Summary

The web content provides guidance on crafting memorable fictional characters by focusing on their appearance, origins, mannerisms, perspective, and point of view (POV).

Abstract

The article "How to Write Unforgettable Fictional Characters" emphasizes the importance of characters as the emotional core of any story. It advises writers to delve deeply into their characters' physical descriptions, backgrounds, and unique behaviors to avoid creating two-dimensional characters. The text suggests that a character's appearance and clothing can reveal much about their personality, as seen in Leigh Bardugo's description of Kaz Brekker. It also stresses the significance of a character's origins, including their cultural and familial influences, and how their past experiences shape their present actions and motivations. The article recommends using mannerisms to subtly convey personality traits without explicit explanation, adhering to the "show, don't tell" principle. Perspective is also highlighted as a crucial element, with the suggestion that different characters will perceive the same person or event differently, which can reveal more about the characters themselves. The article warns against common POV mistakes, such as random switching, lack of inner thoughts, and use of filter words, which can distance readers from the narrative. It concludes by encouraging writers to study their favorite stories to understand how authors effectively convey characterisation.

Opinions

Characters should be presented with attention to detail that both grabs the reader's attention and reveals their personality.
A character's background, including where they come from and their family life, is crucial in understanding their values and actions.
Mannerisms should be carefully chosen and not overused, serving to show rather than tell a character's traits.
The perspective of a point-of-view character is an essential tool for revealing their feelings and attitudes towards other characters and events.
Randomly switching POVs, neglecting to share a character's inner thoughts, and using filter words are common pitfalls that weaken the narrative and should be avoided.
Studying characterisation techniques in favorite stories can be highly beneficial for writers looking to improve their craft.

How to Write Unforgettable Fictional Characters

Characters Are the Beating Heart of Your Story

Your characters are the emotional core of your story and are one of the four essential elements you need if you want to write something memorable.

How to Tell a Story People Will Never Forget

Whether You’re Writing an Article or a Book You Need These Four Things

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To avoid two-dimensional characters you need to know them inside and out.

Appearances.

What does your character look like? Focus on details that will grab readers’ attention and say something about the character’s personality.

In Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo introduces Kaz Brekker like this:

Kaz shook his head, dark hair glinting in the lamplight. He was a collection of hard lines and tailored edges — sharp jaw, lean build, wool coat snug across his shoulders. “Yes and no,” he said in his rocksalt rasp. “It’s always good to have a country in debt to you. Makes for friendlier negotiations.”

Think about how you present your character. If Leigh Bardugo had written, “Kaz had a sharp jaw, lean build, and wore a wool coat,” the character wouldn’t have seemed as commanding.

First impressions matter.

Focus on details that tell readers things about your character. Mentioning Kaz’s wool coat is a subtle way of showing that this character appreciates comforts and money.

Origins

Where is your character from? What values did that place teach them? Look at their family life and ask the same question.

Think about their friendships and rivalries, their fears and dreams. Understand their happiest and worst memories, and figure out what they’re passionate about and why. All these things will affect how they act.

A deeper understanding of the characters you write will make your stories all the more gripping.

Mannerisms

Is your character impatient and, therefore, a fast walker? Or do they often check their watch? The right actions will convey personality traits far better than “He was impatient.” It’s a facet of the show, don’t tell rule.

Do not give your characters too wide an array of mannerisms, and do not make them repeat their mannerisms too often.

Perspective

Harry Potter describes Draco Malfoy as haughty, with pointy features and a lazy drawl; Pansy Parkinson would describe him differently.

Decide what your POV character thinks about every character, setting, event, etc. How they describe things will show readers how they feel about them and will reveal more about their personality.

This is another aspect of the show, don’t tell rule. You should never have to say that Character A hates Character B; it should be subtly obvious.

Rinse and Repeat

Repeat this process for all your characters. You can go into less detail for more minor characters, but even they should be memorable.

Charles Dickens had a talent for making even the most minor of his characters stand out.

Warning: POV

POV is invisible but pervasive. When done right, readers don’t pay attention to it yet learn from it.

There are three main mistakes, writers make with POV.

Randomly Switching

Do not show most of the story from one character’s perspective and then switch to another’s for a paragraph or two. Whatever information you think you need to convey through that new POV, find another way to share it.

If you want to show another character’s POV for more than a few paragraphs, do it after a line break and make sure it serves a purpose you can’t achieve any other way.

No Inner Thoughts

Readers want to get to know your POV character. They can’t do that if all you convey are their actions. You need to show their internalisation.

Filter Words

Filter words are a show, don’t tell problem that can make readers’ experience with the POV character go from enjoyable to annoying.

Getting rid of filter words depends on the sentence. Here are some examples based on what I’ve seen:

Choose — They chose to remain indoors. → They remained indoors.
Decide — She decided to take a shower. → She took a shower.
Feel — They felt their skin crawl. → Their skin crawled.
Gave — She gave him a hug. → She hugged him.
Hear — He heard the floorboard creak. → The floorboard creaked.
Know — They knew they were out of time. → They were out of time.
Look — She looked like she was about to faint. → The blood drained from her face, and she swayed.
Notice — They noticed the bruise on his cheek. → There was a bruise on his cheek.
Realise — She realised she would have to get out of bed. → She had to get out of bed.
Remember — He remembered putting his keys on the table. → He had put his keys on the table.
See — They saw him walk outside. → He walked outside.
Seem — She seemed to change before their eyes. → She changed before their eyes.
Smell — He smelled the sweet scent of her perfume. → The sweet scent of her perfume pressed around him.
Wonder — He wondered about the new girl. → The new girl didn’t show up for lunch. Maybe she had packed herself a sandwich and eaten it away from the dinner ladies’ critical eyes, or perhaps she had gone home early, skipping classes on her first day.

These words will pop up in your first draft. Once you’ve finished all your revisions, use your computer’s ‘find’ command, and edit them out for a stronger story.

The best advice for fiction writers is to study what you love. Pick up your favourite story and see how the author conveys characterisation. Maybe try their method with your own characters. Then pick up another book and repeat the process.