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Do you know your characters as well
as your closest friends? If you don’t, take the time to get to know them. Sit
down and ask each one the things you would ask someone you just met. “Where are
you from?” “How long have you been in town? Do you like it?” Or you can be more
formal and interview the main characters, as you would candidates for
employment at your place of work. Besides the more standard interview
questions, try some original ones. Some examples: What is your biggest fear?
What makes you laugh? What makes you nervous? What are your secrets? Do you
like your job? Why or why not?
Notice not only what each character says, but also how he or she says
it. How does the character move? Does he shuffle, take giant steps, or roll his
hips? What hand movements are characteristic? How does he talk? Is it slow and
leisurely, broken by pauses, or quick and nervous? Does he use lots of slang or
incorrect grammar? Does he have a big vocabulary? How close to people does he
stand? What is his posture like?
When you have heard what the
character has to say and the manner in which he or she has said it, you should
get even closer. Imagine you are the characters (one at a time of
course). Try living in their heads for an hour, walk like they would walk,
think like they would think, talk like they would talk. If you can’t inhabit
each of your main characters then you don’t have a fully fleshed-out human. Go
back to the beginning and ask him/her more questions.
The level to which you need to
develop your characters will vary depending on what you are writing. Literary fiction is deeply concerned
with looking into the human heart, whereas thrillers are based more on action
and plot. However, no matter what genre you choose to write, a book that reads
well, and sells well, is a book with fleshed-out, believable main characters.
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