Character

When to retell history, when to imagine new scenarios, and who’s safe to use as a subject—author Gill Paul shares 7 tips for fictionalizing real historical characters.

Filling your book with realistic friendships can offer your main characters fresh perspectives on the story's core plot. Here, author Danielle Jackson shares tips for creating memorable friends for main characters.

The Writer's Digest team has witnessed many writing mistakes over the years, so we started this series to help identify them for other writers (along with correction strategies). This week's writing mistake is not understanding point of view.

With a hope for their readers to find themselves among the pages, O.E. Tearmann shares their experience with writing compelling neurodiverse protagonists without succumbing to harmful stereotypes.

Author Nekesa Afia shares how she went about growing her characters from the first to the second novel in her series. She picks four characters who appeared in both novels and (without spoilers) sheds light on how they've changed.

TV writer, producer, and novelist Joshua Senter explains why characters can do absolutely anything, but it's important to give them a psych eval to understand what can lead them there.

Award-winning novelist Robin Lee Hatcher shares her thoughts on how to write multigenerational historical fiction by focusing on the truths that remain constant through the ages.

Developing characters as fully formed, three-dimensional people requires patience, observation, and knowing what to put on the page and what to keep off. Here, author Marnie Riches shares how to write killer characters.

It’s not enough to simply insert pieces of a character’s culture into parts of the story—it should be woven into the fabric of who they are. Here, author Namrata Patel shares how to explore the lived lives of dual cultural identities in fiction.

The world of the unknown is a playground for curious writers. Here, author Steve Toltz shares 7 stories where death is not the end and discusses what writing beyond death can do for our stories and our characters.

Author Karen Winn’s medical background offered her a deepened sense of empathy for the characters she wrote. Here, she discusses how knowing your characters' health helps to write their stories.

Family relationships make for compelling stories with characters rich in nuance and personal history. Here, author Juliet Blackwell shares ways to explore the complexities of family in fiction.

Flaws in characters make them feel more real and authentic, but it’s important that their flaws don’t make readers root against them. Here, author Danielle Owen-Jones offers eight tips to help make an unlikable character likable.

Your characters can have their independence and their romantic endings, too. Here, author Bethany Turner shares 3 tips for sparking romance in a character who is content with being single.

Fleshing out character relationships can turn a good story into a great one. Here, Kris Spisak offers four strategies for writing real relationships between your characters.

Influence and infatuation can make characters behave in surprising, and sometimes devastating, ways. Here, author Tara Isabella Burton discusses writing about influence in fiction.

Everybody has secrets, so when do you reveal your character’s? Here, author Swan Huntley shares 5 reasons characters hide their past and when they should confront them.

Sharing even a fraction of our feelings with our characters will help our stories feel more authentic. Here, Kris Spisak explains how to tap into our memories to tell emotional truths on the page.