Everyone's Guide to Wattpad

BONUS - CREATING A CHARACTER

I know. We've already said goodbye. However, as things come to mind, I realize that I could write small, independent guides on more specific things. Instead, I'll just throw them into this guide. How kind of me, right? Anyways, let's get started.

Creating a Character. I already covered the basis of it in Character Development, but you need somewhere to start.

Start with the personality, of course. That's probably easy to do. The character might be evil, or good, or shy, or bold. It's easy to come up with it, but it's a bit more of a challenge to show their personality. And this is how you create your character: showing the personality.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN. I must warn you. SHOW DON'T TELL. I realize that a lot of you have heard it, but don't know what it means. In Creating a Character, it means that you need to SHOW the readers who they are instead of telling them. Your Main Character cannot think "My friend is the most annoying kid in school."

BAD. You have to show it through actions. Create many scenarios where this kid is being annoying. SHOW the reaction on peoples faces. Are people's mouths curved up? Down? Are their eyes lit with humor or do they roll their eyes instead? Express the feelings your MC (main character) is showing.

Now, for the three factors in creating your character...under the SHOW DON'T TELL concept.

First, you need looks. You can be a little stereotypical. Cool kids have the newest haircuts and the best of everything. The geeky kids wear overalls and the tape on their glasses. (Nothing against it. Just common literature stereotyping.) ALWAYS keep this limited, though. Too many stereotypes will result in another bland, old, typical, predictable story. We don't want that.

Second, dialogue. Dialogue is one of the biggest parts in creating a character. Shy characters aren't supposed to talk non-stop. They might have one-word lines. They'll use interjections like "Umm" or "Uh." Gossip-queens will talk so much it's probably a monologue instead of a dialogue.

Also, tone is a biggie. Quiet characters don't have booming voices. Just a few examples. I'm sure you can figure out what your character needs.

Lastly, actions. This is also crucial to creating your character. Body position. The way they walk, talk, breath, think...these are all things that need to be paid attention to. Think "would my character do this? How would my character react to this situation?"

In my personal opinion, the best way to write a character is to BE the character. Both writers and readers, in general, have a better time writing/reading when they can show empathy towards the character. This means you put yourself in their shoes. With this, you can try remembering some moments in life where you felt a particular emotion. Write your feelings, thoughts, emotions, reactions down. Predict the future a little bit. Ask yourself "What WOULD I feel if...."

Anyways, I'll see you folks around! Don't forget to vote or comment your questions!