In stories, characters are like colorful paintings! Just like how we use different colors to make a beautiful picture, our characters are shaped by where they’ve been, where they are now, and where they want to go in the future.
Main Character (the protagonist)
The main character is the one who learns something new or changes because of the story’s main problem. This is the leading or main character in your book. They are the person the story centers around and the character readers will root for to succeed. It can be a person, an animal or an imaginery item that you give personality ie a pen, carrot etc.
How to Build Your Characters
Step 1 – Create your character’s background
Think about your character like a little seed growing into a big tree. Before your story begins, your character has already been through a lot! They’ve had happy times, sad times, and everything in between.
Let’s give our characters some life by understanding their background better!
How is their life like?
By understanding these things about our characters, we can make them feel real and alive in our stories!
Step 2 – Describe your characters (profile)
Imagine you’re in a big group of friends playing a game. You want to be able to tell who’s who, right? Maybe one friend has a big smile, another has curly hair, and someone else wears glasses. That way, it’s easy to know who’s who!
In your story, you can do the same thing! You want your readers to be able to imagine your characters in their minds, like they’re watching a movie. So, make a special list for your characters, like you are drawing pictures of them!
Write down one thing that makes each character different from the others.
What is your character’s name?
Describe their physique ie how they look
What special feature makes them stand out? A big scar on their cheek, always wears a hat, laughs or smiles all the time…
This will help our readers imagine them better when they are reading your story.
Remember, your characters don’t all have to look super different, but it’s good to have little things that make them stand out. Even if two characters are siblings, they can still have their own unique features!
Step 3 – Decribe your character’s strengths and weaknesses
Just like you and I have strengths and weaknesses, your characters have things they’re really good at and things they find a little tricky.
What are three things your character is super good at? Maybe they’re great at making new friends, or they’re really good at solving puzzles!
Then think about three things that might be a little tricky for them. Maybe they’re scared of the dark, or they’re not very good at swimming.