Creating Fictional Characters—Part 4: Fleshing Out Characters with Tags, Traits, and Relationships
July 1, 2009 by Lillie
Table of contents for Creating Fictional Characters
You’ve got some basic ideas of what your character is like: gender, age, vocation, manner.
As described in Finding and Creating Characters, you’ve given your character a problem, a need.
Now you’re ready to flesh the character out. Even though you won’t reveal all this information about your character at first, you need to know enough about the character so his or her actions make sense. Tags, traits, and relationships help you turn a one-dimensional stereotype into a three-dimensional unique character.
Tags help readers identify, differentiate, and distinguish between characters.
- Name
- The name must be consistent with character traits and age. Different names are popular in different generations. Tiffany is more appropriate for a young woman than a senior citizen, and Bruce doesn’t sound like an action/adventure hero.
- The character’s name should be easy to spell and pronounce. If you need an ethnic name that is hard to spell and pronounce, you can give the character an easy nickname.
- Keep the name consistent throughout the story. If your heroine is called Jacquie, don’t identify her as Jacqueline Marie and Ms. Morgan except in dialogue.
- Your characters’ name should have different beginning letters, sounds, and lengths. Readers can be confused if your main characters are named Joe, Josie, and Joni.
- You can find character names in baby name books and Web sites or The Writer’s Digest Character Naming Sourcebook
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- Appearance
- Identify them by gender and age. You don’t have to specify an exact age, but twenty-something is different from middle-age or senior.
- Describe their appearance. You don’t need a detailed description of every aspect of their appearance; you need two or three major elements of their appearance that will create an image for the reader.
- Other Tags
- Vocation—The CEO of a construction company will be different in a variety of ways from a laborer on the construction crew.
- Avocation/hobby—What a person chooses to do for fun tells a lot about them.
- Speech—Word choice, accent, and jargon can indicate level of education, ethnic or regional background, vocation, and more.
- Mannerisms—Habits and typical behaviors make characters distinctive.
- Attitude—Behavior patterns and the character’s typical way of reacting lead to characters’ actions and reactions.
- Abilities—Specific combinations of skills and talents make characters unique.
Goals and motivation
- Know what they aim to accomplish. They could be after love, revenge, financial security, adventure, or a myriad of other goals.
- Understand their motivation. Why are they looking for love? What happened to them to motivate them to seek revenge? Why is financial security so important to them?
Traits are characters’ habitual modes of response and habitual behaviors.
- Characters, like people, have distinctive ways of reacting to life’s demands that become habitual.
- Their influences, memories, history, and emotions have helped to form the way they typically act and respond to crises.
- Give your characters specific traits so you can introduce them by the characters’ actions before a crisis. Your story people should act “in character” in a crisis so your readers find their actions believable. I’ve been known to say, “She would never do that!”
Relationships are the way characters interface with others, the associations and reactions to people they come in contact with.
- Attraction is a paradox:
- Like attracts like.
- Opposites attract.
- People-watch to see how different people relate to others around them.
Cast your character to type or against type.
- To type—The character fits the stereotype of the dominant impression: the nerdy bookkeeper who wears glasses and reads boring academic books.
- Against type—The character doesn’t fit the stereotype of the dominant impression: the bookkeeper who works out regularly and races cars for a hobby.
Make your characters non-perfect—give them weaknesses.
- Readers can’t identify with perfect characters. None of us is perfect, and we want characters to be believable.
- Use the characters’ flaws and weaknesses to control the readers’ reaction to the character.
- Make them like or dislike the character, accept or reject him or her by the flaws you give your story people.
- Readers will hate the villain who tortures small animals but will love the hero who procrastinates.
Show, don’t tell.
- Traits are abstract and general; actions are concrete and specific. Telling the reader that your character procrastinates isn’t nearly as effective as showing him missing a deadline or failing to finish a project. One late project won’t identify an procrastinator, but several such incidents will.
- With the testimonial technique, you can have other characters describe the character by relating incidents: Joe’s coworker can say “Joe was late on his project again. He …”
Where do get material?
- Observing other people—there’s nothing like people-watching to get ideas for your characters.
- Introspection of your own self—you know yourself better than anyone, and your traits can give you ideas for your characters.
- Reading other fiction writers—see what works well and how you can adapt techniques to your own characters.
The next installment will cover developing background and traits using a character chart, bio, diary, or interview.
Share your own character-building tips in comments.
Amazing tips and informations about how to bring out your character, very necessary for the amateur writers.
Everything from the name to habit to traits to the character itself need to be very clear to the readers and they are able to distinguish your character its very necessary.The etching of the protagonist character needs all such kind of detailed detailing. But in order to make your character come alive we should write and re- write the sketch after reviewing ti critically, It will help tremendously.
charlie,
Yes, we need to review our characters when we finish writing the description and continue to do so throughout the story.
Interesting stuff. I always struggle to come up with “real” sounding names & end up with Brac Chadwick or similar
Dave,
Brac Chadwick sounds like the hero of a romance novel. They often have different names.
I totally agree about making the name relevant to the character and the generation because obviously character names are fake, but you don’t want them to stick out in that way. It takes common sense.
C,
Occasionally, you might want to violate this rule for a specific reason—for example, give a modern young woman a very old-fashioned name that she hates but she uses it because she was named after her grandmother and her parents would be hurt if she used a more modern nickname. But in general, names should be appropriate to the time period and age.
Hi Lillie,
It is great series.I really enjoy all the part.
Thanks for the sharing.
sumit,
I’m glad you’re enjoying the series. There are still four more installments to come.
As simple minded as I am, I always figured that characters exist to not only build the plot but to build conflict and a resolution. I never really realize that they themselves must exhibit internal conflicts and character flaws to seem “real.” This is great information. Thanks -
MrsA,
Internal conflict for characters is more important for some genres than others. Romance, for example, must have lots of internal conflict, whereas action-adventure will probably have more external than internal conflict. However, the most interesting characters are always the ones who grow and change throughout the story.
Hi Lillie, your series have been very educational. Many useful tips to learn from.
Thanks for providing such great value articles.
Thanks, Josh. The series is only half-finished—lots more to come.
i strongly agree on character’s weakness, it’ll spice up the story.. indeed, you’ve given me specific pointers in creating an effective content writing. thanks Lillie! ^_^
.-= littledazzle@contentwriting´s last blog ..Twitter Plays a Vital Role for Freelance Writers =-.
littledazzle (If you wrote YourName@Keyword, I could address you as a real person, and you would still get your keyword link),
I’d be interested to see how you use this in content writing since I was gearing it for fiction writers.
Great pieces of information!I trust that to be interesting a book has to be very near our sense of reality and weakness in a character can just do that. Thanks for such great advices. Looking forward to your next post.
Blondy,
You’re right that characters without flaws are too far from reality. In real life, we all have flaws, and characters should as well.
A distinguishing feature of your personal nature and your frequency to match with others varies and strongly influencing character. Readers perception about character always tends to correlate in their life. Its nice presentation. Thanks.
eshux,
Our experiences and perceptions definitely color how we respond to characters. You make a good point.
Lillie – This is great advice. I’ve been writing short fiction off and on for years, and I find that just a few character traits – or even one defining character trait (ex-con, neurotic, wealthy, etc.) can immediately give your reader a good sense of that character, and since in short fiction you have to get to the point fast, character traits are great tropes for pointing the reader in a direction without being too overt. Great advice.
Jeff,
Short fiction is a real challenge. You have little space to develop characters … or create a plot, for that matter.
I noticed that once you give life to a character you do abdicate some control over his or her destiny in the narrative you give them. The arc of the story belongs to the writer but often it’s the writer’s characters that assume some control of the storyline by their actions.
Rick,
When I first heard authors talking about their characters taking over, I thought they were nuts.
Then mine starting taking over … and I decided those authors whose characters take over are brilliant. 
Great tips. There’s nothing more frustrating than watching a movie and the character traits make no sense, or are very hard to believe.
Ty,
You’re right. You shake your head and say, “That person wouldn’t do that!”
I love watching characters that can’t figure themselves out and struggle through the whole story.
find (if you wrote Your Name @ Find a Person Free, I could address you as a real person, and you would still get your keyword link),
Maybe we enjoy reading about characters like that so much because we can easily identify with that situation.
Thank you so much for the awesome post! I’m not writing so much as I’m creating a character for brand purposes. (A professional adventurer) the tips here are great and really help the way I write posts and decide on content to share.
.-= GMBaker@ProfessionalAdventurer´s last blog ..5 Ways Following My Journey Could Change Your Life =-.
GM,
I’m glad the post was helpful to you.
Informative article about character building . Changes perception about importance of character traits in a person.
kim,
Since fictional characters should seem like real people, the character traits of real people should be reflected in fictional characters.
I think picking out traits from those near and dear to you is a great way to build a character… It’s easy to build on a personality you’re already familiar with and accentuate or twist elements to fit your desired profile.
Just don’t do what I did once and a use a friend’s annoying habits and bad breath as a trait, then tell them who it’s based around!
Phil,
Yikes! I imagine your friend wasn’t too happy with you. Hope he’s still your friend.
Many thanks for the great article!
For me, coming up with names is not the problem, but keeping the character traits consistent IS! I keep forgetting the traits of my characters all the time, and that sucks! 
I am on the lookout for a software that would help me organize my novel and its characters better! If you know of any such tool please let me know 
Kitty,
I don’t have any recommendations for software. I used something years ago, which was helpful, but it is no longer available. I know there are several programs for writers to keep track of plot and characters, but I have never used any of them and don’t even remember the names.
Kathleen,
I’m not strong in description, so I’m not the best person to give advice in that area. You will probably find some good advice in the writing resources section on my site–just look in the dropdown menu under Resources above.
In general, though, I think it’s best to leave something to the reader’s imagination. Give enough description so the reader has a starting point, but let them fill in some details. It’s better to give a few specifics rather than something like “beautiful,” “willowy,” “tall,” etc. You can describe the waves in her black hair brushing her shoulders or her waist or whatever to give an idea of what “long” is.
Also, it’s better to give the description as part of the action when possible. Saying he had to duck when he came through the door tells the reader he’s taller than a normal door.
Thanks for all those tips, Lillie! I love creating story books for my kids. Yep, I really create them … from scratch. Even the illustrations. I guess you could say I’m a frustrated children’s book author.
I’m hoping that I would someday muster enough guts — and find sufficient time — to actually pursue this dream.
Sarah,
I’m glad you found the series helpful. It sounds like you’re doing some wonderful children’s books–you should share them with others.
My wife and I think that our little girl will one day grow up to be either a film director or an author. She just loves concocting stories and letting her dolls “say” all the lines and quips she has come up with. So endearing to watch her!
Alex,
How precious! I’m glad you’re encouraging her creativity.
Do not always take free advice.
Jose Saramago often leaves his characters without names, much less any of the things listed above. I guess it depends on what you are trying to accomplish but showing isn’t always the best path taken.
Remember when you were in grade school and had show-and-tell. Remember the latter half and use it. Fiction used to be more tell than show until the movies and TV showed up. Now we can’t resist the ever-forward movement of the plot.
Revisit the writers from the 19th & early 20th centuries. Read like you life depends upon it. As a writer it does.
MC,
My free advice is worth exactly what people pay for it.
In these poss about characters, I’m talking about writing popular fiction. Literary fiction is different.
Bruce isn’t an action/adventure hero name? Bruce Wayne, Bruce Willis?
Adrian,
I didn’t say Bruce couldn’t be an action/adventure hero name–just that it doesn’t sound like one. Your examples don’t disprove that: Bruce Wayne is the ordinary person who is a superhero in disguise. As a superhero, he is known as Batman, not Bruce. Bruce Willis plays a lot of action/adventure heroes, but he is the actor Bruce. The hero characters have other names.
What should be appropriate name of character whose role is dual like portraying the life of a gay and a true male? Like the movie “Chuck and Larry Live Together”, they are both true male and a family men. But to take advantage of the free homes provide by a certain foundation, they have to act as gays.
Jerry,
You might want to give them slightly different nicknames for the two roles.
Well, a two different nicknames is better. I have also watched a movie where a daughter has been disowned by his father. She has a deceased brother, what she did was impersonating his brother, so she acted as a male, just to be accepted by his father.
Jerry,
There are lots of names that can be either male or female. In fact, I’ve read several books where the heroine deliberately used a masculine nickname so people would take her seriously in a specific job, for instance.
I just read and commented on the Great Books Week post last night and came across this post today. Not to repeat myself, but Wallace’s Infinite Jest has amazing character development. It might be something worth looking at for some of your other blog readers.
Thanks for the great post – character development is the most interesting part of any book for me!
Matt,
You’ve got me intrigued. I’ve never read Wallace, but will look at doing so.
Hello Lillie
Firstly great site and keep up the good work
some really good tips for character creation here, thank you
Maureen,
Glad you found the post helpful. The entire series is now available as an ebook: http://lillieammann.com/creating-fictional-characters/ for only $1.99.
it’s great to see a comprehensive character development tutorial I can actually use. This is going to be a great tool for my creativity
Alberto,
You can get the entire series in an ebook for $1.99. That way you can keep it on your own computer for ready reference.
There are some excellent points about creating characters in this article. For me, I find writing with a motivation for a character helps me write in a flow. Also, Lillie, I like the concept of tags as it seems to help me understand the process better.
ella,
I’m glad you found the post helpful. Hope you read the entire series.
[...] Creating Fictional Characters – Fleshing out Characters with Tags, Traits and Relationships [...]
I like using websites for names from different countries, but are easily pronounceable and have special meaning. I think this adds a lot of interest to the character. Thanks for such an informative article!
What a great idea, Sandy. Thank you for commenting.
Awesome info. The most important part – give your character a flaw. Humans have flaws, and many writers tend to leave those out. Great stuff.
Don,
I think making characters perfect is a common mistake of beginning writers. They forget that imperfect humans prefer to read about people that are imperfect also.
I never realized all the things that goes into my characters before!
kc,
To make characters seem real, they have to be quite complex. Otherwise, they hold no interest for readers.
Thank you for this entire series of very useful information. You wrote that readers must care about the characters. I fully endorse that comment. As a reader I can usually finish a book where the main character does not gel with me, but I won’t bother with the sequel.
What’s worse is when the main character is just annoying!
Ewa,
I understand what you mean about annoying characters. I use to try to finish every book I started, but now I realize I’ll never be able to read every book I want, so it’s silly to read a story with a character who annoys me.
Very good tips, expecially if you are a beginner.
Thank you, Danilo.
It is true that sometimes when I look at some people, no matter where, I can imagine a nice fictive story, usually funny, by using their defects. Nice article!
Keryan,
It’s okay to imagine people in a story, but if you actually write a story for people to read, you’d better make sure people can’t recognize themselves by their defects.
Hi Lillie,
It is great series.I really enjoy all the part and it is awosome. Very good tips, expecially for beginner. Its great site and keep up the good work
Thanks for the sharing.
Jackson,
I’m glad you found the series helpful.