When most people talk about a novel they've read, they'll talk about the plot. In other words, they'll tell you what actually happened. However, plot doesn't make a good novel, character does.
Unless you care about the people within a novel, you don't care about what happens to them. We're interested in what happens to Bridget Jones or Harry Potter because we are interested in their characters. In other words, without strong characterisation, the plot becomes irrelevant. The plot is merely the novel's structure. The life of that novel is provided by the human beings depicted within it. After all, people don't care that much about structures. They care about people.
With that thought in mind, here are my top ten tips for building character.
1. Don't tell, show.
This is perhaps the most frequently given piece of novel writing advice there is. But it's also the most important. In relation to character it means not wasting loads of time TELLING the reader what someone is like, but SHOWING them instead. If the heroine of your novel is a compulsive liar, don't just tell the reader this fact, but actually show the character in the act of lying. If she's a nymphomaniac, place her in a room full of attractive men. If she's got a nut allergy (or, more interestingly, if she's a hypochondriac who thinks she's got a nut allergy) have someone offer her a peanut butter sandwich. If she's angry, place her in an anger management class.
2. Let the characters speak.
Character comes from dialogue, even in the most basic of conversations. For instance, if someone is asking 'Can I have the car keys?' they might do it in different ways depending on their character. A brain-dead surfer would say: 'Dude, the keys.' A nervy type would say: 'Can I, um, can I have the car keys.....if that's okay..... please?' While an aggressive hitman probably wouldn't say anything at all and just grab the car keys from whoever's hand, before headbutting said person to the floor.
3. Don't be scared of normality.
To stand out, characters don't have to be extreme. Indeed, the best female character ever created is arguably Gustav Flaubert's Emma Bovary, a very average discontented suburban housewife from the provinces.
4. Start with a word.
The most successful novels can be sold in a sentence. Equally, the best characters often start with a single defining word or characteristic. For instance, in Nick Hornby's How To Be Good, the main character David, can initially be crudely summed up by the word 'angry'. However, this approach to characterisation isn't an excuse for one dimensional characters. It just gives you a starting point and helps you to provide each one with a clear identity. Often this starting point can later be challenged within the story. In How To Be Good, for example, the whole story is based around David's transformation from 'angry' to 'good'.
5. Don't map out the whole novel at once.
This is a rather controversial piece of advice, and some authors beg to differ. But for me, it's normally best to let the characters take control and see where it leads you.
6. Give them some hang-ups.
To be a human in the 21st century means to have hang-ups. Therefore your characters are likely to be more believable if they have insecurities. Of course, some hang-ups have now become a cliché. For instance, since Bridget Jones it's probably not the best idea to create a heroine who is defined only in terms of her obsessions with weight, age and marital status.
7. Meet the parents.
As Philip Larkin put it 'your parents fuck you up. They may not mean to, but they do.' So to make your characters believable you'll need to work out their relationship with mum and dad, and maybe even their brothers and sisters (and household pets) as well. Were they spoilt as a child or were they dangled over a balcony, wrapped in a blanket while the world's media was watching?
8. Favourite song.
A trick I always use is to give each character a favourite song. For instance, if their favourite song is 'The Ketchup Song' it's going to clearly differentiate them from someone who loves listening to Norah Jones or Marvin Gaye or Beethoven. As well as songs, think of the films, books, TV programmes and sexual positions they like most.
9. Throw them into a crisis
People often say that in the time of a crisis or a dramatic event they really see what they are made of. So to really see what your characters are made of you may need to give them something harrowing to react to. An unwanted pregnancy. The death of a parent. A kidnap. A Pilates class. (Okay, maybe nothing THAT harrowing).
10. Make friends with them.
You know you have a success when you actually start seeing your characters as real people, rather than merely as words on a page. Don't worry if you can't see the character right at the start, just keep going until you're able to anticipate exactly what he or she does in certain situations. Then, when you've finished, you can go back through your manuscript and edit out anything which doesn't ring true.
No matter what occurs in your story, if you have actually made characters come alive, it will take a very hard-hearted agent or publisher to give them the kiss-of-death.
Building Character