Usually, when a story idea comes to me, I have at least an inkling of who the main characters are going to be, or the world it will be set it, or one or two scenes I’d like to see in the book.  But it can feel daunting to take a half-formed wisp of an idea, and turn it into a fully 3D character on the page.

Here’s my step by step process:

1) Write down everything I know.

With my story inspiration, I might know a lot or I might only know a little about my character, but I write it all down along with any ideas that come to me.  It’s not pretty writing, it’s just a mad free-form of jot notes, single words, and incomplete sentences.

I brain dump.

During the early planning stages for my upcoming series, Helix, I had a good idea of the main character.  I was able to outline his personality and parts of his background.

But for another, equally important character in the series, I only knew that he was a gang leader.

It doesn’t matter where you start, the rest of the process will flesh out your character.

2) Consider the theme.

Theme is always my first go to when I sit down to start seriously plotting.  I ask myself, what is it I want the story to say.

I know that the theme must also be, or directly relate to, the main character’s revelation (ie, the thing they realize that helps them win against all odds).  Which means, I know the character starts the book believing the opposite.

(I usually write positive change arcs for my characters, but this works for negative arcs too.  Your theme informs your character’s end point and your beginning, but in a negative arc, they usually start believing the good thing, and by the end they believe the opposite.)

I also need to make something about my character relevant to the theme.  If my theme relates to disabled persons, my character must either be or be connected to someone with a disability.

In Helix, my theme is about art and its ability to change the world.

It follows that my main character is an artist.  And, that he currently believes art is useless (but he likes it so he does it anyways).

The other character is not an artist, but he too believes that art is useless and for the stuck up and snobby.  As a gang leader, his focus is on changing part of the world around him, but he focusses on other, more brutal methods of inciting change.  He would never consider art as a force of change.

Both of them change by the end.

3) Ask Why?

Why do they believe these things?  Why do they do or like or are they these things?

You’ll notice this step comes up a lot….

I imagine character creation as a sort of cycle between past and present.  I identify something I want in my character in the present and I trace that back into his past to ask how that came to be:

My character is an artist…. Why did my character become an artist?  maybe because he likes it…. dig further… because his mom was an artist and he feels connected to her… he values this feeling of connection because she’s dead, worse she died when he was a baby so he doesn’t remember her and the art is the only connection he has…

One simple fact in the present can lead to a well of information about their backstory.

Once I have this info about their past, I follow it forward, imagining how that shaped them into who they are now, and what other traits they have because of it:

My character’s mother died when he was a baby.  How did she die?  He doesn’t know.  How did that affect him growing up? His older sister and father raised him.  They don’t like to talk about her because it is too painful.  They see her in him and he feels blamed him for her death. This increases his feelings of uselessness surrounding his art.

I start to uncover more facts in the present, and then trace these back again.

His sister raised him, and resents him.  Why? Besides blaming him for her mother’s death, she has had to keep a constant eye on him.  This is because she is very type A and he is more relaxed.  He has a medical issue which exacerbates the difference in their personalities because she always feels like he is not doing a good enough job looking after himself.

I use this why cycle as many times as I can to get as much information about the character as I can.  Doing it this way ensures that it all ties together into one cohesive character.

4) Decide on Flaws.

When I run out of questions to ask about what I already know, I get to make up something!

Every character needs flaws.  Flaws make them more relatable (because we all feel we have flaws), and up the difficulty level and therefore the stakes when the character starts to get in trouble.

I may have an idea already of what this flaw is (like my character having a medical issue), or I may want to make one up.

I aim to have a flaw in each of these three categories:

• Body — a defect, difficulty, or unique feature in their body
• Brain — a defect, difficulty, or unique feature in how they think
• Buddies — a defect, difficulty, or unique feature in how they relate to and connect with other people

For further clarification, a flaw should be something that is seen as undesirable or abnormal in their society.  It does not need to be something debilitating, although it should create some kind of difficulty for the character.

In my first novel, Augment, the main character is marked by an unusual eye colour which marks her as an Augment, ostracizing her from the regular population.

In Helix, the main character is plagued by diabetes.  It does not negatively affect his day to day life, but creates a building threat as his blood glucose goes out of control during the stress of his adventure.

Sometimes there is a plot element we want, or some part of the conflict that relies on this flaw, but I try not to let the character be driven too much by the plot.  Remember, they need to be one cohesive character, so all aspects of them need to be able to be drawn back to one single starting (ie, their birth).

The flaw should also be informed by the world (or vice versa), as what we would consider normal, might be quite abnormal in our story world.

5) Ask Why, How, and What?

I start working my present-past cycle again to discover more information about the character related to their flaws.

Why do they have the flaw?  Were they born with it (like Type 1 Diabetes), or was it the result of something (like the experimentation process that created the Augments)?

If it was the result of something, why did that happen?  Was it the result of an accident, or was it something more sinister?

How did it affect them? What else about the flaw creation process, or living with the flaw, changed them?  (Did an accident leave them with PTSD? Did growing up with a medical challenge affect their relationship with their caretaker?) How did it change them?  Did it change others around them?  How did that affect them?

What skills did they develop as a result of the flaw or the flaw creation process? What about the flaw could be turned into a secret benefit?  (If they have a medical challenge, maybe they have a higher than average understanding of the human body, or a higher pain threshold.)

Just like before, I go back and forth to create a complex, coherent character.  Bonus points if I can incorporate the backstory facts we have already learned.

6) Come up with Quirks.

So far, we have taken a hard look at all of the traumas and challenges our character has faced, and we usually end up with a pretty morose SOB.  Now, it’s time to add some unique flavour with quirks.

My aim with quirks is not to add more major character elements for the story, but to simply add depth and uniqueness.

What are the unique things they like?  What would they do or who would they be if they had gone through life without any of their challenges and could be exactly who they want to be?  What could they do all day long and never get bored of.

I also consider dialect and accents, religion and race, hobbies, musical tastes, etc.

Quirks build our character’s voice.  For example, if your character is from Canada (like me!) the metaphors, vocabulary, and even manners they use will be very different than say someone from the Caribbean.

I also like to do a little Why cycle with quirks, and ask, How did they discover this unique passion or quirk? Were there any challenges or negative consequences associated with the quirk?  How did that shape who they are now?  What special skills do they have because of the quirk?

7) Examine their wants, needs, and desires?

Now, and only now (although I’ve usually had some ideas) I look at the character’s motivations.

What is it they want:

• superficially and immediately — like a cup of coffee
• superficially and long term — like to get a new job
• interpersonally and immediately — to to go on a date with that cute coworker
• interpersonally and long term — for their dad to respect them
• internally and immediately — to relax after a long day’s work
• internally and long term — to feel fulfilled and satisfied

And, What is it they need:

• superficially and immediately — like a brisk walk to help them wake up instead of coffee
• superficially and long term — to put more attention into their work to gain a promotion, instead of seeking a new job
• interpersonally and immediately — to take a chance and ask the cute coworker on a date instead of just hoping it happens
• interpersonally and long term — to learn to have meaningful conversations with their family, instead of just hoping their dad will start respecting them
• internally and immediately — to let go of the stressful events of the day and recognize they don’t need affect the character personally in order to to relax after a long day’s work
• internally and long term — to build their feelings of self love and trust in order to feel fulfilled and satisfied and have the confidence to pursue their passions and go after the things they want

Wants and needs are inherently related.  The need is the deeper version of the want.  It’s the internal shift they need to feel before they can see the external change.

8) Ask How?

How have those wants served them in the past?  How do they affect their actions in the present?

How does the need (currently unfulfilled) show up in their lives?  What does it prevent them from doing and where does it prevent them from succeeding?  (This should be related very closely to the theme.)

Can you think of examples where pursuit of the wants ended in a worsening situation, or complicated either the same or a different want?

What would change for the character if they pursued their needs instead?

Maybe your character is overweight and exhausted.  They want more energy so they go and pick up a fancy coffee.  But that coffee is full of sugar, and while they feel a boost of energy, they feel more exhausted after the caffeine and sugar wears off in an hour.  Plus all the calories complicate the weight problem.  When maybe what he needed was to go for a brisk walk….

9) Interview

Now that I have all of these facts, it’s time to meet my character as a whole and complete person for the first time.

I sit them down for an interview.

This is very free form, but I generally start by asking them if they’ve heard about the project (ie, the book I’m writing) and how they feel about being in it.

I let them answer as if they are real people, my imagination running with everything I already know about them.  I write down the words that spring into my head, just as they do, without thinking about whether it works for the story or not.

This is the number one most valuable thing I can do to understand the characters.

I have no set list of questions, making them up in response to what the characters tell me.  Sometimes, though, I will ask specific questions on how they feel about certain things if I have a plot point in mind.

The character interview is about backstory and voice.  It is not about them telling me what is going to happen to them during the story.

I imagine I am some crazy architect taking over their world.  I am planning to pull some strings to set up a situation, and I will simply be following them to see how they respond.  I am not a writer making a story, I am a sadistic observer recording what happens.

For example, here are the first few questions of my interview with my main character, Dez, from my current work in progress:

Hey, how’s it going? 

Um, yeah, okay, I guess.  Uhhhmmmm.

So, what is it that you want? 

I dunno.

Why do you want to be part of this book? 

I guess, I just need like something to change.  Like I need to get out of here.

Why’s that? 

Like, this just isn’t the life for me, you know.  I know it’s supposed to be all perfect here, but I’m bored.  Like, this can’t be it, right.  This can’t be the best thing in the world.  There must be something.

What sort of thing are you looking for? 

I dunno really.  Just, something more exciting.  Something that’s more me.  Like, I want to breathe.  I feel like I can’t breathe here.  I need to be so careful I don’t hurt anyone or upset anyone.  It’s not that I’m not grateful for my life, I know I’ve got it pretty easy, but I just feel, like empty.

Tell me about the emptiness? 

I guess, you know, like my life is pretty planned out.  I work at my dad’s company, the utopia provides us food and clothes and everything we need.  I’ve even got an arranged marriage to Padma.  Like, it’s all laid out.  There’s nothing for me to do or discover.  I know exactly what my life is going to be like: married, two kids, work at the agency.  Over and over until I die.  I know it’s not a bad life, but it’s just boring.

What do you want? 

To create.  Like, to just close my eyes, and not think about expectations or what I’m supposed to do or what I’m like fated to do.  And when I open them, I want to pour my soul into art.  Like big pieces, where I can be physical and creative at the same time.  I see myself taking these massive strokes, all this emotion — good and bad — just pouring out into the paint.  I want to bleed on the page.  And not think, and just see where it takes me.  No thinking, no worrying, just art.

….

(You can read the full interview here.)

Notice that I write in his voice.  Dez is a shy teenager not used to asking for what he wants, and it shows.

During the interview process, I will solidify my mental image of the character, and I will often discover new facts or connections I hadn’t thought of before.

10) Plot and Write

Finally.

My character discovery should suggest several scenes to me where I can show examples of who the character is as well as their character development through the story, and I plug these into my plot structure along with insights from World and Conflict.

After all that hard work, I’m ready to go.

Because I’ve done all this planning work to create a fully 3D character, I’m ready to write a character that jumps off the page from the first line of scene 1.

Of course, sometimes the only way to know exactly what’s going to happen is to take the character for a drive.  I will still learn and discover things, or adjust aspects of the backstory, as I write.

To keep track of everything, I keep a handy fact sheet nearby and be sure I fill it in with little details that I need help remembering, like hair colour or an ID code number, to ensure these details stay consistent throughout.

There you have it, my step by step process for character creation.  How do you plan your characters?  Do you enjoy discovering as you go, or having a cohesive character before you jump into any of the action?

Check out my Story Planning Guide and Workbook to help you create meaningful characters, world, and conflicts and tie them into an unforgettable, un-put-down-able plot!