who says your characters have to be human? The main character in one of my first short stories was a fish in a hotel fountain. Now here’s the other thing; I’m not satisfied if all I do is transcribe the voice of that character. It’s when you push that character against other characters that you find out who they really are and what they really want”. – Katy Hammel, award-winning author of middle grade book Meg Goes to America and her next book, Meg and the Rocks is coming out in October.
I want to add to what Katy said that being observant is very helpful in finding character information. For example, I was walking through an assisted living facility when I saw a name that I loved. Hildred. And used that for a story. And sometimes it’s the tiny details that bring a character to life. So noting down ideas as you observe is a great way to capture that information.
Once you have an idea of your cast of characters, you need to know who your characters are so you know how they’re going to react within your story.
For example, if you have a chef who grew up in East Compton and you have a plumber who grew up in Paris, they’re each going to react and think differently if you throw them into a ship overrun with evil space octopus. Knowing their background in detail will allow you to throw them into any situation and be able to write the character in a way that feels real.
I suggest you sit down with your major characters and write up their background. I use a spreadsheet and I’ll pretend I’m interviewing the character and write down their answers to everything from their favorite color to their favorite job.
You could even write a short story as background of the character to get to know them or even use it as a freebie to your novels.
If you need more help, I have a workbook, develop your thriller characters in thirty minutes or less. It’s going to give you the spreadsheet that I use as well as some other tips on developing character that just doesn’t fit into a five minute podcast.
Notes:
Katy Hammel’s award-winning middle grade book – Meg Goes to America
The free “Develop Your Thriller Characters in 30 Minutes or Less” Workbook