You know how to build a character, you know what you need to do to develop them as the story goes, but the question remains, how do you make them believable? That is the topic of this entry so let us get started!

Now you might think that making them realistic goes with development right? Well no. It doesn't. Just developing a character isn't making them real or believable. Developing does not automatically make them believable. If you develop a character to make them great at everything without even trying-is that realistic? Nope! But it is an example of development, it just happens to be a poor use of development.

Okay so now that we have established that developing characters does not automatically make for a believable character, the question now remains-how do you make a character believable? It's quiet a tricky thing to be done, but fear not Padwans! It can indeed, be done, there are just a few things you need to bear in mind.

Firstly, remember how I mentioned in the previous bit how characters self-perception and how others perceived them needed to line up to help make sense of their character for the reader? That having them skewed would confuse the reader? Well, for creating a believable character, other characters all so play a role in making each other believable. How is this done? Well I am glad you asked!

But to get to that point, we first need to examine a common misuse of minor characters to major characters in fiction. Quiet often, we see minor characters portrayed as "less" than the main character. And that right there, is the last thing you want to do and why? Because that is not how life works. Plain and simple.

Say Character A is someone the author wants to be seen as kind and compassionate. Okay that's great-those are good aspects to give to a character. But rather than show these traits through actions where Character A displays those things to other people, the author relies on the other characters by making sure they lack those traits. These characters are portrayed as selfish, disinterested and fake. Do  you see the error here? I sure do.

How realistic is that? Making one person seem totally great by making everyone around them awful? Does that ever happen in real life? The answer is no! To be a good, nice, brave or whatever other virtuous person you are, everyone around you does not have to be awful. In fact, they could be similar to you. Brave in their own way and that's a good thing. We need different kinds of bravery in the world, different kinds of empathy, leadership and whatever else.  We also need them in fiction because, isn't fiction supposed to mirror reality?

So when trying to write a believable character, if you want them to come across a certain way, show  your reader with how they act. Do not rely on just saying "hey Character A is like this" and then reinforce the point by making sure supporting characters lack that trait. That does not make a believable character.

Example of this: Harry Potter, through out the series Harry is always shown to be a very brave man-and is he the only one? Of course not! Many of his friends portray the same trait as well, but perhaps in different ways. Hermonie portrays that in her quest for justice for whatever cause she is working be it SPEW or unraveling the mysteries plaguing the school. Ron, by keeping cool under pressure (anyone remember "are you a witch or what?") They all display different kinds of bravery and these different displays do not take away from how brave either of them are.

Another important thing to consider when making a realistic character is morality-and by that I mean they can't always have the high ground for it. Why? Because people, despite having the best intentions or even being a generally good person-cannot always been right on issues that bring up a morally or ethically questionable solutions. They cannot always be right. Always be justified in their choices because no one ever can be. Sometimes, you need to have it be that they were wrong in what they did, you need to have them and those around them question the choices they have made or are considering making because that is what people do. We cannot always be morally right. We cannot always make the right choice. And if you want a realist character, they cannot do that either.

Example of this: Tony Stark in Avengers: Age of Ultron. In creating Ultron, Tony did have some good intentions yes? His heart was in the right place I think. But one can argue quiet easily that the things he did to do it where incredibly wrong. He lied and hid it from the Avengers-he made an executive choice on a huge issue without consulting those who had a right to have a voice in it. And that choice had a huge backfire on him. He messed up good.  Good intentions? Yes. Morally questionable actions? All so yes.

Thirdly, you need to be careful when you try and garner sympathy for them. What do I mean by this? Well, by a show of hands, how many characters have incredibly tragic backstories? Quiet a few right? And well tragic backstories can be important and garner a level of sympathy in the reader, that is where you need to be careful. Why?

Because pilling on the sob stories-past or present-while sometimes is important to explain motivations and the current world they live in, it gets tired. It can feel cheap. It can feel unearned. Okay, so X, Y, Z happened in Character A's past? Is it sad? Yes. Do I have some measure of sympathy for them because of it? Yes. Does it excuse being a jerk all the time? No. Are they doing anything to earn my respect or sympathy? No-or at least, if the answer is no, that is a problem.

In real life, past losses bring sympathy and barriers that exist in the world that hinder you can also create some sympathy as well. But if that is what you rely on as an excuse for poor behavior and you keep beating those things like a dead horse throughout your life-news flash, people stop feeling sorry and start rolling their eyes.

If you want a realistic character, tread carefully with how much angst you inject into their past and present lives and make them earn the sympathy of their readers. Make them earn that respect. Same way a real person would have to.

Example of this: Again, I list Harry Potter here and I am going to single out a character, one by the name of Albus Dumbledore. Yes, he has a tragic past. Yes, his present as a leader in war is all so quiet sad. But nothing else really gets heaped on there afterwards does it? He earns the respect of not only other characters in the books by displaying compassion, wisdom and a great mind for strategy. His past gave him a measure of sympathy, yes, but he earned the rest of it.

So that wraps up my characters segment! (At least for now!) Any ideas for topics, please do let know in the comments or if you have something to add to existing entries, please speak up!

Write on! :D