Guest Post with author Nicole Borgenicht

Creating Interesting Characters

By Nicole Borgenicht, 

author: The Kids of Dandelion Township

There are many aspects to creating interesting characters. First of all, they have to seem true to life in some of their traits, and at the same time inhabit unique qualities so a reader will not always guess what each character will do or say. Secondly, three dimensional characters have spark and sizzle since they are deep in their feelings and thoughts as we all are in real life.

The creation of characters derives from an amalgamation of traits that we recognize as well as original ones from our imagination. When people describe the writing of characters as though ‘they write themselves’, this too occurs at times. Dialogue and/or action seems to jump into the story before we’ve had a chance to fully nurture it. Then comes the revisions and editorial process. None the less, between the muses and the unconscious, there is a whole active world inside our minds and in our spiritual existence, that is simply waiting to explode and dance on paper and in digital form! It is up to us, to release this energy when we feel it, and control portions of this in order to unleash characters that have deep inner conflicts as well as challenges they face externally.
The tug of war between what and how characters approach their goals is a tantalizing subtext to sculpt and mold along with our story scenes. Most of all enjoying this challenge, and devising interactions and verbiage between characters is a deceptively non-simplistic art of writing. Not unlike other art forms or sports, simply liking it does not make it easy. The absolute formation of interesting characters grows and finalizes through a solid plot and theme.

On another subtopic, the decisions characters make at crucial plot points shows their personality in new ways. But human foibles and spontaneous reactions play important roles too. These less heroic traits make it easier to relate to the characters and see them as one of us. In fact, this is a specific pleasure in writing: to show each character with different strengths and weaknesses as we all have.

In the end, an interesting character does not stand alone. Even though it may seem one is most prominent, it is however the communication between characters along with character and story arcs, plus the range of vision in each story that culminates fascination.

The Kids of Dandelion Township

Written by Nicole Borgenicht

Characters beautifully illustrated by Lisa M Griffin

About the Author: 

Nicole Borgenicht is a children's fiction writer. Her most recent picture book is The Bridge published by Publish America. Some of Nicole's other kid's stories have appeared in The Los Angeles Times Kid's Reading Room section, Stories for Children Magazine and LadyBug Flights Magazine. Additional works comprise poetry and essays, short stories, one act plays or articles in magazines such as Arts and Entertainment Skyline and American Fitness.