As someone who is about to begin making my very own fictional novel, I figured creating some sort of article-series about different parts of the planning/writing process is important—not only to serve as tips for other aspiring young writers but also so I don’t forget my own advice.
I’m not ashamed to admit it, but when it comes to deciding which book to read (especially considering popular ones), I always prioritize the narrative perspective and the characters. Yes, I do not like more than one or two points of view in a book, but that’s a topic to discuss for another day. There are two crucial parts of what makes a story good: ½ plot and ½ characters.
Furthermore, there are A LOT of parts to writing characters that I doubt I’ll be able to fit into this article: antagonists (villains), protagonists, POC characters, disabled characters, realistic characters, child characters, teenage characters, middle-aged characters, love-interests, the best friends, and etc…
Little do you know, every single one of these characters are important in a story. If you don’t understand why, I recommend people to go online and look at social media platforms, such as GoodReads and Reddit. There, you can personally look at honest reviews made by people about particular parts of a book/book series.
Well-written characters (good or bad) are what keep people interested: their quirks, personality traits, mistakes, and particularly, their character development, is what drives the plot.
Characters —> Plot —> Theme
I know what some of you may be thinking: there are all sorts of characters in a novel, even irrelevant ones that come and go, but surely all of them aren’t relevant?
No. All of them are—people who appear very briefly or not at all. Let’s say, hypothetically, a novel introduces a character that helps the protagonist for a short time (physically or maybe just by the mention of their name/story) but then that character disappears. That is, in fact, relevant and important. This particular character, whether dead or alive, contributes to the plot by providing context to the storyline (lore) and developing other characters.
An example would be Regulus Black, a character in J.K Rowling’s Harry Potter—first mentioned in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, this is a dead character who is only mentioned for several brief times. This character was used to help the main characters and plot—for the horcrux hunt—and provide important background information for the childhood of Harry Potter’s godfather, Sirius Black. Ironically, in Harry Potter’s enormous fandom, this character actually becomes extremely popular (resulting in many non-canonically and canon fanfictions).
But when creating these characters, you have to be careful and dedicated. There are many circumstances when authors, annoyingly, add characters and then forget about them—leading to them being ignored and left out of the plot. This is why you have to carefully plan out the lore of the story to prevent these kinds of mistakes. J.K Rowling’s character, Regulus Black, was written excellently (in my opinion), as the character allowed the readers to further understand the plot whilst simultaneously adding more mystery (around Voldemort’s horcruxes and the mysterious House of Black).
In the next DIY article, I’ll dive into specific types of characters! This article was written to convey the importance of even what seems like irrelevant characters.
“PLOT GROWS OUT OF CHARACTER. IF YOU FOCUS ON WHO THE PEOPLE IN YOUR STORY ARE, SOMETHING IS BOUND TO HAPPEN.” —— Anne Lamott