Advice From A Werewolf Writer

Building A Strong Character + Diversity

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A D V I C E F R O M A
W E R E W O L F
W R I T E R

|Building A Strong Character |

Building a character is probably one of the easiest things to do. It's so easy to say that they're going to be beautiful, but they don't know it. Badass, but nice to children. Long flowing blonde hair the color of sunlight and honey combined.

The hard part is making sure they're not one dimensional, making them relatable, or at least, realistic.

Personally, I think I succeeded at this in my first draft, but only with one character. It's a mistake many of us make, we only focus on one and it ruins the flow of the rest of the story. It ruins the development and makes it obviously clear who to hate, who to not to believe. When things become obvious, the story is no longer interesting.

So how do you make strong characters?

Well, I don't have definite answers but I have some advice.

Forget about looks and rank for second and figure out who they are or who you want them to be. No one is perfect, so give them flaws. I'll use my characters as an example.

Most of the time, people act a certain way depending on what age they are.

So, my main character Amy, is a sixteen year old girl who has never socialized with anyone outside her own pack.

Already we can assume a lot about her, she's probably shy, doesn't trust easily and because she's a teenager we can assume that she's rebellious and like every young person has hopes and aspirations. Of course you can give or take some traits to your characters, but as you can see Amy has already become more relatable and less one-dimensional from that one fact.

Keep this in mind while writing, how do these traits affect the plot. We already know that the plot is supposed to go a certain way, so you have to get creative in figuring out how to get a character like that to get into the events and conflicts that are needed.

There's plenty of ways to go by this, some people take personality test and answer the questions in their characters mindset to see what type of personality they have. I think that's too tedious, but if you think it helps I totally recommend it. Some people like to get really detailed with characters, assigning a cast, giving the birth dates/ zodiac signs, again if you think it'll help go ahead and try it.

|Diversity |

I put these two topics together because I think they go hand in hand.

Diversity isn't just adding poc or making your character a poc. It's giving them a disability or adding their culture into your writing, not because you have too. If you want to write an all white character book go for it. I think a lot of people have been shaming author's about it, but we have to understand that not everyone is okay with being of color. Sometimes we make our characters a certain way because we will never be like that or seen in that way.

However, diversity can be used to make your book more interesting and original. For example, Amy (one of my main characters previously mentioned) is Latina and it's not mentioned in the first book because it isn't necessary, however in the second book her cultural background comes into play a lot and that sets apart my book even more.

So, if you're unsure about how to include it do some research, look up how to pronounce certain words or any traditions. This will also help build a strong character because you're adding more dimensions. Sometimes the plot doesn't even need or is not affected by their culture, so adding it won't do any harm.

As a Latina myself, I see the importance in including poc in my stories, so don't be afraid to try. You'll still get reads and votes and comments.

If you need any more help I recommend checking out talkthepoc on Wattpad they are absolutely lovely and have plenty of pieces you can reference as you write.

|Next Update: Growing a Readership and How to Keep Them |

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Thank you for reading and voting x