Your Character's Personality

When it comes to writing, I'm by no means a professional, but from creating ideas for 100+ writing projects, I've discovered a thing or two about writing characters. These are just a few ideas for when you're struggling with finding the identity of a character. When you're finished reading this post, share your own tips with others in the comments.

Test It Out

One of my favorite things to do (and perhaps one of the most nerdy too) is take a personality test as my character. A really good website for this is 16personalities.com, since their test is accurate almost every time. This really helps me to get to know my character better, and gives me fresh ideas for my WIP.

Analyze

While you're writing scenes that really show your character's personality, compare your character with others in your WIP. If another character would act the same way, maybe their personalities aren't diverse enough. Even people who seem similar might have different body language or vocabulary.

Get Info

Find an online form (or make your own) to fill out about your character's personality. It might be hard, and it will take some time, but it's definitely worth it to get to know your character better! Some questions to answer are: Why this character? What is missing in your character's life? How do others view your character?

"I spend a lot of time thinking about each character's backstory, strengths, weaknesses, [and] what sort of things are important to them." – Marissa Meyer, New York Times bestselling author of The Lunar Chronicles

Look Around

Not long after I started writing seriously, a group of writing friends and I were talking about different characters and how we describe our characters. I asked one friend how she came up with such concise descriptions, and she replied, "I'm just describing people I know."

The idea struck me, and I laughed at myself for not thinking of that. It is so much easier when you use people from real life to add to a character's personality. Look around you - notice the little quirks and tics about people you find interesting. Take notes and pay attention.

Talk

Talk to people about your characters. Even if no one understands or you don't have any writing friends, find someone to talk to. Tell them about your characters, their inside jokes and funny quirks, their specific personalities, and ask for ideas!

If you have any tips for defining a character's personality, let us know in the comments - we'd love to hear what you have to share!