Best Ways to Write Characters

Character writing is an act of creation that has a variety of methods and approaches that people take on. Some prefer a structured technique in creating a character, while others improvise. However, no matter how you like to write your characters, here are a few ideas that could help you get to know your characters and effectively write them.

Using a Formatted Sheet

Character sheets are formatted documents that prompts certain information for you to write about. They may include things such as backstory and personality. They can look like plain text files, but if you have the know-how, then they can also be beautiful webpages utilizing HTML. 

These sheets can be useful tools, especially when you have a character but you don’t know what to write about them. They will have different prompts that will help detail the character and what they’re like.

Writing About a Pre-designed Character

Another method is by designing a character before writing them. While writing a character and then designing them is the standard order, making a design in a vacuum can lead to a fun thing where you will have to explain the design elements that pop up. If they have a mechanical limb because it looks cool, then it will need to be incorporated. If they slouch, maybe it says something about their personality.

You can do this with a character design you purchased (an “adoptable”) as well. As long as there is a design with no writing behind it, you have yourself a base you can use to make a full character out of.

Experimenting With Short Stories

Sometimes you have an idea of a character in your head, but no matter what you try, you can’t come up with a personality or, well, anything. That is where improvising can come in. Creating short stories is a chance to allow the character to develop naturally and let you get to know them like you would get to know a person.

If you find a quirk about the character you like, you can write it down as a note. Maybe you find that they tell jokes, or really like red velvet cake. Perhaps they end up with a disability, or they have an interesting job. Just allowing you to write about them with nothing but the flow to guide you can lead to interesting characters you otherwise wouldn’t have considered.

Creating a Fan Character

But if you can’t come up with anything truly original, you may need a pre-existing property to play around with. Creating a fan character is a fun way to use stories that are already out there as a sandbox of your own. Don’t worry, you can turn the fan character into something fully original in the future. The important thing is getting the foundation of a character set in stone. Once you are done with that, you can then decide if they should remain a fan character or become something new.

Conclusion

There are plenty of ways a character can be written. Many of them can be good prompts if you’re struggling with ideas, or they can be good exercises for the purpose of practice. Plus, creating a character can be a fun activity in general whenever you need a creative project. Once a character is made, you can then move on to numerous other creative projects about them!