Writing Tip #2: Characterization

Writing Tip #2: Characterization 

Today's tip is how to have a well formed character. Before you start a novel, or a short story, you need to have well developed character. There are three main things you need for a fully developed character! 

          1. Physical Appearance- What do they look like? 

          2. Personality Descriptions- Adjectives that can be used to form a character's actions and reactions. 

          3. Likes and Dislikes

First Physical Appearance: 

 

Think of everything on the human body, even things you wouldn't normally notice. Make a list and describe those things about your character. For example, 

 Hair: Black
Eyes: black
Eyebrows: Bushy

Hands: Big 
Height: 5, 12
Lips: Red
Skin: Tan  
Weight: Skinny

These are some features that you should have, you're not necessarily going to need all of the, but you need to be able to see the character fully. You don't have to be as specific as his hands were 7 inches long and 12mm wide (Random numbers), but just enough detail so that you can fully see the character.

Second is Personality Descriptions:

The personality description is basically a bunch of adjectives that describe who your character is. These adjectives will be used throughout the story, these adjectives will determine why a character acts the way he/she acts. For example, 
 
  Jacob -Reserved, vengeful, cowardly, self conceited

The character 'Jacob' is Reserved, vengeful, cowardly and self conceited. These adjectives will play out his actions, like cowardly, if there fire he would be the one running away instead of trying to help. Or reserved, he wouldn't let people in and would create a wall, not getting close to people. Now you have your characters physical and mental characteristics.

Third is Likes and Dislikes:

Now you need to make your character more human and relatable with its likes and dislikes. Basically, find out what your character has a fear of, what makes them happy, what makes them sad and ect.
            For example,
                         Lacy:  Dislikes: Spider(Fear), Marley and Me(Sad), people tapping their foot (Annoyance)
                                    Likes: Romance movies(Happy), reading (happy), christmas (happy)

You need to put down realistic things that would make a reader relate, which makes your character realistic and human. The small things are what makes a character more human. You also need to put things that you can use in your books, like someone tapping their foot, you can easily add this and your character irritation.

                                                                              Writing Tip #2: Characterization 

                                                     These are just a few tips on characterization and I hope they helped!
                                                      If you have any other tips or suggestions put them in the comments!