What brings a character to life?

[miramiee]

Hey guys! I've just started to write my first scripts for a webcomic I'm doing with a friend and I've found that it's a lot harder to showcase character personalities and struggles without simply barfing out information. I think part of it may be how they say things or interact with other characters but I know characters are a lot more than what they say and do.

So, I just want to know what brings your characters to life? What makes readers feel things for your characters and how do you incorporate that into your dialogue?

[DiegoPalacios]

Hi miramiee!

Here are some questions that may help when it comes to character personalities...

1-How is their personality?, what are their good qualities and which flaws do they have?

2-What do they like and why?

3-What do they hate and why?

4-How is their relationship with certain characters and why?

5-How do they move and talk? body language and the way of speaking can reveal a lot about a person.
The way a member of a gang may be different from how an erudyte talks.

About showcasing info about the characters: Their personality is shown with their actions and words. Nobody says "i am extroverted", they just talk, socialize and meet people. When it comes to personalities the key is to show, don`t tell.

Is not neccesary to show a backstory of a character inmediately. When you meet new people you don`t neccesarily learn about all their life strugles. They may share some info when they are with someone they trust or it could be revealed during an important moment.

Hope this helps!

[craicin]

electricity

but really, drawing on real people and yourself fleshes them out substantially. It certainly makes conversation more realistic and less like Spacklin' over the plot holes!

[AmysGames]

First of all, I think it's important to be consistent. If your character is nice, they should do a lot of nice things. If your character is shy, they should have trouble talking to people. If your character loves cats more than life itself, they would probably talk about cats quite a lot (maybe to the annoyance of other characters ).

People can change or sometimes act "out-of-character" (e.g. a nice person might be snippy on a bad day), but if you haven't clearly established their core personality, then these changes or out-of-character moments will probably fall flat.

As for making readers feel things about your characters, I think the best way to do that is to have their personalities have a clear impact on the story. A nice character might show kindness to a character who doesn't deserve it. A shy character might have a hard time speaking up even for really important things. A person who loves cats more than life itself might go out of their way to help an endangered cat, even if it means endangering themself. Those sorts of things add depth to both the story and the characters, and most importantly tend to resonate with readers.

[TheFalseVyper]

Just like @DiegoPalacios mentioned, a lot can be expressed through body language!

If you have a confident and charismatic character, depict them standing tall with their heads held high. They'll often be smiling and will have no problem looking people in the eye.

If your character is brooding and antisocial, they will have a closed off presence to them. Their arms will most likely be crossed with their head angled down and looking at people through furrowed brows.

These are just two examples, but all of this gives away so much about a character without anyone having to say ANYTHING!

[Harmony-S-S]

@miramiee: What brings your character to life?

Me: My imagination!! 🤩🤯

[miramiee]

Woah thank you all for your input! Everyone is super helpful.

Sorry if I have one more question though... how do you handle character development? I'm working up my main character to go from being insecure about his own abilities to him being sure that he can at least do his best. But I don't want to lose the qualities he has that characterizes him to begin with. So what do I do.

[DiegoPalacios]

For this is important for your character to have more than one personality trait (in this case, insecure about his abilities)

Here is an example: Joe is an insecure kid who hides his insecurities using humor and joking around. After some life-changing adventures, maybe a pep-talk from a mentor, etc.... he overcame his insecurities. But he still jokes around and makes people laugh.

This example has only 2 personality traits, but the point is that personal changes doesn`t neccesarily change every aspect of a person.

Also, to make a character development beleivable, it must have a solid reason for a person to change. Also, not every change comes easily, because it often involves a change of habits and/or mindset. For example, the insecure guy will not become confident in just one second. He must have reasons to be able to believe in himself.

[MinNCompany]

In my opinion, only one thing: flaws, flaws, flaws. Make your character imperfect: impulse, petty, whatever. Failure brings characters to life.

But it seems here like you're struggling more with a pacing/exposition issue? "Show don't tell" is a good rule to follow. Make sure your characters react to their environment, to each other - and especially to whatever their conflict is.

Dialogue is a powerful tool that can change the way we perceive a character. If you have a shy character, their way of speaking may be more indirect (Compare: "I'm hungry." "Don't you think we should eat? It's been a while since we ate.")

As for character development, i think it helps to have relapses while progressing - two steps forward, one step back kind of deal. Life isnt a linear progression and similarly, characters shouldnt gradually develop new traits - it's a rocky up and down path to climb.

Good luck with your comic! ^^

[antwyonsimpson]

Making your character relatable. Give the quirks and flaws that an actual person would have. Give them depth and actual meaning for their actions.

[scythe]

Your characters should be real people to you. You should know what's happened to them their whole life. You should know how they'll react or respond in any situation. What I'm saying is they should be living real lives in the world inside your head.

If they're that alive to you, all you need to do is give them something interesting to do and write about it.

[amortelito]

You are so right. What they do or say is not enough to give life to a character. I think that characters feel most real when they have their own personality and ideology. And that allows them to have genuine reactions to what they are experiencing. I wrote many adventures out of nowhere just by asking "what would they do if".

At times I plan a scene and end up drawing something completely different. Because it is not about what I want them to do...Is about what they would do. And sometimes I personally don't agree with them but let them be.
They have their own tastes, likes, dislikes, humor, fears, motivations, they are a person regardless of the plot. To incorporate that into the dialogue, just do that "what would they say".

This applies the same when you see a development. The character changed for a reason, and now the responses would be different than before. The character can even explicitly address this change of behavior. "I have been so trusting and naive, but not anymore." "I want to believe you but I have been betrayed". That means the character is s still kindhearted but something happened. Didn't lost the trait.

[Ironscarf]

Put him in a situation where he has to make a choice: to act, to take a stand or to walk away. If he takes a stand to help someone else lets say, but thinks he will fail, then his lack of confidence makes him more a hero than someone who knows they will win. He then finds the strength to act in future, while hiding his insecurities from everyone but the reader and those closest to him. But those ongoing insecurities are what help us to identify with him.

[frixelkind]

I think characters are brought to life when they have contradictions in them. In sounds counter-intuitive, but most of the people I've met are paradoxes in their own right. People are volatile, it isn't easy to generalize them or set them in stone. And in my opinion, when characters are written the same way, they feel more organic, and their actions have a lot more behind them.

I think about what causes a person to go against their principles and how it adds to the complexity of their character.

[shazzbaa]

What brings a character to life?

An idea I read in the book Story by Robert McKee (which I super recommend to anyone willing to take the time to read it) that kinda changed the way I looked at things, is when it talked about how some creators will argue over which is more important: Character, or Plot? And the book said that's an impossible question, because Character IS Plot. Think about it this way: if you have a character who is a hero, but nobody in the story is ever in danger, then you'd never get to see how heroic that character is. The plot of the story has to showcase Who your character is and What they value by threatening those things in some way. Yes, characters are more than what they say and do -- but what they say and do are the only way we'll get to see it!!

So, if there's something you want people to see about who your character is and what's important to them, then the plot has to hilight that in some way -- a cowardly character has to be put in danger, a shy character has to be put into conflict, a brave character needs someone to save that would put themselves in danger, a kind character needs to be put in a situation where it will cost them something to help someone.

And when you know what your character is willing to risk or work for, you can also have the story bring different values into conflict -- if you have a character who values both his family and his dreams of hollywoood, and you put him in a situation where he has to pick one -- if this hollywood contract moves you far away, and your family will have a tough time without you, do you follow your dreams, or help your family? -- then that's REALLY INTERESTING because we get to see that conflict, and find out what he values more. If a character is cowardly, but also loves her sister, then when her sister is in danger, which desire wins out?

And that can be a lot of where character development comes from -- something that changes the character's values. A character is afraid of fighting, but when they run away from a fight, a friend gets hurt, and then that changes how they look at things -- that might make it worth it to them to learn to fight. Or a character who's cynical because she thinks anyone who's nice to you has something to sell -- until she meets someone who's genuinely kind, out of love, and her desire to connect to that person starts to win out over her fear of being taken advantage of.
I think an important thing is for the audience to have a hint of where character development came from, emotionally -- that it's not just "he's cowardly, but now he's a little braver, and now he's a little braver" -- it's "he was cowardly, but now he has a reason to try to be brave, and he doesn't quite get it the first time, but the second time he does a little better."

[Luminosophy]

Body language is the number one key to me. Body language is the MAJORITY of communication, so I would sit down and work out patterns that are unique to an individual. For example, crossing your arms is said to be a sign of closed off/ defensive. This isn't really true, only for some people it is. A lot of people will rest their arms that way simple because it's comfortable. You can show that with otherwise friendly signs, such as smiling or otherwise having a very relaxed posture. Some people fidget a lot. It doesn't have to be a sign of anxiety or nervousness. Some people just naturally move constantly and find it hard to sit still. Basically everything they tell you about body language as a rule, throw it out the window. It's only useful on a case by case basis.

There's also speech patterns and other verbal quirks. Though be careful about going overboard. Majority of people use proper/ fluent grammar. What's common is to often have certain phrases or words that a person will constantly repeat without realizing it. I just watched a kid on a news clip who couldn't help but start most of his sentences with "Well apparently,...." I tease my boyfriend a lot because he's very analytical. Any facts you present him get turned into "Well, technically....". Small things like this can bring personality through dialogue.

[ryoko]

This! You've managed to put into words what really brings characters to life. I feel like when I draw, I'm essentially drawing a documentary of their lives, since they just run around inside my head doing stuff.

[Im_moron]

this is one video which gives some good points on it

another is to play around with flaws? well... authentic flaws

I certainly based a lot of the funny jokes in Really Angsty which my readers liked from personal experiences regarding my own incopitence and being overly ambitious

always always ALWAYS try to look to real life experiences and the real world to write into characters, even if it's a high fantasy, because that is going to get some level of attachment to these characters...

never got that thing you've always wanted because several people cucked you and you lost your oppurtunity to get that thing you've wanted? like a card, drawing tablet, acceptance into a college?

you can use that experience to write the same reaction into the villain where all his hard work has fallen flat, dreams crushed.

if you haven't experienced it, maybe interview some people who has better experience in it.

[scythe]

So true. Whenever possible I try to remove dialogue if I think I can achieve the same thing through body language alone.

[Luminosophy]

I do this a lot too, lol. I've done a one page comic in complete silence just for fun because it's great to be able to tell a story without words. xD