Some great ideas on how to really get into your character’s head and make him/her come alive.
In A Series, Foreshadowing A Character
Using the Harry Potter series as an example, this post shows how characters can be foreshadowed in a series before making their major appearance.
Make Your Characters Earn Their Keep
Author Wendy Lyn Watson offers a trick for weeding out unnecessary characters.
Heather McCorkle offers a few tips and tricks for keeping track of you character details so you don’t end up with inconsistencies.
Know Your Female Character Stereotypes
Wondering if your female character is stereotypical or original? Try this flowchart. Start at the start and answer the questions truthfully to see where your character falls.
7 Things Your Characters Do Too Much
A self-explanatory title!
An excerpt from Teresa Neilsen Hayden’s lecture on ‘Stupid Plotting Tricks’ giving a look at cliches revolving around villains and the genres of science fiction and fantasy.
How to Write Intriguing Male and Female Characters
A post on how understanding gender differences can improve your writing in any genre.
Lovable and Admirable Characters
We all want to create characters our readers will want to read more about. Author Denise Jaden shares some advice she received about qualities your main character should have to ensure he/she is engaging and lovable.
What the Fiction Editor Looks For Part 1
Literary agent Rachelle Gardner points out what an editor looks for in regards to characters. Some great points to keep in mind when revising your manuscript.
10 Tips to Keep in Mind When Naming Your Character
Author Jody Hedlund gives some advice on naming characters.
The Truth About Passive Protagonists
This post outlines when it’s ok to have a passive protagonist and when it’s not.
14 Dos and Don’ts for Introducing Your Protagonist
Author Anne R. Allen gives a list of fourteen great points to take into consideration when introducing your story’s protagonist.
Your Formula for a Kick-A** Young Adult Heroine
These tips are drawn from a panel of authors who all have kick-butt heroines in their novels.
Writing Fantasy Genre Stereotypes Part One: Your Heroine is Too Beautiful and Part Two: Writing the Opposite Gender
This two-part series looks at gender stereotypes in fantasy writing and how to avoid them. In particular, it looks at how in fantasy female characters are often stereotyped as either a sex object or a man in women’s clothing (or often both combined). Part one deals with visual stereotyping in the fantasy genre and part two deals with women who act like men and men who act like women (particularly aimed at women writing male characters or men writing female characters).
How to Make a Boring Character Interesting
This post outlines the various reasons your character could be coming across as boring or flat and offers some solutions to make your character more interesting.
Jo Hart - Author 