4 Places To Start When Creating A Character

Creating Characters is one of the most crucial parts of writing a quality story. I mean, without the character do you even have a story? But how do you create characters? Seeing as they are so crucial they can also seem very daunting. Let me break it down for you, so it hopefully doesn't seem as daunting or stressful.

Here are 4 places I have started when creating new characters:

1) Names

2) Photos

3) Character Aesthetic Boards

4) Character Profiles/Charts

Now let me explain these in depth:

1) Names:

This is one of the easiest ways to start off creating a character. You start the character off with a name. How do you choose this name? Easy. Pick a name that has a meaning that is significant to the story or character. Pick a name with a meaning you like. Pick a name that has special significance to you. Pick a name that you like.

Just start with the name. It's one of the easiest steps to creating a character.

Example 1: I have a character named Briella because it means woman of God, and this woman is very much a woman of God.

Example 2: Another one of my characters' names is Jacob. The significance of this is that we have really good family friends and their last name is Jacob, so I just changed it around so it would be this character's first name, yet it still holds the same significance.

2) Photos:

Another easy way to start off creating a character is through an inspirational photo. Find any photo and use it for inspiration for what your character looks like. I find lots of my character inspo pics on Pinterest. I have a character board on my Pinterest if you want to check it out, or you could check out Abbie Emmons's Pinterest where she also has a character inspiration board. This like the names is also an easy way to start creating your characters. And it's one of my personal favorites :)

Example 1: Any of those photos in the image above. All of those character photos I found on Pinterest are character inspiration pictures for some of my many characters.

Example 2: My Board For Character Inspiration Pictures: www.pinterest.com/KathrynHawkeAuthor/character-inspiration/

3) Character Aesthetic Boards:

This is a bit of a bigger step in creating characters. And it's a pretty fun way to create characters (I honestly get carried away doing this. It's a great procrastination tool haha). This step is basically compiling a bunch of pictures that are the essence of your character. This is why it's a harder step because you have to spend some more time thinking about who you want your character to be. Some things I use for my aesthetic boards are character inspiration photos, outfits, hobbies, their bedroom, favorite food or drinks, hairstyles, pets, etc. It's really any photos you can find that you think to match what/who your character is and their story. I have several character aesthetic boards over on my Pinterest if you want to check them out. I highly recommend checking out my board Ariana's Character Aesthetic (that one I created on a whim one night when I was bored). I would also recommend checking out Abbie Emmons's Pinterest as well, she has some good character aesthetic boards. She also has a YouTube video where she guides you through creating a character aesthetic board. As I said this one is harder, but it is lots of fun.

Example 1: www.pinterest.com/KathrynHawkeAuthor/ariana-character-aesthetic/

Example 2: www.pinterest.com/KathrynHawkeAuthor/hazels-aesthetic/

Abbie Emmons Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dCAmoNHGkI

4) Character Profiles/Charts:

This is the most important step in creating characters. You can do any of those other things or not do any of them, regardless you have to do this step.

What is a character profile/chart? It's simply a list of questions that you fill out to get a better idea of who your character is. There are many profiles and charts out there to choose from.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Pinterest Chart - www.pinterest.com/pin/956100195867439301/

Abbie Emmons Profile - www.abbiee.com/2019/10/create-characters-with-me/

Reedsy Profile - blog.reedsy.com/character-profile/

A couple of things I have to say about filling out these charts/profiles:

- Character charts take lots of thought and consideration and there are many options out there. What you need to do is find what one works best for you. And maybe the one that works best for you is one that you create. But if you are just starting out I wouldn't do that quite yet. I HIGHLY suggest looking at and using as many charts/profiles as you can find. All of them will have a variation of questions and it's good to see what questions will help you grasp a better understanding of your character. After you've done a lot and experimented with different ones then you can alter and change things so they work best for you.

- Whenever you look or use a new chart I also recommend filling out every question in the profile/chart. I've found that this seems to be a great way to get to know your character better.

- Don't self-insert yourself into these profiles/charts. It's really hard not to do this especially when you first start (In my opinion). I'm guilty of this. I did it with the first character I ever created. So just try not to answer every question the way you would personally answer it. This is not a chart/profile for yourself. This is a profile/chart for your character, who is not you. They might have some similar aspects, but don't copy and paste yourself into these characters. Make them unique.

- Always try to find a why behind the answer to every question you answer. This might seem useless and a waste of time in your eyes at the moment, but this method really does work. Trust me. Because for every single person out there, there is a reason behind everything that makes them who they are. Here's how you would do this: Say your character's favorite color is Blue, well why is it blue? Maybe it's because they love the sky or the ocean. Or maybe it's because everything from their childhood was blue. Here's another example: Say your character is Ill at ease when people are arguing. Well, why? Maybe it's because they grew up in a household where all their parents ever did was fight and it reminds them of bad times. My point is, after every (or almost every) question ask yourself why? Why is this the answer? This will add greater depth to your characters I promise! And it is worth the extra time and work.

Those are the 4 places to start when creating a character. Hopefully, this was helpful and brought some new insight. If you take anything away from this, I hope it will be that you use the character charts/profiles. Use and do everything else under the sun, I don't care, but you HAVE to use or at least try the charts/profiles. These things have helped me in more ways than I can count. They are the best.

And hopefully, soon, I will have my own profile/chart out there for you to try out as well :) I'm working on it.

Please let me know what you thought of my 4 tips and if you have any of your own. Be sure to comment or contact me if you have any thoughts or questions for me. Also, don't forget to check out my Pinterest & Instagram or sign up for my newsletter so you don't miss out on anything!

With Love, Kathryn Hawke