Story/Novel Charaters

Before you start writing a book, you need to have characters.  Characters are what make the book.  Without them, you have nothing. 

Now, to have a story, it doesn't even necessarily have to be about people.  It can be about anything.  You could write child's story about a tree, but that tree is then your main antagonist. 

To best describe someone, it's always easiest if you've seen them before.

It's because of this that you can look up just random people on pinterest, etsy, bing, google, etc. and find a unique or special photo of someone whom you want your character to look like.

Once you've found this person, it's easier for you to describe what they look like and you can go into quite a bit of detail.

It doesn't have to be a stranger, it can even be a photo of someone you know.  All I'm saying, is that in order to really be able to enhance on the details of your character and really make them come alive, it always helps to have a specific image to go off of.

Another thing you can do is base your character off of someone famous.  An example of this could be Leonardo Dicaprio. 

You might want one of your characters to look like him, so you look him up and find a picture.  Then you begin describing and that's all it takes! 

Then you have to give your person true character.  Make them special or have something that defines them from everyone else.

Whether it's something internal or external, it has to be uniquely their own. 

It could be something like they were in an accident and lost their ability to walk, or they were born blind, or maybe they have a strong irrational fear of windows.  Whatever it might be, you have to have something that sets the main character apart from everyone else.

Maybe your character is the only person immune from all diseases, or maybe they are the best designer of all time.  Whatever you choose.

Then, the most important thing of all - names.  Your character needs a name. 

Coming up with names is probably (for me, at least) the hardest part.

You could make them have a common name or a unique name.  Or you could make everyone have common names, or the main person has a common name and everyone else has extravagant names. 

Whatever you chose, but that name will be the character.  Your character will come alive and take control and demand the focus of the story to themselves.

Therefore, whenever I choose names, I like to look up the meaning behind the different names and pick on that truly suits my character. 

And that is how you can make your characters for your stories, whether short or long, truly come to life.