Don’t Make This Common Characterization Mistake

By Janice Hardy

A flat character can kill an otherwise good story.

I was chatting with an editor of a publishing house who mentioned a problem he sees in a lot of the submissions that cross his desk.

Poor characterization.

Cardboard characters. No sense of depth. Names, but not people. Without that characterization, it's impossible to connect with the characters or the story.

Compelling characters are vital to a novel, so if you want readers to love and connect with your characters, they need to feel like real people. So remember:

Characters aren’t just “people with names who do things.”

How to Write Rich Characterization: A Cheat-Sheet

By Bonnie Randall

Part of The How They Do It Series 

JH: Wonderfully rich characters typically leads to a wonderfully rich novel. Bonnie Randall shares tips on how to reveal the depth and richness of your characters. 

A character is infinitely more than just who the author says they are. Like their living, breathing counterparts, fictional characters often reveal themselves in incidental ways. 

Here are five quick ways to help readers make powerful inferences about your characters:

1. Weave In Subtle Tells

My mom used to say you could see everything you needed to know about a man just by looking at his shoes, a crazy philosophy that actually holds water. Preferences and choices reveal much about who we are, where we come from, what we value…and what we don’t. Our clothes, music, art, vehicles, etc, are often as revealing as our actions and words. 

What My Cat Taught Me About Characterization

By Corinne Duyvis, @corinneduyvis

Part of the How They Do It Series

Writers are always looking for new and fun ways to create characters, and sometimes you find the perfect tip in the most unlikely of places. Please help me welcome Corinne Duyvis to the lecture hall today to share how a fuzzy little feline helped her find her characters.

A lifelong Amsterdammer, Corinne Duyvis spends her days writing speculative young adult and middle grade novels. She enjoys brutal martial arts and gets her geek on whenever possible. Otherbound, her YA fantasy debut, released from Amulet Books/ABRAMS in the summer of 2014. It has received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and the Bulletin. Kirkus called it "original and compelling; a stunning debut," while the Bulletin praised its "subtle, nuanced examinations of power dynamics and privilege."

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Take it away Corinne...