What makes a character so compelling that readers will forgive almost anything about the plot? How do you move beyond vague flaws and generic descriptions to create people who feel pulled from real life?
Plot gets readers to pick up a book. Character is why they finish it, and why they come back for the next one in the series.
This page gathers everything on The Creative Penn about writing characters: my 15 tips, the podcast interviews they came from, and articles on dialogue, villains, fight scenes, and writing people who are not like you. Start with the tips, then go deeper wherever your story needs it.
If you want the whole process in one place, from idea to finished book, it’s in my book How to Write a Novel.
Start here: 15 tips for writing deep characters
In Writing Characters: 15 Actionable Tips For Writing Deep Character, I curated the best advice from years of podcast interviews into one solo episode, with a full transcript. The tips are:
- Master the ‘Believe, Care, Invest’ trifecta to hook readers on the first page
- Define the dramatic question: who is your character when the chips are down?
- Get rid of vague flaws and use absolute specificity
- Understand the heroine’s journey: strength through connection
- Use ‘metaphor families’ to anchor dialogue and voice
- Find the diagnostic detail, the moment that proves a character is real
- Displace your own trauma into the work without writing memoir
- Write diverse characters as real people, not plot devices
- Respect tribal and cultural specificity
- Give your protagonist a morally neutral ‘hero’ status. Compelling beats likeable
- Build vibrant side characters for series longevity
- Use voice as a rhythmic tool
- Link character and plot until they’re inseparable
- Write out of order if you’re a discovery writer
- Use research to help with empathy
Each tip links back to the interview it came from, and most of those interviews are below.
Deep character, flaws, and emotion
How Character Flaws Shape Story with Will Storr. The science of storytelling: why a unique, specific flaw leads into a plot that enlivens the whole story.
Writing Characters with Matt Bird. How to choose the hero of your story, and how to write distinctive but still believable people. The source of the ‘believe, care, invest’ idea.
Writing Emotion with Roz Morris. Why emotion matters in every genre, and how to build a connection between your readers and your characters.
How to Write Emotion and Depth of Character with Becca Puglisi. The co-author of The Emotion Thesaurus on writing emotion so readers feel it, in fiction and non-fiction.
The Heroine’s Journey with Gail Carriger. An alternative to the hero’s journey where strength comes through connection and community, not solo action.
Craft, Structure, and Voice with Kristen Tate. My editor on shaping characters, scenes, and chapters so readers can’t put the book down.
Facing Fears and Writing Unique Characters with Barbara Nickless. Writing characters that keep readers coming back across a series, and the mindset to write the books that matter most to you.
Writing Iconic Characters and Building Trust with Claire Taylor. How to build characters readers want to return to, and how to be a creator readers trust.
Shorter articles on the same theme: hooking readers with characters they care about, creating a compelling protagonist, five ways to make characters memorable, four mistakes to avoid with your protagonist, and using beats to keep readers emotionally engaged.
Dialogue and character voice
Dialogue is where readers hear your characters think. Every person in the book should sound like themselves, and what they don’t say matters as much as what they do.
Writing Dialogue and Character Voice with Jeff Elkins. The Dialogue Doctor on authentic, engaging dialogue and the sub-text that deepens it.
Improve Your Dialogue with James Scott Bell. The author of How to Write Dazzling Dialogue on why dialogue is one of the hardest things to write, and how to get better at it. An older episode, but the craft holds.
Making British Characters Realistic as an American Writer, and Vice Versa. Spelling is the easy part. The words, rhythms, and assumptions that give a character away, from someone who writes both.
Using Authentic Dialogue from Languages Other than English. How to portray other languages and English variants without falling into stereotype.
Heroes, villains, and monsters
Writing Heroes and Villains with Sacha Black. Villains who are more than moustache-twirling cut-outs, and heroes with real flaws.
How to Write Monsters with Philip Athans. Why we fear what lies just beyond the campfire, and how to use that in horror, fantasy, and thrillers.
Fight scenes, injuries, and physical realism
Writing Fight Scenes with Female Characters with Aiki Flinthart. A martial artist on fights between trained and untrained characters, in any genre.
How to Write Effective Injuries for Your Characters with Samantha Keel. How to write physical injury realistically, so it moves the plot forward and reveals character, whatever your genre.
Writing characters who are not like you
Writing Choctaw Characters and Diversity in Fiction with Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer. Researching and writing a diverse cast as real people, from an author writing her own Choctaw heritage.
Tips 8, 9, and 15 in the 15 tips episode go deeper on research and empathy.
Setting as character
How and Why to Treat Your Setting like a Character. Give place the same specificity you give people. It’s how I write my own thrillers, which grow out of the locations I visit.
Books to go deeper
How to Write a Novel: From Idea to Book
Character, plot, setting, dialogue, and the writing process, from first idea to finished draft. Ebook, paperback, hardback, large print, audiobook, and workbook.
Writing the Shadow: Turn Your Inner Darkness Into Words
The deepest characters come from the parts of yourself you’d rather not look at. How to use your shadow in your fiction, safely.
Both are available direct from my store, and from all the usual stores.
More on writing fiction
Characters are one part of the craft. Writing in a specific genre is on my How To Write Thrillers, Horror, Mystery, And Crime Fiction page. The rest of the process is here: 7 steps to write your first novel, how to get ideas for a novel, how to write the first draft, and how to find and work with an editor.
New interviews on writing craft arrive every week on The Creative Penn Podcast.
