There are good stories and there are great stories. What is the difference? The great ones have characters that leave us feeling connected to them. We root for them, we feel sad for them, we find we are invested in their overall well being. The following is taken the website Practical Creative Writing and will help to get you in the character writing zone!
WHO DO YOU KNOW?
Start by describing people you already know, or people you have admired, disliked, or even hated from afar – powerful feelings can be very inspiring!
Think about what it is they want most from their life. Examples might be things like love, revenge on an enemy, power, security, money, a happy family, a nice home, travel, make a difference, to catch a killer, succeed in business etc.
Once you have written this down, start by changing every single thing you have written down about them, their appearance, their personality, their attitudes – to something completely different or the opposite.
So, for example, if your character wants a happy family you could make them so focused on success that they don’t care about their family. A character who wants to be happy might just want money or power – no matter what.
When you have created five characters using this method, think about a story that suggests itself for each of them.
Taking something away that a character wants is a great way to do it. For example, take a character that just wants power above all and make them lose their power.
This could create a story that takes a character on a life-changing journey – from the top to the bottom and maybe back to the top again, or maybe not?
Once you begin to generate story ideas you can swap them around trying different ideas on different characters. Writing is all about experimenting, so don’t be afraid to do something really different with your characters – after all it’s your story!
http://www.practicalcreativewriting.com/creative-writing-exercises/creating-characters/
Aspiring Authors of Pekin Writers Group 