Three Factors of a Realistic Character

Greetings, fellow writers! Today, I want to talk about characters. Specifically, three of my favorite things that factor into creating realistic, relatable characters.

We all know how hard it can be to create a realistic, consistent personality for our characters. A detailed character sheet can really help with this. Many factors go into this description to help writers keep their characters consistent, and I’ll be going from the smallest to the largest as I talk about my favorite of these factors.

I want to begin by talking about the little things. Personal preferences, likes, dislikes, pet peeves, and others. These seemingly unimportant things really help to shape a character’s personality. Their main effect is usually the relatable side of a character. We all have those little personal preferences and quirks. When our characters have them, it helps the readers connect to them.

Often, these “little things” don’t really have much of an effect on the plot. Some may never even be mentioned in your work. But they can easily be used to create a little comic relief in the story, and sometimes might be able to unexpectedly affect the entire plot.

Here’s an example. I have a character who loves the color red and loves winter and ice skating. Neither of these things really affects the plot. They simply help shape her personality a little better. But I could play off them for a little comic relief, even if it’s nothing more than a short argument over who gets the red blanket, or an impromptu snowball fight. I might also be able to use these preferences to somewhat affect the plot: maybe another character finds a dropped red scarf while trying to find this character, or the fact that she can ice skate gets her an edge on escaping the villain.

Of course, there are many other ways to use these “little things” to affect the plot. At the least, they will give the character a sense of reality and relatability, even if they do not tie into the plot at all.

Another thing I want to discuss today is backstorying. This is really a crucial thing to think about. In one of my earlier works, I spent next to no time thinking about my characters’ backstories, and experienced firsthand the lack of depth caused by this absence.

A character’s backstory really plays into so many aspects of their life and personality. A tragic backstory may lead to a sense of failure or despair, an avoidance of certain topics, a bitterness or desire for revenge, or many other things. A backstory with no major sadness or loss could leave a character totally unprepared for what lies ahead. Events in a character’s past life could affect the way they view certain things, approach certain topics, or react to certain situations.

As an example of this, one of my characters has had some really hard and tragic things happen in her past. This has led to her blaming herself for things that weren’t her fault. She hates remembering her past, and it has taken some serious conversations with a dear friend to help her through this. But her past has also led her to where she is now, with her firm resolve to fight for those she loves.

Backstory can also affect a character’s motivation in the story, especially depending on their reaction to the events in their past. And that brings up another thing I hadn’t intended to talk about when I first started this post. Motivation is a part of a character’s personality that plays a key role in their story.

In one of my works, there are three characters all fighting for the same thing. But they are all led by different motivations. One by protection. One by revenge. And one by power. And it is these motivations that play a huge part in these character’s lives. One stays steadfast to her cause. Two end up turning their backs on the cause they had supported and switching sides in the middle of the war.

So there you have it. Three key things that play into a character’s personality, helping to make a relatable, realistic character. I hope that thinking about these things will prove helpful in your own writing.

God bless!

- Auriel