Letting Characters Live Beyond the Page

Real quick—can you think of a book that you couldn’t put down? When it was over, you just wanted more. You wanted to see what could further happen to one or more characters. I’ve had moments like that as well. Those are the real good books!

Great stories are the ones that pull us in, feel real to us, and make us relate to the experience in both good and bad ways. Those stories aren’t remembered for the plot alone, but for the characters who lived them.

As a writer, I want to tell stories that have characters who can jump off the page and have a life of their own.

Characters Before Everything Else

Characters are the life blood of a book. They absolutely come first. They are who we build our stories around. While the plot and worldbuilding matters, I have to create my characters. I have to understand them – who they are, what are their fears, how do they show up in the world. If that doesn’t happen, the twists and the turns won’t make sense. The story won’t feel real.

Am I making sense? I hope so.

When the characters feel authentic, readers forgive slow moments, missed clues, and even the occasional plot hole. When they don’t, no amount of drama can save the story.

Letting Characters Make Messy Choices

Perfect characters are boring to me. Real people make mistakes, choose the wrong thing for the right reasons, and sometimes hurt others without meaning to.

I try to let my characters fail a bit. Those failures shape who they become and how they grow. Growth doesn’t always mean improvement, either. Sometimes characters harden, retreat, or double down on their worst instincts.

That, too, is a form of change.

Characters Change Because the Story Demands It

The best character shifts should feel earned. Change doesn’t happen because the author decides it should – it happens because the character has been pushed to a breaking point. Knowing the background of a character helps to know what a character will do.

Every challenge should test something about the character: their beliefs, their values, or their self-image. By the end of the story, they shouldn’t be the same person who started the journey—even if the change is subtle.

We did an exercise on our show, asking our audience to build characters. The questionnaire asked a lot of questions like name, birthplace, siblings, job, etc. It was so interesting to see what people came up with! Once the characters were done, the stories were ready to be written! It was an amazing experience.

Lastly – Why Character Building Matters to Me

When readers reach the final page and don’t want to leave the story behind, that’s the goal. That longing—to know what happens next, to imagine the characters continuing on—is the highest compliment a writer can receive.

That’s why I put so much care into character building. Stories end. Characters live on.

If you are a writer, let us know in the comments, your process for building characters! We really want to know.