Fictional Characters

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Fictional characters are products of a writer's imagination. The characters are mixed into a make believe setting for entertainment or learning. The character isn't a real person in the sense that he/she really lives, but some fictional characters can seem like actual people. Take a look at how fictional characters become memorable.  

• Fictional characters must be believable and interesting.
• Writers must know their characters to tell attention grabbing stories.
• A major character's trait or quality is the "stuff" that brings him/her to life.  

 The focus of this post is on major characters, because they move the story forward. The choices of main characters are very important. Why? The choices of main characters move secondary characters to action, gossip or more problems. The profile of my character begins. The character hacks into any business computer system at random intervals, in hopes of not being caught.   

• The character stole his/her way into employment.
• He/she gained access to the computer system and stole money.
• This fictional character lived a life-style far beyond his/her means.

A character's profile holds all the information about him/her. The name, his/her mannerisms, flaws and attributes. As with people, my fictional character gets greedy and goes too far. You, too, jot down any feature or trait that you want to dress-up the character with.   

• What will the character's eye color be?
• Will he/she have a limp? 
• The strengths, ambitions or weaknesses of the character?

The above character that stole into his employer's computer system have the weaknesses of hacking and thinking he/she's smarter than most people. This character is always trying to dig information out of people, especially secrets.   

•  The character looks for information to accounts.
•  The character tends to brag about how easy it's to steal credit card information.   
• Social security numbers are a favorite of this character too.

Look-over your character profiles. Is more needed to make a character well rounded? You have too much information which isn't show-casing the character. It's information that can be uttered by his/her actions or secondary characters?

• Character profiles are sprinkled in.
• Memorable characters display a certain flaw or trait.
• Fictional characters grab attention when the flaw or trait is believable.

Memorable Characters

Have a question? Agree, disagree,
with me? Leave me your opinion.

Interesting Fictional Characters

Memorable fictional characters must
be interesting and believable.
Writers must know major characters
to tell attention grabbing stories.
It's impossible to engage readers
if your creative flow isn't excited,
or you don't know major characters.

The discussion here is major characters
only. They, for the most part, move
the story forward, because their
choices matter.

A major character's trait, quality,
that's repeated creates memorable
characters.

Let's profile a memorable character.

A hacker, for example, stole his/her
way into bank employment. The character
accessed computers to gain entry into
college, free pizza he/she tried to buy
college friends with and show-off.

The act of hacking is repeated, even
while working at the bank. The hacker
will be caught as he/she transfers
small accounts of money into an account.

The character's profile includes all
information about characters.

Profiles has the hacker's name, for
example: Toby Blake. What are his/her
mannerisms, flaws and attributes?

The hacker goes too far. The character
wants people to think he/she is smarter
than everyone else.

What does his/her eyes, face, look like?
Perhaps, his/her face is skinny, narrow
eyes. He/she has a hunch-back.

How does the character talk? Socialize?
Dress? What's his/her reaction to staring?
He/she wobbles, limps or walks fast?

The character that hacks talks fast.
He/she wants to appear smart, and
dislikes being stared at.

What are his/her strengths, weaknesses
and ambitions?

The character's major weaknesses are
hacking and thinking he/she is smarter
than others. His/her strength is knowing
how to steal into computers.

How does he/she treat people? The character,
hacker, is always trying to dig information
out of people, in hopes that it'll lead to
interesting hacking. In reality, the
character knows no one will like him/her
without the hacking ability.

Look-over your character profiles. Do you
need to add more to the profile? Take away
information? Is the character interesting
to you? Or, is your creative flow ignited?

If you feel a character's profile wouldn't
help make him/her memorable, stop. Save
that character's profile for another tale.
Start a new profile with a different character.

Finally, memorable characters must be
attention grabbing, believable and a
profile helps reach that goal.

Source: http://voices.yahoo.com/memorable-characters-10991316.html