Making Your Characters Stronger

fictionwritingtips:

A lot of people confuse character strength with physical
strength. It’s awesome if your female character can beat up 30 people in a
room, but what does that actually tell us about her? There needs to be
something more than just that.

So, how do you make your characters legitimately stronger?
Here are a few tips to get your started:

Give them a goal

All characters should want something. It can be something
small, like getting a good grade on a test, or it can be something big, like
saving the world. Know your characters and what their goals are. This should
help you shape the plot and prevent writer’s block.

Let them grow

Character growth is something that makes your story
fascinating. Each character should make a change or grow, especially if you
want your readers to root for them. This is usually the case with protagonists
because common antagonist traits are that they are stubborn and they might not
grow very much. Let us see your protagonist learn and become a stronger hero.

Define their
character traits

You can make a character more relatable if you know what their
traits are. Is your protagonist cautious? Are they afraid of failure? Are they
lazy? Knowing specific details about your characters can help your story feel
more real. You’ll actually get to know who your characters are and why they’d
react a certain way.

Build relationships

Let your characters love or hate or have great friendships.
Your character’s connection to other people in the story will help make them
stronger. They’ll have more motivation to fight til the end and they’ll have
something they care about. Don’t neglect these relationships.

Let them fail

A strong character doesn’t mean they do everything perfectly
and lack struggle. Your characters need to fail. Most of us don’t get stronger
by constantly succeeding. We fail, we pick ourselves back up, and we keep
going. This will help keep your protagonist relatable and your readers will
continue to root for their success.

-Kris Noel