relationship with someone? Does their partner influence them to become a better person?
I will talk more about Gabriela for this last bit.
I previously mentioned how Gabriela felt like she is unmotivated in life. She used to have a more cynical viewpoint on life until becoming a superhero. Once she accepts her new role as Earth’s heroine, Gabriela gains a newfound drive to become strong enough to defend her home planet. Gabriela also decides to be a better person overall. Even while training under Vida, she continues to go to university online and earns better grades in all her classes.
A main event which affects Gabriela would be the first battle where the demons from hell invade Earth. This battle is the first sighting of a demon army who boldly chooses to go out in daylight in their real forms. Most humans didn’t know demons exist before because demons normally come out at night, disguising themselves as humans. A second main event would be when Gabriela discovers her botanical powers while defending herself during the first battle.
The primary relationship Gabriela has is with Leo. For half of the plot, Gabriela and Leo are rivals and enemies. Leo leads campaigns to invade Earth; however, Gabriela shows up every time to defend the humans. It frustrates Leo, so he taunts Gabriela about how much of a goody two shoes she is. He observes how Gabriela goes out of her way to help people, and Leo believes it’s worthless to help others when they aren’t truly grateful for it. Gabriela explains how helping people is her life’s purpose, and there’s no point in her having powers if she cannot make a difference in the world.
This reminds Leo of how he gave up his humanity and became a demon to defend his village in the past. After the duo spends more time with each other, Gabriela and Leo fall in love. In the second half of the story, Leo officially joins Gabriela as her partner. Leo rediscovers how much he loves helping people. Being a superhero is a way he can atone for past sins. Gabriela and Leo both change greatly throughout the story.
While fleshing out the details of a character can occur in many ways, a good benchmark is to figure out their personality, relationships, and changes. Additional things to look at would also be a character’s appearance, as well as the events they are involved in.
Now you learned the basics of how to make a character for your dream story. The main steps I mentioned are to review the story and storyline, identify the character’s role, and to flesh out the details. Like I mentioned before, you can also use these methods for comics, art, plays, films, and animation videos. You’ll be creating amazing characters in no time!
Comment down below and let’s talk about what kind of characters you are interested in. Are you making the main character or someone else?
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