Building Great Characters

A great story is more than a series of events glued together. It’s about characters discovering their true selves and changing for the better (or for the worse). The quality of your hero and their change depends not only on how you build them but on how each and every character affects your hero’s character arc.

I used to write characters by giving them a name and inserting as many character traits as I could until they became interesting. The results, however, were a collection of quirks attached to a name.

But character building is not about quirks. It’s about carefully crafting a web of character step by step until they’re greater than the sum of their parts.

Read on to understand character building methods from experts such as John Truby (screenwriter), Robert McKee (screenwriter), and David Edgar (playwright). These tried and true methods will then be presented in a logical order to transform your literary creations from one-dimensional roles to three-dimensional, fleshed out and necessary characters to your story.

The first step of character creation is taken from John Truby’s book: The Anatomy of a Story. There, he suggests you start defining characters by their role.

1. Roles

The role is the function a character plays in the story. These roles are Hero, Opponent, Ally, Fake-Ally, Fake-Opponent, and Subplot Character. Each of these roles exists in service of your main character and their character arc.

The Hero is the character that drives the action in a story by pursuing a goal; however, this character has certain flaws that keep them from achieving their goal.

The Opponents are the characters that want to keep the hero from reaching their goal. The Main Opponent is the character who can best attack your hero's flaws.

The Ally is a character that wants to help the hero reach their goal.

The Fake-Ally is a character who appears to be an ally but is, in fact, an opponent. This kind of character provides traitorous twists to the story, like Iago in Shakespeare’s Othello.

The Fake-Opponent is a character that appears to be an opponent but is actually an ally. The ‘Pigeon Lady’ from Home Alone 2 is a perfect example of a fake opponent, as is Professor Snape in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone because they are both considered opponents by our hero, but they're revealed as allies by the end of the story.

Writing characters who switch from allies to opponents and from opponents to allies is a great way to have twists and turns in your story.

Finally, the Subplot Character exists as a contrast to the Hero by having them face the same troubles as the hero but take a different approach. Subplot characters exist to define your character and help clarify the moral argument of your story. John Trudy presents Shakespeare’s Laertes as the perfect example of a subplot character because, like Hamlet, he deals with the problem of avenging his father. However, while Hamlet is careful and thoughtful, Laertes is reckless and passionate. Laertes helps clarify the argument of the story because if his character didn’t exist, the audience could assume that Hamlet should’ve killed Claudius the first chance he got in order to prevent all the tragedies. By having another character act recklessly and also die tragically, the audience discards that idea.

The second step for creating your character is what Robert McKee defines as ‘Characterization’ and ‘True Character’ in his book, Story. Fleshing out these two (sometimes) opposing aspects of your character is the best way to get the essence of who your character really is.

2. Characterization:

Robert Mckee describes characterization as all the observable traits your character possesses. These include their physical appearance, age, voice, gestures, personality, etc. Note that this is NOT the moment to insert character traits into your character. There will be time for that later. The reason you’re coming up with your character’s observable aspects is to have an image in your head of who they are and how they appear to be unique.

3. True Character:

True Character refers to who your character really is behind what we see, the face behind the mask if you will. To find out your character’s true self, figure out what they want (desire) and why they want it (motive). To find their desire, Robert McKee suggests you come up with clear answers to these questions: What do they want? What do they want? Are they after it now, or are they willing to wait? Do they know they want it, or is it an unconscious desire? What is their ultimate goal? However, while you should have an idea of your character’s motive, Robert McKee suggests you shouldn’t define it too much. Sometimes, a character is more interesting when we don’t have a full grasp of why they’re doing what they’re doing, and the audience reaches their own conclusions.

When writing your story, don’t have your character talk about who their real self is. The real self is expressed through the decisions they have to make under pressure.

4. Needs:

Shonda Rhimes says a character is divided by two (sometimes opposite) forces of desire: What they want vs. What they think they want. John Truby similarly describes these two forces as desire (what they think they want) and needs (what they truly want). A character’s desire drives the story forward while their needs lie beneath the surface of your story and come to reveal themselves by the end.

When your hero becomes aware of their needs, they overcome their weaknesses and change. However, tragic heroes never become aware of their needs. Sometimes a tragic hero will figure out their needs, but it’s often too late, and the harm has been done.

Pixar movies are a great example of how to handle desires and needs in storytelling. This is why their movies are known for being so touching. Take, for example, the familiar movies, Onward and Up:

SPOILER ALERT FOR ONWARD (2020) AND UP (2009):

In the movie Up, Carl Frederiksen is our hero, and his weaknesses are his grouchy exterior yet sorrowful interior. Heis weighed down by the memories of his wife, whom he still mourns. Carl embarks on an adventure to fulfill his wife’s dream by attaching thousands of balloons to his house and flying to Paradise Falls in South America. But his adventure gets complicated when he is forced to interact with Russell, an accidental stowaway. Their adventure to Paradise Falls becomes more and more complicated as the story goes on. Eventually, our hero’s weaknesses get the best of him, and Russel abandons Carl when he realizes Carl would rather save his house than Russel’s friend. Carl returns to his house and, flipping through his wife’s scrapbook, finds his wife left one last message amongst all the pictures of their married life: “Thanks for the adventure–now go have a new one!” In this heartwarming revelation, we come to realize Carl’s needs. He needs to live his own adventure and overcome the weight of his memories. He realizes that his wife lived the life she wanted, and now he has to live his. This single scene transforms Carl into the man he had been becoming since the start of his adventure. We, the audience, did not know what his need was until that scene. The writer, however, had his needs in mind from the beginning of the story, which is why you could find it present through his entire adventure if you were to re-examine the story. This is what makes Carl’s revelation so emotional.

In the movie Onward, our hero is Ian Lightfoot. Ian’s weakness is his insecurity. According to him, he is a coward because his father died, and he couldn’t learn to be confident like his father. Ian’s desire is to find the Phoenix Gem to complete a resurrection spell left by his father and to finally meet him. However, we see throughout the movie that Ian’s brother, Barley, is a fearless warrior, who successfully teaches Ian how to face all his fears and be brave through various trials and tribulations. The most emotional scene in the story occurs when Ian realizes that his brother had helped him accomplish all the things he wished to do with his resurrected father. This is the scene when the character becomes aware of their weaknesses and needs. Ian is insecure because he has been so preoccupied with his deceased father that he forgot to value what he already had, a fearless brother. The audience did not know about Ian’s needs until the very end. However, the writers had Ian’s needs in mind from the very beginning of the story, which is why, when we rewatch the film, we can see Ian grow with each scene thanks to his brother.

As a rule of thumb, a character’s needs have to be a new perspective that is necessary for your character to adopt in order to overcome their weaknesses. A character's need can also be to come to terms with their true self.

5. Comparing characters:

As part of building a web of characters, John Truby recommends you compare each of your characters on the basis of weaknesses, needs, desires, and values. This step reassures that each and every one of your characters is unique. This also helps you realize which two characters could actually benefit from being condensed into one.

When writing values for your characters, write them as a hierarchy of priorities. You should also set values for both your character’s characterization (apparent values) and their true self. Let’s suppose a character projects themselves as a moral leader but, under pressure and faced with a dilemma, kills a friend for power. In their hierarchy of values, they appear to value human life, but their true self values power over human life.

You can use this same thought process to create a hierarchy for every one of your character’s values.

6. Character traits:

Now that you understand your character’s role in the story—who they appear to be, who they really are, their desires, weaknesses, needs, and values—you can add character traits that are in accordance with who they are and their role.

The most important character traits are the ones that create paradoxes and contradictions between who the character thinks they are and who they really are. Make sure each secondary character provokes contradictions in your main characters. For example, according to Robert McKee, Hamlet is the most paradoxical character in literature (which is why he is so fascinating). While Laertes provokes the courage in him, Gertrude, his mother, brings out his self-pity. Claudius brings out the anger and resentment in him, while he is tender and loving with Ophelia. As the story progresses, he becomes cruel and sadistic with Ophelia but careful and merciful with Claudius.

7. Introductions:

Finally, what David Edgar takes into consideration when building his characters, is how they will be introduced in the story. Ask yourself what will be the first impression of each of your characters. You could also have other characters comment on a character before presenting them.

Before you know it, as you’re writing your character’s introductions, you’ll have already begun writing your story. This story will have necessary and memorable characters who will impact the reader that will remain in their heads for years to come.