Your main character (or protagonist) is probably the single most important part of your story. That’s why it’s so important to make it interesting – someone you would want to know a lot about. Make him or her realistic. Give him or her a secret, a quirk, a habit. As the writer, you need to know as much as possible about your character, even if you never use some of the information in the story.

Things you should know about your character:

• Place he or she calls home
• Place of origin
• Childhood
• Career (if he or she has one)
• Friends, family members, enemies
• Physical traits
• Personality
• Age
• Speech patterns
• Name
• Hobbies and talents
• Prejudices

Naming your character can be tricky, or it can be fun. If you’re having trouble, use a baby name book, or a baby name website, or flip through the phone book. Try to avoid weird, exotic or hard to pronounce names (sometimes science fiction or fantasy calls for it, but try to intersperse normal names throughout, as well). Avoid bizarre spellings of common names.

Don’t name your character Jaymee, if her name is Jamie. Don’t name a character Suphachad. Just call him Chad – everyone else will.

Also, avoid making the perfect character. Readers get annoyed when a character has the best grades, is the best looking, is the best soccer player and on top of that has some special talent. Some writers call this character a Mary Sue (male variants are sometimes called Marty Stu or Gary Stu). This character is often the best at everything, has the most friends, has overcome some sort of tragic past, and basically has no flaws.

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In addition to a main character, a story is often populated with several minor characters. Some may be there to help the main character, others are there to hinder him or her. Still others are just there to help the story along. And of course, we’ve all heard of the comic relief character. These characters need to have details as well, although you don’t need to know them as intimately. Remember to be consistent with them. Megan can’t be 15 in one scene and then 14 in the next.

Minor characters never have to enter the action of the plot. They can exist just off-stage, as I call it. For example, your main character can refer to his mother, and how she raised him, but she may never actually make an appearance in the story. These characters need to be consistent, too.

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Antagonists – no story is complete without one. The antagonist is the agent or person acting against your main character. Although most easily thought of as a villain or foe, the antagonist doesn’t have to be a person: it can be a bad habit, or a vice such as greed. This strategy works remarkably well with short stories. In fact, most short stories don’t have a concrete villain.

Villains come in several types.

• Insane
• Greedy
• Mindless instinct
• Fearful and prejudiced
• Wikipedia has a long list you may want to review for ideas.

However you create your antagonist, just remember that you want your reader to dislike him or her. Try to avoid creating too much empathy, admiration, or attachment.  

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