How do you make your characters seem more real?

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How do you make your characters seem more real?
Tweet Topic Started: Dec 5 2010, 10:21 AM (1,026 Views)
Wolfgurl989	Dec 5 2010, 10:21 AM Post #1
Don't close your eyes, don't give into the fright Posts: 7,940 Group: A Rank Legend Member #9,781 Joined: February 21, 2009	Ok, so I have been researching on how to make your characters seem more real to your readers. I came across one interesting tip and that was to use an astrology sighn for your character. I never thought about that, I'm really into astrology, and it always seems that the sighn reflects the person with that sighn perfectly and almostly freakily accurate. So that's one thing I'm going to use, but what are some other things you can think of to make characters in short stories seem more like actual people and not 2d words on a page?

Replies:
Wolfgurl989	Dec 6 2010, 03:44 AM Post #16
Don't close your eyes, don't give into the fright Posts: 7,940 Group: A Rank Legend Member #9,781 Joined: February 21, 2009	Alright, thank you very much everyone who responded for helping! I'll try out all these ideas BTW, I also like-daydream all day about how life would be if my characters were real or if I was in my character's world. Its so much fun



The Milkman	Dec 6 2010, 07:35 AM Post #17
I am The Milkman. Posts: 523 Group: B Rank Knight Member #11,336 Joined: August 21, 2010	To put it in an infuriatingly simple way? Treat them like people, and not like paper cut-outs with roles to play. To expand? Make 'em real. Observe people. Notice what sets them off. What sets you off. What would be cause for grief, and joy. Rage and embarrassment. Make them feel, and make their feelings believable, no matter how ALIEN they may actually be. Then, add them to your characters to have when the situation would arise where they would react a specific way to a given outcome, gather all your thunder leading up to it, and strike like lightning when it counts. Edited by The Milkman, Dec 6 2010, 07:42 AM.
	My milk is fortified with what the world wants. What the world deserves.


Nail Strafer	Dec 6 2010, 07:58 AM Post #18
Flying Battery Act 2 Posts: 1,218 Group: A Rank Hero Member #8,106 Joined: May 5, 2008	"Everyone seems normal until you get to know them." Basically, what this is saying is that we all have our own unique quirks that aren't immediately obvious. One of my favorite things to do to flesh out a character (after covering the obvious stuff like personality and backstory) is to give them a few oddball things like favorite TV shows, hobbies, etc. I have a few characters who are fans of a Power Rangers-esque TV show called Neko Sentai Kittehranger (power rangers with cats, basically). And there's another character I have who's particularly fond of sports cars from the early 60s to the early 70s. It's like adding a little seasoning on top after you've finished the main dish. It's not a big thing but it's an easy way to add flavor. Edited by Nail Strafer, Dec 6 2010, 07:58 AM.



L Dragon	Dec 6 2010, 08:54 AM Post #19
Chaos Emerald Posts: 691 Group: S Rank Knight Member #746 Joined: March 19, 2007	I believe everyone missed one of the important details of making a character seem real, and that is their speech. I have hordes and hordes of characters, and each of them think differently, act differently, reply differently, and fight differently. Even though a few of my characters may seem to act the same way, what makes them different is their speech. For example, my character Cable is more likely to be blunt about everything, and may use small cuss words for no reason at all, or for a certain reason. Kono(my new character) is a lazy cowboy, so he'll use more basic and slang like words, as well as call people sir, miss, mister, ect. As for acting out girls and guys, I simply base that off their personalty, since sometimes a girl can act like a guy(tomboy), and a guy can act like a girl(sensitive to a lot of things.) My female character Nittale drives on honor and being polite, however, she sees her team leader, Kiyel, as her role model so she tries to be serious and strict like he is. On the flip side, her and Entek are like brothers and sisters, to which she learns to goof of and have a great time since Entek is a party animal/hot head. So, she is a balance of two extremes, yet her feminine side never leaves her because she hates being talked down upon because she is a female, or told she can't do anything or certain things cause she is a female. Now, I do have some sassy and flirty girl characters. I also have flirty guy characters, Shi, being one of them. But there if a difference when a girl flirts and when a guy flirts. I grew up with two brothers and one sister, so I kinda know what drives both males and females since me and my sister are close. Not to mentions, most of my 'close' friends during high school were mainly girls, as I sat at a all girls table, then for some reason it changed to a all guys table later down the road... As for the zodiac signs, I would never use that to motivate or create any of my characters. To me, it feels like there are restrictions cause your character is 'supposed' to act a certain way according to your sign. I don't like that, as everyone at some times in their lives has went off course of their sign. Like me, I act nothing like my sign, I've always been that way since I can remember. I like who I am, and I'm not going to have some sign thingy tell me how I should act and how I shouldn't. My live is my own, I have a choice in how I'm going to react in certain situations, no matter if I decide to be 'out of character' one day or another. I think the same way for all my characters. Each one of them is different and can react in so many different ways, which sometimes may seem out of character. And when a character is acting out of character, that is when you start to see the depths of a character, then everything in the dark starts to come out. Example, my character who always has an evil grin and never stops evilly smiling, even when fighting and he is losing, becomes serious when he finds out something about himself that his captain and friends weren't telling him. This was the only time he actually felt emotional pain, since he can't feel psychical pain. Just cause he can't psychically feel pain, doesn't mean he can't mentally and emotionally feel pain. Anyways, that is my little speech on this... As well, should this be int he fan character shrine section?
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Lord Eileanach	Dec 6 2010, 12:05 PM Post #20
. . . Posts: 2,778 Group: Former Monarchs Member #10,054 Joined: June 13, 2009 Gender: Male Country: Brazil Steam ID: Eileanach	Excellent point Data - this is true the way people speak and use language also makes character's more believable. Not everyone speaks perfectly and not many people use language perfectly either.
	~Eileanach~ Oh, stop the world I want to get off!


HollyYoshi	Dec 6 2010, 04:30 PM Post #21
I object to your claims Posts: 15,025 Group: =SB= Queens Member #9,640 Joined: January 9, 2009 Gender: Female Country: United States of America 3DS Friend Code: 1891-1489-0768 Nintendo ID: Agent_Blaire Game Currently Playing: Yoshi's Island	Here's what I think is a good idea for characters; When you're writing, don't just go 'he said', 'she said', 'she asked', 'he asked', blah blah blah. Use words like 'demanded', 'cried', 'whispered', and so on and so on. For instance, saying '"Come here," Joe demanded' sends a much different message than '"Come here," Sally pleaded'.



Wolfgurl989	Dec 6 2010, 06:28 PM Post #22
Don't close your eyes, don't give into the fright Posts: 7,940 Group: A Rank Legend Member #9,781 Joined: February 21, 2009	Wow...all very VERY good ideas. Thank you very much for replying and helping Lil Man: Um....IDK I thought it would be in general discussions bcause it doesn't apply to fancharacters, just characters for stories in general. I like to write short-stories and yadda yadda so yeah.



Katsuko	Dec 6 2010, 08:49 PM Post #23
Sandopolis Act 1 Posts: 1,687 Group: S Rank Hero Member #1,933 Joined: August 14, 2007 Gender: Male	Quote: I believe everyone missed one of the important details of making a character seem real, and that is their speech. Despite the unbelievable verbosity, L's right. Dialogue makes a character ^^ Otherwise, your basic principles are 1. Be honest. Make a character feel or say or think nothing he wouldn't actually think. I know this sound self-evident, but believe me, the chief plague of writing like that of SB are dishonest characters, being forced to do what the author wants and not what they're meant to do. 2. Observe other people with a journalist's interest. To be honest about people, you have to get people Quote: When you're writing, don't just go 'he said', 'she said', 'she asked', 'he asked', blah blah blah. Use words like 'demanded', 'cried', 'whispered', and so on and so on. For instance, saying '"Come here," Joe demanded' sends a much different message than '"Come here," Sally pleaded'. Absolutely not. I love your writing Blaire, but I couldn't disagree more on this particular topic. As Stephen King points out in On Writing and as Tom Wolfe demonstrates in The New Journalism, authors should try to use these kinds of words as little as humanly possible. They're clutter, they carry no pathos, they sound pretentious. Instead, avoid "he said" at all, and try to make the feelings and the order of speakers obvious from what they say. Now, yes "come here," he demanded is different than "come here," she pleaded, but if your characters' dialogue is indistinguishable, and if the character's level of desperation is not obvious from the situation, that's a problem too big for the verbal-beat band-aid. Edited by Katsuko, Dec 6 2010, 08:55 PM.
	<3 All you need is love <3


Lord English	Dec 6 2010, 09:01 PM Post #24
Sandopolis Act 2 Posts: 2,066 Group: S Rank Hero Member #10,696 Joined: January 19, 2010	Well I'm not exactly the most creative at creating characters. Like Silverblade, he's pretty much just me as a hedgehog, and while its not too original it becomes more realistic and easy to write for. My other character, Jake, IS me. He's probably the easiest to write for, since his "Universe" is filled with people I know in real life. Ugh, bad post is bad, but I'm tired and on my blackberry.



Lord Eileanach	Dec 7 2010, 03:35 AM Post #25
. . . Posts: 2,778 Group: Former Monarchs Member #10,054 Joined: June 13, 2009 Gender: Male Country: Brazil Steam ID: Eileanach	SilverB that's what I do if I am ever writing a story with my character Eileanach in it. Because she is me everyone she interacts with is a person I know in real life so I find it a lot easier to make up how confrontations go, how funny moments occur and how things boil up to a point and reach a conclusion. I think if you have a whole mass of characters and are starting them all from scratch it can be hard though. But again I think this is why I sit and think about how the character is similar to those I may know in real life and try to relate how that person moves and expresses themselves into that character.
	~Eileanach~ Oh, stop the world I want to get off!


Wolfgurl989	Dec 7 2010, 04:00 AM Post #26
Don't close your eyes, don't give into the fright Posts: 7,940 Group: A Rank Legend Member #9,781 Joined: February 21, 2009	Alright...just an example.... as a discription (bio whatever u want to call it) Is this something that seems realistic as far as describing the characters go? Name: Kyle Age: 16 Gender: Male Personality: He is kind of closed off from the rest of the world. To himself. His world is hard to get into and he only lets true friends in. And once your in, only a few can stand the twisted world that�s there. It�s reality, but also fantasy somehow mixed together. He doesn�t mind this place in his mind, and he realizes that he is a bit more messed up than most people. Once he lets you in, he�s a true friend and will never leave your side, even if it means his life. People don�t understand him, so he puts on the front that fit�s the situation. He can just look at you and tell if your lying or not and is very smart and sharp, street wise. And academically, he might need some motivation but can make A�s and B�s easily. The people he hangs out with vary, and so do his �friends� But there�s always one friend that sticks around, and that�s Jack Clothes: He prefers to wear dark jeans and a hoodie, the colors are usually dark brown or black, and he wears skater shoes, Vans. His belt is a grey and black stud belt (studs are grey) and his shirt is a black T-shirt. Appearance: Long brown hair that he straightens, sometimes he dies is black. Has snakebites. Ice blue eyes, 5�7�. Extra: He likes to board, likes to tinker with things. He�s a bookworm, and loves to study psychology Name: Jack Age: 16 Gender: Male Personality: Jack is Kyle�s best friend, he always has been and has stuck by his side no matter what happened to them. Jack is the kind of friend that, instead of bailing you out of jail, he�ll end up there with you, grinning and saying �well�it didn�t turn out so great but we sure did have a great time didn�t we?� He�s the older brother/father type and likes to make new friends, though that�s proven hard for him with the kind of lifestyle he chose. He demands respect, and will get it whether he�s nice to you and he earns it that way, or he beats your ass to make you fear him. Even though he has this one attribute overall he�s extremely nice and fair in all ways. One thing he suffers from is insomnia and it has him up in the middle of the night, making rounds and checking on his loved ones, none of them know that their lives could be in jeopardy at any minute due to things that he did years ago. He�s a hit first, ask questions later kind of person. He had always and will always be by Kyle�s side, they aren�t brothers by relation, but they�ve spent almost literally every second of each others lives together. Clothes: Wears an orange shirt and blue jeans, brown leather belt and sneakers. Likes to carry around a skateboard with Kyle. Appearance: Long blonde hair, hazel eyes, 5�6�. Has an eye brow ring and wears a bracelet made out of what used to be seen as thread, now its undistinguishable because he�s worn it all his life. Both him and Kyle wear a necklace with a domed pendant, in it holds the others blood, and their own mixed together as a sign of family. Extra: likes to board, likes to write and draw, and hates studying but is the sharpest student and streetwise kid there is.



Katsuko	Dec 7 2010, 03:34 PM Post #27
Sandopolis Act 1 Posts: 1,687 Group: S Rank Hero Member #1,933 Joined: August 14, 2007 Gender: Male	Characters never seem realistic in a bio ^^ To really work out how to do it, you have to put them in writing. Maybe you could try a short-story?
	<3 All you need is love <3


Wolfgurl989	Dec 7 2010, 04:27 PM Post #28
Don't close your eyes, don't give into the fright Posts: 7,940 Group: A Rank Legend Member #9,781 Joined: February 21, 2009	um....idk



Lord Eileanach	Dec 8 2010, 03:06 AM Post #29
. . . Posts: 2,778 Group: Former Monarchs Member #10,054 Joined: June 13, 2009 Gender: Male Country: Brazil Steam ID: Eileanach	There's no harm in trying I mean I think bio's are just a brief summary and brief summaries really never put across a character's motivations properly and seem single-sided. If you do come up with a short piece about them please share it.
	~Eileanach~ Oh, stop the world I want to get off!


Wolfgurl989	Dec 8 2010, 04:27 AM Post #30
Don't close your eyes, don't give into the fright Posts: 7,940 Group: A Rank Legend Member #9,781 Joined: February 21, 2009	I started writing a story about them I think. I'll post it later =D Once again thanks everyone for helping me with this lols.



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