How to Make Your Characters Memorable

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Characters take shape from the simplest clues.

Maybe you first reference the character as the boy or a tall girl. Even with those simple words, you’ve given that character life.

Before that, there wasn’t a boy or a tall girl.

BELOW ARE 5 DOS AND DON’Ts FOR CRAFTING CHARACTERS

1. Don’t over-dump physical details.

While it’s important to bring your characters to life through description, it’s best to limit including too many details. In other words, avoid over-dumping physical details.

An example of this might be Raul. A tall and thin twelve-year-old with green eyes, dark brown hair, and a swimmer’s body.

While you won’t be able to write all his details in one scene, and you shouldn’t even try.

However, there are techniques to convey physical characteristics without overdumping. 

To convey his height:

-The boys took turns hurling the paper airplane through the air until it got stuck in the branch of a tree. “You get it, Raul. You’re tall,” said Shawn. 

To convey his hair color:

-From the back, Mrs. Stenzer couldn’t tell which boy was Raul. They all had dark brown hair.  

To convey his body type:

-Raul was the only new kid on the swimming team who already had a swimmer’s body.

2. Avoid being too vague.

While you shouldn’t convey every detail of a character, you can provide enough to give the reader an idea of the character’s physical attributes. The reader can then fill in the details.

Two examples of this might be:

-His neat cut in the back and sides contrasted with the long hair in front that fell below his brows.

-He stretched his swimmer’s body and then raced into the ocean.

3. Include the character’s environment.

A character may live in an apartment in a low-income building. Another may live in the backwoods of the Appalachian Mountains. All this will give insight into the character.

Or the character may live in a penthouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Or the character may live in Saipan. 

The character’s environment can also include his past environment. 

I ghostwrote a book in which one of the characters went from a wealthy lifestyle to a poor one. This could tell a lot about why the character behaved in a certain way or why she was depressed. 

4. Include the character’s close relationships.

How your character engages with the different people in his family, friends, and new people will show different facets of his character.

The friends he associates with will also reveal some of his tendencies and character. The expression ‘birds of a feather flock together’ can play a factor in the character’s personality.

5. Include appearance and even sundry items.

How you describe your character’s appearance can tell a lot about that character. 

-Are his clothes neat and ironed, with his shirt tucked inside his pants? 
-Is he unkempt? Are his clothes wrinkled, with his shirt partially tucked in, or not?
-What about her hair? Is it a mess? Does it look dirty? Or is it well-groomed?
-Is his hair short or long? Is it well-kept?
-What does she keep in her backpack? 
-Does she always chew gum? 
-Does he always use breath mints? 

The list can go on and on. 

These are just five tips on how to use description to bring your characters to life and enhance your readers’ view of your characters. There are others, but this should give you a solid foundation for creating engaging characters.

 

Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the multi award-winning author of the HowToDoItFrugally series of books for authors and retailers. She was named Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment by members of the California Legislature and was an instructor for UCLA Extension’s renowned Writers’ Program for nearly a decade. Learn more about her writer’s services at https://CarolynHoward-Johnson.com.