Everyone's Guide to Wattpad

Your Characters

I realize that we have talked about character development, but we haven't talked about your actual characters. Your characters need a form. You need to learn how to make your character.

Your Character Needs A Form

Firstly, you need your main character. You can have multiple main characters, but try not to go past two or three. To create your character, you need a base. You need a body, looks, and their personality. Come up with their overall description, then destroy something in their personality. You want flaws.

Flaws will make your character "real" which will make readers like your story. Nobody likes to read about a perfect goodie-goodie. You need to make a flaw, and these flaws need to create problems in your plot, which will further your story.

Assisting characters or secondary characters are important. They may have a lesser role in the plot, but without these characters, your story will be dull. Secondary characters need a form, too. They need a personality. They need FLAWS. Give your character a flaw. TIP: The more flaws your characters have, the BETTER YOUR STORY WILL BE.

Your main character needs to know or encounter these secondary characters. It could be your main character's, (let's refer to him/her as MC for now) best friend, worst enemy, father, mother, brother, lawyer, doctor. Anybody that has some sort of relation or mutual-relationship to your character. In the end, they all need a body and a personality.

These characters are the characters that somehow further the storyline, which bring me to another point we will get to soon.

The last types of characters are the no-name characters or characters that have very little importance. They could be a stranger walking their dog. These characters are pretty much common nouns such as old lady, woman, boy, dog, crowd, jock. Get the point? Your MC doesn't have to know everyone they come across. When you describe a no-name character, be brief. Ex: tall man in a blue tuxedo. Don't go off giving us the dimensions of somebody that does nothing to further the plot of the story.

Your Characters' Names

Such a strange thing to bring up. It's so specific. It's something that should be discussed though. Your characters' names are important. They kind of tell who your character is on the spot. Come up with a unique name. Don't use classics unless your really want to. There's random name generators all over the Internet. Even better? Come up with a name then look up what it stands for. Do a little research. Your fans may not know what it means, but it just means that your story has that much more meaning.

How to bring a character into the story?

Great question. Just when and how? When? Whenever the plot requires the character. How? One by one, of course. Do not introduce multiple characters at the same time. I bolded that because it is a huge statement. If you introduce several characters at one time, the reader will have a hard time knowing those characters. Plus, it makes them think harder which is repelling.

I guess I should specify on how, though. How do you describe a character? This is the hardest thing, to me, as a writer. When your MC meets a secondary character, you can give them a brief desciption, but for your MC's looks, it will be much harder. The place NOT to do it is in the prologue. A simple, cliche way is to show your character's appearance is by using a mirror, or by comparing their looks from someone else's, better off with their parents, if there are any.

Character Amount

You need a good balance of characters. Too many and your readers will get mixed up then confused, which repels your readers. Too little and there aren't enough characters to further the plot, which makes your plot boring and dull. How can you tell if your story has too many? Easy. If the character does not further the plot, then it's an extra character and it needs to be thrown out. No-name characters are an exception.

How do you know there's too little though? This one is tough, but you, as a writer, should be able to tell. If your plot is looking dull, it needs more characters. How to fix this problem? Throw in a character. Randomly. It may not go according how you want it to go, but you can steer the plot right back where you want it.

Well, that's all on characters. If any of you have anything to add or feel like I'm wrong, feel free to comment them below. I read all my comments and I reply to most, so don't be shy.

-OrangeGuy