I have been writing for over twenty years which allows me many opportunities to create fictional characters. These characters are what give the story a lot of its depth. We want to identify with the characters in a movie or television show, play or whatever the story may be. If the character has no depth, the story has no depth either.

Many of the characters from my writing are developed from people in my life. The names are always different because I want no one's feelings to be hurt by the way I portray them in my writing. The character's personality will develop according to their position in the plot, leaving an opportunity for people who think they are being mirrored to feel like you are highlighting their faults.

Some of my characters, especially the female ones, are the possible love interests that never panned out. Or the consummate friend I wish or hope to one day have. Then there has to be the people that you are born to be disliked. Without a villain, no story is complete.

I don't feel it is necessary to fill out every detail of my characters. In fact, my readers will do a better job because they have their won experiences and preferences to apply to my writing. To completely shut out a reader's creative descriptive imagination robs them of an exercise in dreaming up their own perfect character.

In a series of stories or novels, we learn more about a character as their past is woven in or they deal with life experiences familiar to us. This humanizes the character, making them more real and a part of our lives. I have many recurring characters in my three novels that have quite a history to tell.

Characters must be realistic unless you are writing a fantasy work. Many people are not interested in wild, unrealistic traits or abilities that created characters possess. This kind of stuff mainly exists in cartoons or comics where exaggeration serves another purpose.

Creating fictional characters is a great joy but a great challenge at the same time. It is something that never gets old to me. I have to be careful to introduce only the amount of characters that will directly contribute to my stories.

Learn more about this author, Joe Owens.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Giving birth to fictional characters?
We want to hear your view. Write now!