Reading · Jodi Spins Stories

In a few hours, I have to get in the car and drive, because tomorrow I’ll be at the Cecil County Children’s Book Festival in Maryland. If you’re in the area, come by!

But that means I have a few hours to write a newsletter.1

This question came a bit ago and I’ve been mulling over it ever since:

How do you make your characters seem real? I’m writing a book right now and keep messing up on the smart, clever, prideful, manipulator antagonist. How do I make her lies sound real and not just something you made up on a sunday afternoon?
Love, Sophie

Sophie, this is THE question, isn’t it?! One of the constant struggles, as an author, is to write characters who feel real and consistent (and occasionally realistically inconsistent), characters who readers love to hate and hate to love, characters who — when they step on the page — you and the readers both get excited because you know this is going to be good.

Whole books could be written about how to create believable characters, but let’s go over a few things to get you started.

Since you specifically said you’re working on your antagonist, I’m going to share these tips for writing about someone who is not a point-of-view character. This could be your antagonist, yes, but also your main character’s best friend, the shopkeeper they interact with regularly, their parents . . . anyone like that.

So the first thing first . . .

Duh, right? But I mean it. The more you know about your character, the easier the rest will be. You’ll naturally include more of this person on the page because there’s just more to draw from.

So take some time and write about their backstory. How did they get this way? What are some of the defining events of their childhood? Did they have a good relationship with their parents? What do they love or hate?

You already know what their defining characteristics are from your main character’s point of view, but do you know what their defining characteristics are from their own point of view? If your main character thinks of someone as prideful, ask yourself: are they really prideful, or is that a front to hide some inner wound? But perhaps they really believe they’re that great because when they were a child, no one ever told them they had room for improvement. What have they experienced that reinforces their behavior and attitude?

Work to understand their goals and motivations from their side. Go all therapist on them and really dig in to find out what drives them. Get to know them as well as you know your protagonist.

Related to that . . .

You specifically mentioned a character who lies a lot. Maybe you aren’t a great liar yourself. That’s okay! (That’s probably good . . .) But you can learn how liars work, just like you can learn about other character traits and occupations.

Check out psychology articles and videos. (Double check credentials and get multiple sources; remember, people lie online, too.) Watch documentaries and read biographies or memoirs about famous liars. (They’re probably famous for something else, but lying might be a big part of how they got where they are/were.) Read other books about characters like yours and make notes about how the authors convinced you. If you can interview an expert/someone with experience, do that!

One thing a lot of us find out about research: we usually get more than we asked for. By that, I mean you’ll not only find the answer you needed, but lots of other interesting information that can help you round out your character and world.2 Like, you probably knew that sheep have to get sheared once or twice a year, but did you know they have to get sheared because we made them that way? That says something interesting about humans’ relationship with nature and livestock, doesn’t it? And could inform a character’s sense of responsibility to their flock, or perhaps more complicated feelings about how they view . . . people. Yikes?

All that to say: good research is going to give you a lot more than a simple yes or no. Learn how to use that.

By now, you’ve probably figured out a lot of what your secondary character likes and dislikes, but take a moment to consider how that works for/against your main character . . . and other characters!

What does this secondary character like or admire about others in the story? What do they hate about them? How do they interact with various characters in the book? It can be really interesting when an antagonist truly admires something about the protagonist, you know?

Of course, we don’t have to stop with relationships. Are they a foodie? Do they have a secret collection of stuffed animals? Any hobbies or passions they’re always engaged in?

A mustache-twirling villain is classic, obviously, but a villain who dearly loves that mustache and spends every morning doing whatever it is that people with facial hair do to maintain it . . . well, that’s kind of sweet, isn’t it? Human, even.

Okay, so we’ve talked about understanding the character and why they are the way they are, but how do you get that on the page?

VERBS.

Okay, not just verbs, but truly, some good verbs are going to do a lot of heavy lifting here. Someone very confident may saunter or stroll, while someone more timid may creep or scuttle or sidle.

How does their posture reflect who they are (or who they’re pretending to be)? What about their environment reveals something intriguing? Can their wardrobe show something about their character?

You can be subtle here. You don’t need your POV character to identify everything and tie it to a particular character trait for your reader. Just think about the difference between a filthy evil lair with, idk, guano and trash all over — and an evil lair that’s tidy, a place for everything and everything in its place. Those are very different villains.

Maybe your character wants to be liked! So the way they interact with others is going to be in service of that goal. Maybe they want to dominate. Again, that’s going to change how they move through the world. Their conversations and actions should reflect those desires.

Remember, everything your readers know about your non-POV characters will be filtered through your POV character, so obviously there are going to be some limitations about what makes it onto the page. If your POV character likes the other person, they’ll probably describe that character in a kinder, more flattering way. If they hate the other character, it’s going to be the opposite — waaaay less forgiving and flattering!

If you’re trying to figure out how to believably make your antagonist manipulate your main character, figure out why your main character has to believes the lies. What about their relationship so far has created that kind of trust? Or is it fear? Does the POV character believe the antagonist will follow through on threats? (That is a kind of trust, isn’t it?)

Consider their relationship so far. Again, spend some time thinking about how their backstories intersect. Consider how your POV character’s separate backstory may affect how they view this other person. What about their relationship and history with other people affects their relationship and present with this one?

Overall, antagonists (and all secondary characters!) are people, too. I mean, they’re fictional people when we’re writing about them in a fiction book. But you know what I mean. Taking the time to understand them with the same depth and empathy as you do with your point of view characters.

If you take one thing from all my rambling, I hope it’s this: BE CURIOUS.

I checked my archives to see if I’d written about character creation before, but . . . not really! This letter about writing details might be useful, though, if you haven’t seen it already, and then there’s this one about writing group dynamics.

Okay, that’s all for now. I need to finish packing and be on my way. But I hope this is helpful, Sophie. Thanks for the fantastic question.

How to write non-POV characters who seem real

Comments