Character Building and Character Arcs

(Fourth lesson in my writing class, going over Character Building and Character Arcs.)

Character Building is a one of the most important things in any story.  A story could have an excellent plot, a stupendous theme, and a revolutionary moral, but if we don’t know why the hero is doing what he’s doing, why he is the way he is, we don’t care.  Or, even worse, if we don’t give him a personality, we won’t care.

Character Building is making your character.  Some writers use long lists of irrelevant questions to “interview” their characters.  But Character Building is much more than knowing what color their car is, or even how old they are.  Sure, they might come into the story once in a while, but likely they’ll only be mentioned.

The big part of Character Building, what you really want to focus on, is the character’s personality.  The readers don’t care about what color hair the main character has, even if it’s hot pink, and that’s why you need to focus on the personality.  Now say this person is sort of rebellious against her parents wishes, and she dyes her hair pink spitefully against her mother’s wishes - now that matters, because it shows part of her personality - rebelliousness.

You might already have a rough idea for a character, or maybe not.  But when you’re starting out, you’ll usually want to browse over a list of traits, good and bad, and pick out a few that work well together and fit with this character you’re making.  For example, don’t pick both submissive and rebellious for the same character, because they’re virtually the same.  You can, however, pick shy and rebellious.  Why?  Because shy doesn’t necessarily contradict rebellious, it just means he or she might not be so outspoken about it.

I have a list of traits here.  For starters, pick out two good traits and one bad one.  It’s hard to give your hero a bad trait, but you need to realize it doesn’t make your character evil, instead it makes him or her human, realistic, and 3D.  3D as in, the character isn’t all good, their might be some dark secrets he or she is hiding, something that the character doesn’t want to reveal.  In the end, you’ll probably want it to be exposed.

But that’s for later.

1. active 
2. adventurous 
3. affectionate 
4. afraid 
5. aggressive 
6. ambitious 
7. amiable 
8. angry 
9. animated 
10. annoyed 
11. anti-social 
12. anxious 
13. argumentative 
14. arrogant 
15. attentive 
16. babyish 
17. bored 
18. bossy 
19. brave 
20. brilliant 
21. busy 
22. calm 
23. can't keep a secret 
24. careful 
25. cautious 
26. charismatic 
27. charming 
28. cheerful 
29. childish 
30. clever 
31. clumsy 
32. coarse 
33. cold-hearted 
34. compassionate 
35. competitive 
36. complacent 
37. compulsive 
38. conceited 
39. confident 
40. confused 
41. considerate 
42. cooperative 
43. courageous 
44. cowardly 
45. crafty 
46. critical
47. cruel 
48. cultured 
49. curious 
50. cynical 
51. dangerous 
52. daring 
53. decisive 
54. dependable 
55. dependent on others 
56. determined 
57. diligent 
58. discreet 
59. dishonest 
60. disloyal 
61. disobedient 
62. disparaging 
63. disrespectful 
64. dissatisfied 
65. doesn't learn 
66. domineering 
67. doubtful 
68. dutiful 
69. eager 
70. easygoing 
71. eloquent 
72. encouraging 
73. energetic 
74. enthusiastic 
75. fair 
76. faithful 
77. fearless 
78. fidgety 
79. fierce 
80. finicky 
81. foolish 
82. formal 
83. frank 
84. friendly 
85. frustrated 
86. funny 
87. generous 
88. gentle 
89. giddy 
90. giving 
91. glamorous 
92. gloomy 
93. grateful 
94. greedy 
95. grouchy 
96. gullible 
97. happy 
98. harried 
99. hateful 
100. haughty 
101. helpful 
102. honest 
103. hopeful 
104. hopeless 
105. hospitable 
106. humble 
107. hyper 
108. ignorant 
109. ill-bred 
110. imaginative 
111. immature 
112. impartial 
113. impatient 
114. impolite 
115. impudent 
116. impulsive 
117. inappropriate 
118. inconsiderate 
119. independent 
120. industrious 
121. innocent 
122. insensitive 
123. insolent 
124. intelligent 
125. jealous 
126. judgmental 
127. lackadaisical 
128. languid 
129. lazy 
130. liar 
131. logical 
132. lonely 
133. loving 
134. loyal 
135. lucky 
136. malicious 
137. mature 
138. mean 
139. meticulous 
140. mischievous 
141. moody 
142. mundane 
143. mysterious 
144. naive 
145. negligent 
146. nervous 
147. never satisfied 
148. no sense of humor 
149. noisy 
150. obedient 
151. obliging 
152. obnoxious 
153. observant 
154. obsessive 
155. overindulgent 
156. prejudice 
157. procrastinator 
158. reckless 
159. rude 
160. sarcastic 
161. selfish 
162. self-pitying 
163. shy 
164. smart 
165. stubborn 
166. superficial 
167. tactless 
168. taking self too seriously 
169. too trusting 
170. unable to commit 
171. uncomunicative
172. unconfident 
173. unmannered 
174. untrusting


On that list you’ll see several disagreeable and unlikable traits that you can pick for your character.  You’ll likely not be wanting to have the truly evil ones for your character.  Then again, you might.

I’ll give you a few minutes to pick out three of them, two likable and one not so likable, or even evil.

So if you haven’t quite got the ones that fit, that’s alright.  You can review your character this week, but now, we’ll stick with the ones you have now.  You probably have some kind of a character forming in head now, so we can continue on.

I’ve pre-written a scene in which your character is faced with an important decision.  Decisions, actions, and reactions are what makes a character shine through the page and become 3D to you and the reader.  Your character is shaped in the decisions he makes.

Your character just discovered he has inherited one hundred million dollars from a trust fund, how does he react?  Is he just satisfied?  Does he hyperventilate?  Maybe he is annoyed or refuses to accept if he believes money is the root of all evil.  And also, aside from his physical actions, what is he thinking during this time?  WHY is he excited about this?  Is it because he can now move out of his old apartment, have a vacation, and still afford a lambergini?  Or is it because he can now help the community by paying for a new library?

Here’s another situation.

Your character lives in a very poor district of town.  He must somehow get food for the rest of himself and the rest of his family.  He has two options; 1, to go out and find any sort of second or third job he can get, though its low pay still might not be enough.  And 2, to go into the streets and steal bread or other food (and remember, though this might be wrong, your character would have plenty of motivation for it).  Of course, if your character was lazy, he might not do anything at all.  But for this exercise, pick one of the two above.

And finally for a third situation.

Your character wants a job.  But at the first four interviews he’s been rejected, what does he do?  Keep trying?  Give up despairingly?  Try a new plan?  Or maybe recruit a friend for help?

The first of those three examples was how a character reacted to getting an enormous amount of money.  The second was a decision, and the third was an action.


What your character wants.
What your character needs.
What your character believes (is it a lie?).
What your character thinks he needs.

If each of those questions has different answers, even if they’re just slightly varied, will make a dynamic and realistic character.  Those were some good questions to build on the story goal, what the main character is going after throughout the entire story - it also builds on your character and who he or she is.

The characters, in a story, are literally the most important thing.  Enjoyable characters make enjoyable stories, make your characters real.

Related Posts:  Character Arcs

~R.A.H.Thacker