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𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐈𝐈━━𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒!

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HELLO AND WELCOME TO CHARACTERS. In this act, I'll be elaborating on how to make a character with depth and how you would write them. Ready? Let's get started.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION. I'm not sure if this is you but, I like starting with my OC's physical description. (If you are using casting, you can skip this part and move on to where I go into character personality.) There is a whole lot you should include. When you are making a part to describe your character, you want to include all of these:

━ AGE

━ ETHNICITY

━ HAIR COLOR

━ EYE COLOR

━ SKIN COLOR

━ DISTINCTIVE FEATURE(S)

━ GENDER

━ HOME

━ BUILD

━ HEIGHT

━ NICKNAME(S)

Of course, there are also the additional or optional things you can add depending on your genre or perhaps your fanfiction. Some optional attributes can be weapons, regular outfit, siblings, affiliation, etc.... Personality is something I like for the reader to figure out, or something I put in the story description. But you can definitely add that if you'd like.

CHARACTER PERSONALITY. Tell me how this sounds: (OC NAME) is pretty, nice, but also kind of badass. (OC NAME) is also very outgoing but that's just a coverup for her childhood trauma... I'm going to stop there. First of all, you don't want to be wordy introducing your character in your synopsis or story description, and definitely don't make it cliche. When you chose your character's personality, be wise about it. Your character's personality shapes their actions, and their actions shape the plot, so it's so very important to be careful and deliberate.

CHARACTER DEPTH. Like a lot of other challenges in writing, Character depth is hard to achieve. But one of the many ways you can improve is to imagine yourself as your main character. What you would do, how you would feel or react. Then put all of that input into the writing. Character depth also involves the character having flashbacks, anecdotes, inside jokes, thoughts, maybe trauma and more. Your OC's backstory is also impervious to character depth. You want your reader to resonate with your character(s).

CHARACTER ACTIONS. How a character reacts to something is obviously based off of their personality. Just for example, let's say a sudden and dire situation comes up. Does your character take charge in the moment? Do they freeze up? Do they stay calm or panic? Does a plan immediately formulate in their mind? Questioning yourself is a way to really help develop your character.

PERSONALITY SHIFTS. You cannot tell me that there has been a story you read where a character in there does not change. For the better or the worst. Writing personality shifts successfully is all about subtlety and reasonable motives. Subtlety in my opinion is easy enough but finding a motive takes more thought. A motive for the character to change for the better, most of the time, could be another character or maybe characters. It could be for love, acceptation or forgiveness. If you want your character to take a dark turn, it's easier to do because turning good requires a lot of thought and most importantly, the character forgiving themselves. As for the motive to turn all dark, all it could take is revenge, trauma, or hate.

PROTAGONISTS. Protagonists could be saviors, or simply just someone who knows right from wrong. (Please, please, please, do not comment on the philosophy of what's right and wrong. You know what I mean.) They are the star(s) of our story. The one that will have the most depth, along with your main antagonist(s). Refrain from making them cliche. All heroes have a dark side and of course, flaws. But remember that they also have many good qualities too, and maybe, you can make it so that they don't realize those good qualities of their's yet.

ANTAGONISTS. I believe it goes without saying that all antagonists have a backstory that drives them to do the vile things they do. What if they do it just because it makes them feel good you say? Not because of a traumatic childhood or some shit? That makes them unhinged, crazy, and most likely to have a condition. There. Is. Always. A. Motive. Antagonists should be just as full of depth as protagonists are. Sometimes the villain knows that they are doing is wrong. Or sometimes, they are a hero in their own mind. No reader likes a shallow, 2D villain. Well, except for children maybe.

━𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄━

AND THAT CONCLUDES CHARACTERS! PLEASE ASK ANY QUESTIONS YOU HAVE IN THE COMMENTS ;)

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