- YOU CAN'T CONTROL A CHARACTER. Think of them as a friend. Maybe even a best friend. Yes, you can convince your friend to watch that movie that you think they may like, but you can't FORCE them to like. I think every author that respects a character's personality realized they pretty much do everything on their own and they don't care about your expectations. Having said that, what you CAN do is control the setting. Those two don't want to become friends because they think they are too different? Create a situation where they find out they have things in common. It can be something big, like a road-trip with other friends or meeting in the comic book store.

- Anything you create (or later discovers halfway through a chapter) about your character should be written down. That doc I said to create? Yeah, that one. Name, surname, nickname, hair/skin/eye color, family, best friends, hobbies, loves to, hates to, good driver or not, allergic to, wants to become a, fan of, has trouble doing, etc (and other things I mention below).

- You can create a character like The Sims (my sister and my bf used to play, but I never did, so my memory is not perfect). Choose 3 traces of personality (smart, intelligent, snarky, sweet, innocent, funny, naïve, rebellious, introvert, party goer, prankster, talkative, oblivious, loud, depressed, anger issues, quiet, protective, vain, childish, anxious, improvisor, etc) and 3 interests (music, theater, painting, shopping, writing, photograph, beach, party, diet, shoes, hiking, cooking, drawing, make up, social media, history, math, pottery, philosophy, cartoons, animes, feminism, religion, sports, etc).

- "Oh, what about virtues and flaws?". Ok, gold tip: usually a flaw is a virtue in the wrong place or intensity (and vice-versa). Examples from my life: my bf is a planner. He thinks ten years in the future and consider every single detail before making a decision. For his career this is great, it means it's very unlikely he will choose impulsively, regret it and later realize there were signs before that he ignored (which would happen in my case as I'm impulsive). But he also OVERTHINKS, like a regular date with me already agreed upon or poker night with the boys that happen every 3 months? He gets stuck, because for one side X but on the other side Y... Usually I'm the one to decide for him, because I know he will panic (in this case, my impulsivity is good, I can decide and not overthink) (and yes, I told him we could have our date another time). Another example, I'm honest to the point of rudeness, I don't overshare my thoughts (unless someone asks) but I'll comment something without thinking and accidentally offend someone. But it also means I'll make compliments out of nowhere and make someone blush (the other day I complimented a girl's curls on the sidewalk and went back to my Instagram like it was nothing). Someone who is a jokester is funny and then can be said they don't take anything serious. Protective is good, but sometimes they overprotect or the person doesn't want to be protected. Someone once said that if Otello and Hamlet had switched places, their stories wouldn't be tragedies (Hamlet should've acted when her was overthinking and Otello should've waited a bit and made some questions before freaking out).

- Background is important and sometimes really annoying. If you have an orphan character that had time with their parents, it means you must create their parents and the whole dynamics and memories and habits and you WON'T USE IT, but it's important for your character's personality and how they are dealing with their parents' death. This is also valid for other relatives or even friends who are not around anymore (by death or other reasons, moved houses or just naturally drifted away). "That painting is from when my mom was in her 'pink phase' as she said" "I love baking brownies, it makes me think when I would help my dad bake them on Sundays, at least once a month" "My grandma taught me that when some gifts you X, they mean Y" "I know what this is, I had a great-uncle who would collect W.". It's not obligatory, but damn if it doesn't give your characters depth and real-life feelings. Or you mean to say you never said something like "Someone taught me this" "I used to do this with someone" "This makes me thing of someone because X"?

- Repeating because it's important: DO YOUR RESEARCH. You either stick to what you know or you learn before sprouting nonsense. You're an introvert and wants to write an extrovert? Unless you REALLY know someone who is an extrovert and you can ask them things, go search 'how to write an extrovert'. Same thing to any kind of relationship you're not familiar with. How is the relationship between an only child and a single parent? A house with five siblings? Someone who is adopted? Who lives with a relative? Divorced parents? It's quite obvious to know when you're talking about something you don't know. Like only children writing about having siblings. "hey sis/bro". Yeah, no. If one of my sisters calls me 'sis' I'll respond with 'what do you want' because they want something from me FOR SURE. I either call them by their name, a shorter version or their name or things like shorty, deaf (when they don't hear me the first time) or swamp creature (and things like that).

- Diversity. Word of the day decade. Do you have five main characters? Make their families mixed (one has two dads, the other lives only with their mom and grandma, one has a mom, a dad and a sibling which they HATE, the other adores their little cousin). You don't need to OVER DO IT, but it's nice to represent others. Nationality, culture, religion, traditions, music taste, names, languages, skin colors, body types, interests. Again, DO YOUR RESEARCH. Are you going to do a Muslim? Excellent. Research about Islam, about hijab, about prayers, about how is to live as Muslim in city X. Are you going to give someone parents of two different nationalities? Excellent. They grew up bilingual? How is it to be bilingual? A tip, sometimes it feels more like BYElingual, because you forget words in all the languages. Sometimes I will have trouble remembering a word in English or Italian, just to remember it and then panic when I realize I don't know the same word in Portuguese, my mother tongue. Again, internet has a lot of tales (it took me 40 sec to remember this word) about it all over the internet. Are you making an Asian character? Good. Asian how? China? Korea? Indonesia? Philippines? Vietnam? Pakistan? India? These are all Asia. Are doing a diabetic character? Someone who was bulimic and now struggles to not spiral down again? Someone with alopecia? A cancer survivor? With a scar? Birth mark on their face? Vitiligo? Crooked teeth? Moles? Freckles all over? Heterochromia? ASL? Are they addicted to something (it can be from crack to smoothies)? Shrimp allergy? Who had a transplant? With a prosthetic? If so, great, but WITH RESEARCH. They don't even need to be a main character, but their presence and remembering these details once in a while is important. If you want examples, just ask.

- Careful about stereotypes. Yes, they exist. Yes, sometimes they are true. But most of the time, especially towards a minority, they are offensive. How do you escape it? DO YOUR RESEARCH. There a lot of stereotypes about Muslim women and prejudice because they are 'from that dirt land' and 'hide behind that veil'. Darling, have you seen some of those women, especially the ones living in the Western? Their hijabs are not to hide. Have you seen their flawless make up? Those women are goddesses. I had a Catholic friend, she would wear delicate and feminine clothes, with a cross necklace, but was an absolute diva in a rock band, she made my jaw drop with how different she was. I have a friend with Lupus. And except for regularly taking her medicine, it changes NOTHING on her life. Someone I know gained weight not because they over ate, but because their thyroid was bugging. I saw fat people who were excellent dancers. "People X are this" Who said it?

- The characters personality changes depending on who they're talking to. Now read that again. Examples from my life: I'm talkative, a lot. A dinner with my bf is nice. I usually dominate the conversation or make direct questions to make him participate and wait patiently for his answer. When we go out with his friends, I'm usually quiet, I make some comments but overall keep to myself. When I'm with my parents and sisters, especially if we add my aunt to the mix, there are two or three different conversations happening at the same time and we pass over each other to talk. My boyfriend is usually very serious, very professional and elegant. When we are alone, he's like "I need you to cuddle meeeee". I usually avoid touching people I'm only friends with (some think I'm cold) and keep PDA with my bf to a normal level in public. But when is someone I'm familiar with, I consider touching part of the conversation. If it's only my bf... oh god, I'm always touching him in one way or another, even if it's just a leg over his (not at all cold). While talking to me and most people, my bf has no accent. 5 min on the phone with an aunt or grandma and I'm like "where in the world did this accent come from?". My mom and I make a lot of dirty jokes among us, but my other sister is more of a prude, so we tone it down when she's present. It happens the same for characters. Two best friends are unlikely to gossip if there is a third person present. A girl is unlikely to kiss her SO if there is a family member around.