Three Simple Ways to Deepen Your Characters

​Weekends really come around fast these days – there is hardly enough time to do anything. I have had another couple of nice story acceptances though, more details of which I will post in due course when I get around to updating my story page on this website. You can read all the stories I have so far using the menu above.

Before I talk about Writers Reading on Thursday night, I just wanted to talk briefly about characters in stories, since that has been my theme this week on my social media posts.

Characters are far more interesting if you give them contradictions. No one is all good, or all bad. Think of the characters you love in books, films and even in real life. That woman who brings you cakes every week might also be fiddling her taxes. The man who sells weed from his flat might also be looking after a sick loved one. Giving your characters layers makes them multi-dimensional and more believable as people (and more interesting to go on a journey through your story or novel with).

Give them some meaningful backstory, but don’t dump a lot of info on the reader. We don’t need to know their whole life story from birth until now, but maybe a reference to a job they really loved but were fired from, or a bad relationship that hurt as it broke up might explain why they are cynical and maybe aggressive now. 

Reveal their character through the decisions they make. A person who is a health fiend, but who chooses the biggest cream cake on the plate might be displaying an inner struggle, or a "sod it" attitude, and your reader will want to know why.

Think about a character you are writing about currently. What is one contradiction that makes them interesting? Let me know in the comments box – maybe we can start a discussion.

WRITERS READING – Thursday 19th March

I want to thank everyone who came on Thursday to support the readers, who were all absolutely fabulous. Despite some technical and sound issues – and our featured reader dropping out permanently because of a massive outage where she lives in Chile – we had an amazing night as always. You can watch the video at the link below and can choose which view you watch in. 

Watch Writers Reading 19th March

Juanita Ozamiz, the planned featured reader, will be back next time, on June 18th, so book your ticket now at the link below, to ensure you don't miss her!

Until next time, happy scribbling.

Book Writers Reading Free Ticket