Building Strong Characters: Techniques for Developing Believable Protagonists and Antagonists.

Creating compelling and believable characters is essential to writing a successful novel or story.

In this blog post, we will explore different techniques for developing strong protagonists and antagonists, such as creating detailed character profiles, giving your characters motivations and goals, and writing in-depth backstory.

I. Introduction: Building Strong Characters

Welcome to this blog post on building strong characters! As a writer, creating believable and compelling characters is crucial to crafting a successful story. Readers want to become invested in the lives and experiences of the characters they encounter in a book, and the more real and relatable those characters are, the more engaging the story becomes.

In this post, we'll be exploring different techniques for developing strong protagonists and antagonists. We'll look at how creating detailed character profiles, giving your characters clear motivations and goals, and writing in-depth backstories can help you create well-rounded and believable characters that your readers will care about.

At the heart of every great character is a sense of authenticity. Even fictional characters must be grounded in reality and feel like real people. This means that they must have distinct personalities, goals, and motivations that readers can understand and relate to. Without these qualities, characters can feel flat and uninteresting, which can make readers lose interest in the story.

To create believable characters, it's important to start with a detailed character profile. This includes physical traits, personality traits, and a backstory. These elements can help you visualize your characters and understand their motivations and goals.

One common mistake that writers make when creating characters is to rely on stereotypes or clichés. It's important to avoid this trap and create characters that are unique and complex. This can be achieved by giving your characters specific quirks or traits that make them stand out.

When developing your characters, it's also important to consider their motivations and goals. What drives your characters to act and make the decisions they make? What do they hope to achieve? Understanding these motivations can help you create a more dynamic and believable character.

Writing in-depth backstories is another way to develop your characters and make them feel more real. By showing readers the experiences and events that have shaped your characters' lives, you can create a more nuanced and multi-dimensional character. However, it's important to balance the backstory with the present story and avoid overloading readers with too much information.

In addition to protagonists, crafting believable antagonists is also crucial to creating a successful story. Antagonists should have clear motivations and goals just like protagonists, but they should also have some redeeming qualities that make them more complex and human. This can help readers understand and empathize with their actions, even if they don't agree with them.

In the following sections, we'll delve deeper into the different techniques for developing strong characters. By using these techniques, you can create characters that are authentic, relatable, and engaging. So let's get started!

II. Creating Detailed Character Profiles

Creating detailed character profiles is an essential step in developing strong characters for your story. A character profile is a comprehensive document that outlines your character's physical traits, personality traits, backstory, and motivations. It's a tool that helps you understand your characters and ensures that they are consistent and believable throughout your story.

To create a detailed character profile, start by listing your character's physical traits. This includes their height, weight, hair colour, eye colour, and any other distinguishing features. While physical traits may seem superficial, they can help you visualize your character and create a clear mental image for your readers.

Next, focus on your character's personality traits. What are their strengths and weaknesses? What are their likes and dislikes? What is their sense of humour like? By answering these questions, you can create a more well-rounded and complex character that readers can relate to.

When developing your character's backstory, consider their childhood, family life, education, and past experiences. These events will shape your character's motivations and goals, so it's important to give them careful thought. Be sure to include both positive and negative experiences, as they will help shape your character's personality and behavior.

It's also important to give your character a clear motivation and goal. What does your character want to achieve? What drives them to act? Without a clear motivation and goal, your character can feel aimless and their actions may not make sense to the reader.

One technique for developing your character's motivation and goal is to use the "want vs. need" approach. This involves giving your character a surface-level want (such as a job promotion or romantic relationship) and a deeper need (such as self-acceptance or forgiveness). By creating this internal conflict, you can create a more complex and relatable character.

When creating your character profile, it's important to remember that your character should not be perfect. Flaws and imperfections make your character more relatable and human. However, it's also important to balance these flaws with positive qualities. A character who is all flaws and no positive traits can be difficult for readers to connect with.

Creating a detailed character profile may seem like a lot of work, but it's an essential step in developing strong and believable characters. By understanding your character's physical traits, personality traits, backstory, and motivations, you can create a character that feels real and authentic to your readers.

In the next section, we'll look at how giving your characters motivations and goals can help create compelling protagonists and antagonists.

III. Giving Your Characters Motivations and Goals

In the previous section, we discussed the importance of creating detailed character profiles. In this section, we'll explore how giving your characters motivations and goals can help create compelling protagonists and antagonists.

Motivations and goals are what drive your characters to act. They give your characters purpose and direction, and help create tension and conflict in your story. Without clear motivations and goals, your characters can feel aimless and their actions may not make sense to the reader.

When developing your character's motivations and goals, it's important to consider both external and internal factors. External factors are things like a desire for money or power, while internal factors are things like a need for acceptance or love. By considering both types of factors, you can create a more complex and multidimensional character.

One technique for developing your character's motivation and goal is to use the "want vs. need" approach. As we mentioned in the previous section, this involves giving your character a surface-level want (such as a job promotion or romantic relationship) and a deeper need (such as self-acceptance or forgiveness). This internal conflict creates tension and helps make your character more relatable to readers.

Another technique for developing your character's motivation and goal is to use the "cause and effect" approach. This involves asking yourself what your character wants and what they are willing to do to achieve it. Then, consider what the consequences of those actions might be. This technique can help create a more complex and nuanced character, and can also help create tension and conflict in your story.

When developing your character's motivations and goals, it's also important to consider how they relate to the plot of your story. Your character's goals should be directly tied to the plot, and their actions should move the story forward. This creates a sense of purpose and direction for your character, and helps keep your readers engaged.

In addition to giving your protagonist clear motivations and goals, it's also important to give your antagonist motivations and goals as well. An antagonist who is simply "evil for the sake of being evil" can feel flat and one-dimensional. By giving your antagonist clear motivations and goals, you can create a more complex and interesting character.

When developing your antagonist's motivations and goals, it's important to remember that they should be in direct opposition to your protagonist's goals. This creates tension and conflict, which is essential to creating a compelling story. However, it's also important to remember that your antagonist should not be a caricature. They should be a fully fleshed-out character with their own motivations, goals, and backstory.

In conclusion, giving your characters clear motivations and goals is an essential step in developing compelling protagonists and antagonists. By understanding what drives your characters to act, you can create tension and conflict in your story, and keep your readers engaged. In the next section, we'll explore how writing in-depth backstory can help create believable characters.

IV. Writing In-Depth Backstory

In the previous sections, we discussed the importance of creating detailed character profiles and giving your characters motivations and goals. In this section, we'll explore how writing in-depth backstory can help create believable characters.

Backstory refers to a character's past experiences and events that have shaped who they are in the present. Writing in-depth backstory can help you understand your character's motivations, fears, and desires, which in turn can help you create a more believable and realistic character.

When writing in-depth backstory, it's important to consider both external and internal factors. External factors are things like a character's upbringing, education, and career, while internal factors are things like their personality, values, and beliefs. By considering both types of factors, you can create a more nuanced and multidimensional character.

One technique for writing in-depth backstory is to use the "wound" approach. This involves giving your character a traumatic event in their past that has shaped who they are in the present. This event can be something like the death of a loved one, a traumatic childhood experience, or a major failure. By understanding how this event has affected your character, you can create a more complex and realistic character.

Another technique for writing in-depth backstory is to use the "trigger" approach. This involves identifying a specific event or situation that triggers a strong emotional response in your character. This can help you understand what your character cares about and what they are afraid of, which can in turn help you create a more realistic and relatable character.

When writing in-depth backstory, it's important to remember that not all of it needs to be included in your story. In fact, too much backstory can bog down your story and make it feel slow-paced. Instead, focus on including only the most important details that directly relate to your character's motivations and goals.

It's also important to remember that backstory should be revealed gradually throughout your story. You don't want to dump all of your character's backstory on the reader at once. Instead, reveal it in small pieces over time, through dialogue, actions, and thoughts.

When writing backstory for your antagonist, it's important to remember that they should not be a caricature. Just like your protagonist, your antagonist should be a fully fleshed-out character with their own backstory and motivations. By understanding what drives your antagonist, you can create a more interesting and believable character.

In conclusion, writing in-depth backstory is an essential step in creating believable characters. By understanding your character's past experiences and events, you can create a more nuanced and multidimensional character. However, it's important to remember that not all of the backstory needs to be included in your story, and it should be revealed gradually over time. In the next section, we'll explore how to create a character arc.

V. Creating In-Depth Backstory for Your Characters

One important aspect of creating believable and compelling characters is developing their backstory. This means delving into their past experiences, beliefs, and values that have shaped who they are today. By crafting a rich backstory, you can make your characters feel like fully-realized people with depth and complexity.

A. Explore Their Childhood and Upbringing

One way to start developing backstory is by exploring your character's childhood and upbringing. What was their family like? Were they happy or dysfunctional? Did they grow up in poverty or wealth? These details can help shape your character's worldview and motivations.

For example, if your protagonist grew up in poverty, they may have a strong desire to succeed and rise above their circumstances. On the other hand, if your antagonist had a privileged upbringing, they may have a sense of entitlement and superiority over others.

B. Identify Significant Life Events

Another way to create a backstory is by identifying significant life events that have shaped your character. This could include major accomplishments, failures, or traumatic experiences. For example, if your protagonist served in the military and witnessed a traumatic event, it could explain why they have difficulty trusting others.

C. Determine Their Beliefs and Values

Finally, it's important to understand your character's beliefs and values. This includes their moral code, religion, and political views. By identifying what your character cares about, you can create conflict and tension within the story.

For example, if your protagonist is a devout Christian and the antagonist is an atheist, this could lead to clashes in their beliefs and values. Alternatively, if both characters have similar beliefs, it could lead to a more nuanced conflict based on differing motivations.

In conclusion, creating an in-depth backstory for your characters is crucial for developing fully-realized and believable characters. By exploring their childhood and upbringing, significant life events, and beliefs and values, you can create complex and dynamic characters that readers will care about.

VI. The Importance of Character Motivations and Goals

Creating strong character motivations and goals is another essential element in building believable and compelling protagonists and antagonists. Without clear and consistent motivations, your characters may feel flat and uninteresting. Here are some techniques for developing strong character motivations and goals.

A. Establish Clear Goals for Your Characters

One way to ensure your characters have strong motivations is to give them clear goals. These goals should be specific, measurable, and achievable, with a clear deadline or timeline for when they hope to accomplish them. Goals can be short-term or long-term, and can range from small tasks to life-changing events.

For example, your protagonist's goal may be to win a championship game, or to find a cure for a loved one's illness. Similarly, your antagonist's goal may be to amass wealth and power, or to exact revenge on a rival.

B. Create Believable Motivations for Your Characters

Another important aspect of creating strong characters is giving them believable motivations for their actions. This means understanding what drives your characters, whether it's love, fear, ambition, or a desire for revenge. These motivations should be consistent throughout the story, and should be rooted in the character's backstory and values.

For example, if your protagonist's goal is to win a championship game, their motivation may be driven by a desire for recognition and respect from their peers. Alternatively, if your antagonist's goal is to amass wealth and power, their motivation may be rooted in a deep-seated fear of being powerless and vulnerable.

C. Create Conflict Between Your Characters' Goals and Motivations

Creating conflict between your characters' goals and motivations can help drive the story forward and create tension between your characters. This conflict can arise from differing values, beliefs, or desires.

For example, if your protagonist's goal is to win a championship game, but their motivation is rooted in a desire for recognition and respect, they may have to confront their own ego and pride to achieve their goal. Alternatively, if your antagonist's goal is to amass wealth and power, but their motivation is driven by a fear of being powerless, they may be willing to do whatever it takes to maintain their control.

In conclusion, creating strong character motivations and goals is essential for building believable and compelling protagonists and antagonists. By giving your characters clear and achievable goals, creating believable motivations, and creating conflict between their goals and motivations, you can create dynamic and engaging characters that readers will care about.

VII. Conclusion: Bringing it All Together

As we've discussed, building strong characters is an essential component of crafting a compelling story. By creating detailed character profiles, giving your characters motivations and goals, and writing in-depth backstories, you can develop protagonists and antagonists that feel real and believable to your readers.

Remember that your characters should be flawed and multidimensional, with both strengths and weaknesses. They should face challenges and conflicts that force them to grow and change over the course of your story. By developing your characters in these ways, you can create a rich, immersive world that draws readers in and keeps them engaged.

As you work on building your characters, don't be afraid to experiment and try new techniques. Writing is a process of exploration, and sometimes the most interesting characters and stories come from taking risks and pushing the boundaries of what you thought was possible.

Above all, remember that building strong characters takes time and effort. Don't be discouraged if your first attempts don't quite hit the mark – keep working at it, and with practice, you'll soon find yourself creating characters that feel like old friends to your readers. Good luck, and happy writing!

Thanks for taking the time to read our post on building strong characters. We hope you found the information helpful and that it inspires you to create characters that are both believable and engaging. If you enjoyed the post, be sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive more tips and tricks for improving your writing. Thanks again for your support, and happy writing!

Best regards,

Moolah