When you’re crafting the characters in your
stories, you want them to be realistic. This doesn’t mean
that they have to be boring; it just means that the reader has to believe that
this person could exist, even if they’ve never met anyone like them before. Not
every character is going to be some 9-5 cubicle working, nuclear family kind of
guy. Just because you’ve never met a bounty hunter or a pirate or a wizard
doesn’t mean these aren’t great characters to use. What’s really important is
making sure that once you’ve established your characters, they have to act like
themselves.
No two people are exactly alike. Everyone has
their own way of thinking and acting—their own habits, nervous ticks, catch
phrases. Sure, there can be similarities—my sister and I have a lot of the same
facial expressions, or my fiance and I have a lot (A LOT) of inside jokes—but everyone does their own thing.
One of the things to note is how each character
speaks. You wouldn’t want everyone to sound the same. A younger character might
use more slang, swears, and contractions than an older person would. Some people
may talk in fragments, others in long, drawn out sentences. A shy person might
litter their words with things like “uh” and “um.” A teenager might have a
limited vocabulary, whereas someone like a teacher or English major would
probably have a vast knowledge of fancy words they regularly use. Think of a
basic sentence that a character might say, something like, “I got lost because
you gave me bad directions.” Now rewrite that sentence as if each one of your
characters was saying it. You’d probably write it differently for each
character (I know at least one of my characters would sneak an f-bomb or two in
a sentence like that). One character might be timid, another might be screaming. If you find each character says the sentence in the exact same way, then
maybe they don’t have distinct voices.
You also want to watch for different physical
characteristics that are true to each character. I was going through a chapter
of my second draft when I came across a very simple sentence—“He grinned.” You
usually wouldn’t think twice about a sentence like that, right? Well, it just
didn’t sit right with me. I circled the “grinned” with my red pen and scribbled
next to it: “I don’t think [he] grins. Ever.” I’d have to do a search to be
certain, but I’m pretty sure there are no other instances where this character
grins. He’s more of a shy smile kind of guy. There’s another character, though,
who does grin all the time (probably too much—but that’s what editing is for!).
See, each character has his own set of facial expressions and characteristics.
Think about what works for each character. One may bite her lip when she’s
nervous, another may flare his nostrils when he’s mad. Just make sure each
action fits the personality of your character.
As always, consistency is key. Make sure your
characters act like themselves, and don’t let that grin sneak in.