by Joanna Penn

Characters are not real people – but readers have to experience the slice of life you portray in your book as if they are. So how can you bring your characters alive?

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In this article, Damon Suede outlines how to use character action and strong language to lift your characters off the page.

One of the odd myths of fiction is that characters are just like people, only imaginary… as if Darcy and your mailman differed only in their fame, wealth, and relative eligibility. That’s nonsense, of course.

Characters share some characteristics with people but only enough to help them fulfil their function: to extract satisfying emotion from an audience.

One of the most obvious differences is that characters have to earn belief, while actual people get the benefit of the doubt. If we can see them and talk to them, then we assume they exist.

Characters have to convince an audience to believe. Characters don’t feel. Characters aren’t born. Characters don’t actually disobey their creators, although at times it feels like they do. The feelings are real. The characters are not.