I would just like to say before I begin today's post, that these character creation posts are not just about the MC or Hero of the story you are writing, but can be used to create your villain (will be looking at that much later in this challenge), as well as your side characters or secondary characters as well.
Firstly, what is a cardboard character? The answer is that they are characters who come across as flat, and behaving in a wooden manner, much like a mannequin. All surface and no depth to them, no personality to mention, and behaving in a robotic manner (unless of course they are robots). A sign of carboard character syndrome is not providing even the merest of descriptions. These do not have to be detailed, as I've said, but something needs to be there so that the reader can glimpse who they are and connect with them.
When writing your story, in all situations you the writer should be asking what would the character do here, instead of you the writer faffing around trying to figure out what is supposed to happen. In other words, your character needs to react to a situation and not just stand or sit in a corner staring on naively.
Also, your Character should not need every situation in the novel explained to them, sure they may be away when something happened and need that told to them (in a short revise and I do mean short, by another character), but not everything that has happened, otherwise you are only using the character as an information dump.
Make sure that your characters POV also contains their thoughts and feelings, these can help your character come across as more realistic rather than cardboard. Give them interesting dialogue, and decent people to talk to and not just short bursts or sentences.
Remember when creating them, give them faults and quirks, they can't be perfect, they must have flaws, as every being is not 100% Good, or 100% Evil (we'll cover this later in the A to Z).
Pay attention during the editing process, and what your beta / alpha / arc readers tell you about the characters, this is the last chance to flesh them out more, to give them personality.
Including characters' feelings is a good recommendation, especially for ancillary characters one is apt to gloss over in haste.
ReplyDeleteThat last part is very important. Listening to the readers :) Because you probably know the characters better than what went into the text, but they don't... Good point :)
ReplyDeleteThe Multicolored Diary
Awesome piece of advice for writing characters. They need to be built in carefully, just like the events unfolding. The detail and care is essential and you have remarked on it brilliantly. Looking forward to reading your posts through the AtoZ
ReplyDeletehttps://www.shalzmojo.in/2023/04/cachinnate-5-books-guaranteed-to-make-you-laugh-out-loud/