Art by Alison Hunt
Characters are rather important to a story. Even if you only have one, they need to have some kind of personality. That’s why I dedicated a section of Do I Need to Use a Dragon? to this topic. It covered a lot of ground, especially if you’re looking at fantasy-specific concepts. Here are the questions for your own amusement:
- What is your favorite character type to write/read?
- What is the hardest character type for you to write?
- What is an aspect of writing characters that you learned the hard way?
Legends of Windemere 
1. My favorite character to read is a likable character—one who starts at a deficit (some kind of weakness), but grows to strength.
2. The hardest character for me to write is one who is very different from me—like male characters. One of my characters is a twelve-year-old boy. Very difficult for me to write.
3. One thing I learned the hard way is to ask myself questions about this character and his or her past, motivations, strategies, etc. A reader read a scene I wrote and asked basic questions about the character that I couldn’t answer, but should have been able to do so. I only had a surface level knowledge about that character. I felt embarrassed that I couldn’t answer a single question. 😥 😓
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s definitely a challenge to write outside our personal experience and viewpoint. That’s where we need to either research or access our empathy.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agreed. Even with research, what I found helpful was the feedback of male readers (which I guess is research of a different kind).
LikeLike
My favorite character type to write is the competent but humble hero.
The hardest character type for me to write is one who is evil. What makes it hard is true evil tends to be an understatement, so the characterization has to be subtle to build in the desired sinister trait.
The aspect of writing characters that I learned the hard way was to give the reader a mental picture of the character without actually describing the physical aspects.
LikeLiked by 2 people
That is a tough challenge with describing without getting into the physical.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree about evil characters. They are often quite likeable. I tried to give my antagonist in The Wolves of Vimar series a charismatic personality. When the characters are around him, they find him charming and reasonable. It’s only when they are out of his presence they manage to remind themselves what he is really like.
One of them suggested that he was using magic, but the mage in the group said he wasn’t as he could not detect any magic being used.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can understand that completely, Viv. I did a likeable spin on Lucifer. Made him so much more sinister.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My favorite character to write is a smart, adventurous woman. The hardest to write is, like John, someone evil, almost always because there is something good or pitiable in them. And I learned from my first book that there is no such thing as someone who is completely good.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m seeing that writing ‘pure evil’ is difficult. I think we always want to give a sad or understandable reason for another human to act that way. It’s totally different if one writes with demons and non-human entities though.
LikeLike
I hadn’t thought of that! Makes the evil easy, I guess!
LikeLike
1) What is your favorite character type to write/read?
I am partial to characters who are misunderstood. Like a witch who lives in a swamp and everyone knows she’s evil but really she’s just socially awkward. Or like John Howell said, someone competent who gets ignored in favor of “real heroes.”
2) What is the hardest character type for you to write?
Villains. I always feels like it comes across as gloating and strutting. I almost never have a villain as POV because I prefer to keep their motives mysterious to the protagonists.
3) What is an aspect of writing characters that you learned the hard way?
You have to build a solid core with interesting quirks, to distinguish them from similar characters in other books and movies.
LikeLike
I’m seeing that villains are a common challenge. I wonder if this stems from not wanting to reveal too much and showing some level humanity. It’s a different focus than heroes who are in the open all the time.
LikeLike
I really like buddy stories, so finding two characters who can interact, but also be different enough to clash can be a challenge. It’s a balancing act. One of my toughest characters to write was an antihero. Easy for the words to flow, but then I had to go back and decide how much of the bad side to leave on the page. Too much, or the wrong things, can put readers off. I tend to plan way ahead, sometimes years. When I start writing, I have a good idea about who these people are. They still surprise me and I have to be willing to go back and alter something on their behalf.
LikeLike
Antiheroes are really challenging. I think comics make it look easier than it really is since they have visuals. They’re so close to villainy that it’s easy for them to slip when it’s up to reader imagination.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Exactly.
LikeLike