@keii4ii @handykartika
Yeah Keii mentioned getting critiques, which I think is a good way to see how you're doing but also even with critiques, I think it's always best to have a decent stock pile before acting on anything, because just like other non critics can like or dislike something so can constructive critics, they're only human after all and it's still their opinion. So with that in mind, I think it's best to read them with an open mind but be wary of the fact that not everything may be applicable, depending on what you want to do with the story. That and you need to accept the fact that not everyone is going to like what you do, or your character and that you shouldn't aim to please every single person cause that's not really possible lol.
Anyway my take on the
First off, in my experience one as you say "interesting" character is not going to be enough. There are a few ways that could go. 1) That one character is so horribly OP and Gary/Mary Sue like that it's cringe worthy or 2) that character is a minor character that you see every other chapter doing cool butt shizzles and you think to yourself "Now why isn't this story about them?".
Okay, I'm exaggerating slightly, but the point remains, one interesting character? No. Never enough. What about everyone else? They just lumps of coal? There should never be a character introduced that doesn't somehow affect the movement of the story. Like acting, it's why people say "even the minor characters are important" because it's true. Sometimes the smallest character has the biggest impact in the entire piece. So with that in mind, I have an issue with how you phrased your question.
What does "interesting" even mean? That word is too subjective and can be interpreted too many ways to really be a good concrete point to work off of so instead I'll take the road of "Developed" characters.
Now as Keii mentioned there's many ways to do this but I'll just share a little bit of what I do when making a character.
First Off, before you begin creating your characters you need to make sure you have a concrete and clear idea of the world you character resides in. If that's meant to be a modern setting cool, great, wonderful your life just got ten million times easier, BUT if you're setting them in the far off land of Shubadwyala that means you gotta build from the ground up.
Some of that includes things like:
- Politics: How is your world run? What makes it tick? Is it a Monarchy? Democracy? Republic? Perhaps an Oligarchy? Is the socio-economic standing of the people merit based? Perhaps more caste based? Deciding that can greatly effect the outlook and drives a character has to do whatever it is they're doing.
- Climate: Easy enough. What's the weather like? This effects things below like:
- City Architecture
- Technology
- Fashion
- Gender Roles: Every society has them. Views of what is and is not appropriate for each gender. Or perhaps lack there of. You never know. Depending on whether or not you want to use the heavy handed "I sneer and throw punches at you" approach or the more subtle "I don't outwardly say how much I dislike what you're doing but it's obvious all the same" can also effect the dynamic of characters.
- Religion: What do your people believe in? Is their a God? Or Gods?
- Language: What do they speak
- Forms of Communication: How do they speak? Is it through a mouth? Letters? Some futuristic device? Telepathy. Etc.
And the list goes on. Those are just some basics for World building. Just remember if you have it yourself, or don't have it yourself, then you should think about how it fits in the world as well. Hence the "this takes 10 million times longer than just using Modern day wherever you live".
Anyway once you have all that. You fit your character into those set parameters. And of course add the basic things like hair color, eye color, skin tone, race, hair type, body type, sexual orientation, any handicaps they may have, and personally I love to write a couple of sort of unusual habits my characters have. Like I have a character that doesn't use contractions and another who always listens to Beyonce when being a space warping bad ass. So they don't have to be super weird but they can be and they help make the character more real in your eyes and the eyes of the readers.
If you do all of that then you'll already have a pretty solid base for your character. A lot of who and what you are is shaped by your society, culture, environment and your reaction to it. So mirroring that in your character. How they perceive their world will greatly affect their perception of self, attitude, speech patterns and all like that.
And yeah. I don't wanna overwhelm you so I'll just leave it at that. Hope this is somewhat useful :3
GOOD LUCK MATE!