Writing Interesting Characters

A guest post from author Savannah Jane McCrary.

Photo by Cory Schadt on Unsplash

Today, I have a special surprise for everyone: a guest post from Savannah Jane McCrary, author of the soon-to-be-published Trains and Tulips. Read on to find out her advice on creating a large cast of unique characters!

—Emily B.

I’m one of five sisters. All five of us have blue eyes, brown hair, and names that start with “S.” While people often get us mixed up at a first meeting, our close friends and family know that we are each very different. I mean, very different. Sure, we may have some similarities, but our personalities, opinions, and interests cover quite a wide range.

I think that’s the key to writing a story with a large cast of characters and keeping your readers from getting them mixed up: show how unique each person is and let your readers get to know them very well.

And it can be done! My most recent book, Trains and Tulips, (Young Adult World War II historical fiction set in the Netherlands) has five main (POV or point of view) characters, as well as these characters’ parents, siblings, a set of grandparents, several friends, and an assortment of other characters.

An early reviewer for Trains and Tulips said of it, “There's a cast of five solid characters, but they're all distinct and never get confusing.” And several other readers have also enthusiastically expressed how much they liked my characters!

So how do we create characters that are unique and help our readers get to know them well?

Some authors will take personality tests and assign a personality type to their characters. Others fill out detailed questionnaires for their characters. While I’m not saying those things are necessarily bad, I’ve never done either of those things and don’t plan to.

Today, I’d like to share with you some of what I did. There is one key that I have discovered to be more helpful than any other. That is to observe.

To observe means to “notice or perceive (something) and register it as being significant” or to “watch (someone or something) carefully and attentively.”

Here are four specific ways I “observe.”

1. Observe yourself.

For some of my characters, I can simply think about how I would respond in various situations. This is a great place to start. When I’m trying to figure out how a certain emotion would manifest itself, it can be helpful to think back to a time when I experienced that emotion and remember how I felt. Even if you’ve never been in the same situations as your characters, you’ve likely experienced those same emotions to some degree.

But if all of my characters were basically like me, that would be a pretty boring story. So I look beyond myself for inspiration.

2. Observe people around you.

You know how a lot of books have a disclaimer in the front that goes something like this: “This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is completely coincidental”? Well, I can’t honestly say that about my books!

I draw so much inspiration from my own family for creating characters. I have two brothers, and watching them has provided me so much insight into how boys and young men think and behave. (They are different from girls, you know!) And for the parents of a brother and sister in my book, I looked to my own parents for inspiration. As I wrote the book, I thought, “What would my parents do or say in this situation?” And when one of my friends read my book (without me having told her that) she told me she kept picturing those characters as my parents and thinking that is exactly what they would have done!

(Now, when I speak of drawing inspiration from people around me, I’m talking about inspiration for my story’s heroes! I wouldn’t recommend basing a villain after a family member!)

Think about what endears your family and friends to you. What traits and quirks make them who they are? It’s these same sorts of things that will endear your characters to your readers.

God is the Master Author. He has created billions of characters, and each one is wonderfully unique! Observe the people He has made, especially those right in front of you.

3. Observe people from history.

This is especially important if you are writing historical fiction. In Trains and Tulips, some of my characters are largely based after real people from history. For example, one of my main characters, Pieter Knies, was first inspired by the real Dutch Resistance member Hans Poley. He was a physics student during the war who eventually had to go into hiding and began doing underground work. I chose to make my character Pieter a theology student instead of a physics student, so I also drew inspiration from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was a German pastor and theologian during World War II. Studying how Dietrich Bonhoeffer processed the various issues Christians faced during World War II helped me figure out how someone who has a background studying theology might approach those topics.

Other characters I drew more from my imagination, but I still used historical research to create their characters. You must think about how people from different countries or in different eras tend to think and behave. While each person is unique and we don’t want to stereotype people, the country someone is from and the time period they live in do affect their views. For example, I learned during my World War II research that the Dutch people tended to be opposed to war, were not interested in joining the military, and their culture focused largely on education, art, family, and church. In contrast, the Germans tended to be extremely patriotic, boys were taught that to die fighting for one’s country was a great honor, and they were known for being very disciplined and having a high respect for authority.

Something else that can have a great effect on someone’s views is their upbringing. Their parents’ beliefs, what they taught them and how, and their parenting style will certainly have a great impact on your character.

Think about why your historical heroes are your heroes. How can you make your character exhibit those traits? I believe we need heroes, people we can read about and say, “I want to live like that.” We don’t want to make our heroes perfect, and there’s certainly a place for character arcs. But I think we should create characters that readers can look up to and aspire to be like.

4. Observe the characters in books, movies, and shows.

And finally, observe the characters in the books you read and movies and shows you watch.

Think about your favorite book characters. What is it you love about them? How does the author develop their personality and let you get to know them? Don’t just copy your favorite authors, of course. But do learn from them!

I’ve also found it extremely helpful to watch movies and shows. One of the most helpful things about watching movies and shows is that they demonstrate how to follow the writing advice, “show, don’t tell.” (I do think there is a place for some “telling” in writing, but that is a topic for another day!) In a movie, there is typically no narration telling us details about a character. We watch and listen, and in a well-done movie, after only two hours or so, a character has become like an old friend. Good movie screenwriters and directors drop hints about a character’s past and personality as we watch what the character does and what they look at and notice throughout the movie. They also use conversations between characters to naturally share information with the audience.

As I’m writing a book, I “see” it in my mind playing like a movie, and while I do occasionally “tell” my reader some background information, picturing it as a movie is very helpful for me to vividly “show” my reader.

One more tip:

Include characters of a wide range of ages. Usually, the main characters in your book will all be about the age of your target reader. If your target reader is teenagers, you’ll probably make your main characters teenagers. But I think it is very important to also include characters of a wide range of ages! God gives us parents (or parent-like figures) in our lives to teach us, give us advice, and impart the wisdom they’ve learned. He places younger children around us for us to love and influence and remind us to have childlike wonder and excitement. And how much more interesting a story is when it includes children, teenagers, young adults, and older adults, rather than just one age group!

Well, I hope all of this has been helpful! Feel free to comment and share your thoughts!

If you would like to see how I put all of this into practice in a book, Trains and Tulips is currently available for pre-order through Kickstarter until September 20th. It will officially release (Lord willing) on December 5th.

Pre-order Trains and Tulips here: Trains and Tulips: A Christian YA WWII Historical Fiction by Savannah Jane McCrary — Kickstarter

And check out my Substack publication, “Blue Flower Story Company,” here: Blue Flower Story Company | Savannah Jane McCrary | Substack