Building Believable Characters In Writing

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Many people who are just starting out writing have a tendency to make the mistake of thinking all they need to do in order to write a good story is have a good plot, but in addition to needing a good plot, you must also be able to write well – and perhaps, even more important than writing well, is being able to create characters in your story are absolutely believable. Truly writing believable characters can take a lot of time and practice – as it is not usually something that “just comes naturally” – but as you practice, and as you keep the following tips in mind, you will soon be creating stories full of characters who feel as real as life itself.

Rather than opening the computer and starting to write right away, you should get to know your characters before you begin your story, and one of the best ways to do this is to create character profiles; a character profile is exactly what it sounds like – simply a list of things but the character, such as where they grew up, who their parents are, what their likes and dislikes are, and anything else you can think of that pertains to their personality.

Another great way to begin getting to know your characters, after you've come up with character profiles, is to write flash fiction stories of your characters; flash fiction is short fiction – anywhere from 300 to 500 words – and with these stories, you can start to get your know your characters a little bit better, figuring out how they talk, how they act, and how they will react to different situations.

And perhaps the biggest key of all when it comes to creating believable characters is having patience; you will sometimes have to wait much longer than you thought you would in order to begin writing your story, as it may sometimes take a while to work out all the kinks in your characters. But it will be well worth your time if you make sure you get to know your characters; in time, you will be writing stories with characters who feel real to the reader – which will make for a much more enjoyable reading experience.