The Story Works Guide to Writing Character: How to create memorable characters your readers can't help but love--or love to hate. (The Story Works Guide to Writing Fiction Series Book 1)

Your reader is not inside your head. He will judge your characters solely based on the words you put on the page.

If your main character relies on her best friend to save her, she’s no longer the hero. The point of view character must get herself into and out of trouble. Your primary character might save your hero’s life, but it has to be the exception, not the rule. And at the end of the story, it has to be the hero who saves the day and is a different person

character is the vehicle through which a reader engages with a story.

Second, character is any conscious being who acts in a story and changes over time. Every character must have consciousness, an awareness of the world in which she exists. A character must also act, that is she must have agency, a means by which to choose what to do when, where, with whom, and to whom.

Character is about the who and the why. Who is this story about? Why is this person the center of this particular story? Why does this person make the choices she makes and do what she does?

Your main character, no matter who she is, will have to fulfill a certain role to be the key player in your plot. You have to create a character who is able to fulfill that role.

The other part of why has to do with character motivation. It addresses the choices Jane makes and the actions she takes. It’s about nature and nurture. Nature: if Jane is shy and lacking inner strength, she’ll respond to threats differently than if she is a natural-born badass. Nurture: if Jane has been raised by peasant farmers, she’ll have diffe

Your point of view character must be at the center of your plot, have agency, and fulfill her character arc. Self-reliance and determinism are major components of being a hero.

Why is Jane the center of this particular story? This part of why has to do with your scenario. It answers for the specialness of your main character. No other character could fill this role.