To write a brilliant story we need brilliant characters. The good news is that brilliant characters are EASY to make up.

We just need to ask ourselves some questions.

Like, WHY…
Why is my character special?
Why is my character interesting?
Why is my character worth liking (or disliking)?

Sometimes, when I create a character, I think about these things. I might think to myself, a character who has had to fight serious illness all their life is special, interesting and definitely worth liking. Or I might think that a dog who has been into space, or saved someone, or can juggle whilst whistling a tune is special enough to write about.

And by asking myself these questions I am beginning to create my character.

It just so happens that I know a little bit about the character I’m going to create in this article. I know my character is special because they have a terrible illness which they bravely live with. My character is interesting because this illness means they can only play out at night, never during the day. And my character is worth liking because despite being VERY VERY QUIET, they never having anybody to play with. Which is quite sad.

So I’d carry on.

I’d ask myself a bit more, such as WHAT…

What is my character? Is it a person, an animal or an inanimate object?

We can make a character out of anything. A person is easy, a talking horse might be fun, but what about a pet rock who only I can hear? Is that a character?

I’m going to make it easy for myself. I know that my character isn’t a rock or a horse. My character is a little girl.

So now I have a little girl who plays on her own at night and is always very quiet.

Does she sound interesting? Does she sound like someone worth getting to know and writing about?

I think so.

But wait! I know all these wonderful details about my character but there’s something really important that I don’t know – how does she LOOK…?

Well it just so happens that I know EXACTLY what my character looks like. She is pale (because she doesn’t go out in the day). She has long black hair and her eyes… I want her eyes to be something unusual. Creating a character for a story means we can make them stand out and be different. Remember, a character has to be interesting.

So I’m going to make my character’s eyes really interesting. I’m going to make them RED.

Now it’s time to stuff my character with things that make them even more interesting.

How does she FEEL…? What are her emotions?

Emotions are feelings. Are we a happy person or a sad person? Are we angry, or do we laugh a lot? Are we the kind of person who falls in love or are we the sort to stick out our tongues at everyone?

I’m going to make my character a bit mixed up. I think she can be happy but she’s also sad about something. I think she is sad about being the only girl she knows who sleeps during the day and wakes at night. There aren’t a lot of other people to play with late at night.

I think she also gets a bit angry too, from time to time. She doesn’t meet many people and so can be frightened of the people she does meet. But rather than admit she’s frightened, she becomes angry and tries to scare them.

This all sounds like a lot of work to do just to make a character in a book, but it’s very important. You can think of it like getting to know someone. Once you get to know someone really well then you know what that person will do in any given situation.

So let’s see how well we know the character we just made up.

Imagine our little girl in all the detail we have been talking about. Put her in your head.

It’s time to make her REACT…

Make her wave. Got that? What does her face do when she waves?

Ok then.

Now, imagine her sat on a bus. She’s going home (late at night if course). And imagine an old lady getting on the bus, which is quite crowded, and asking the girl if she wouldn’t mind giving up her seat.

Now, how would she react, what would she do, if this happened?

Would she stand up without a word and let the old lady have the seat and think nothing of it?

Or would she sit there and pretend she didn’t hear?

Or would she stand up, stick out her tongue and then turn herself into a bat and frighten the old lady along with everyone else on the bus?

We need to imagine situations like these to learn about our characters because it’s in moments like these when we learn that our little girl, the girl we have given dark hair, pale skin and red eyes; the girl we have decided stays up at night and sleeps in the days; the girl who can move about very very QUIETLY, is, in fact…

A VAMPIRE!

Now that’s a character worth writing about.

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Illustration copyright and courtesy of Suzanne Henderson. Follow her on Twitter or see her website. Suzanne is the illustrator of Macy’s Laces!