Who are our characters?

When you’re writing, sometimes your characters seem to take over, and sometimes they even change the story, because even though you might have planned out exactly how things are going to happen in each chapter, sometimes you get to a point and you think ‘no, actually, he wouldn’t do that, it goes against his beliefs’. I actually love it when this happens, when the story kind of runs away with you, because although sometimes it creates problems, I definitely think it makes the characters come to life.

But, where do we get the idea of our characters in the first place? I personally love people watching. Nights out, or day trips to busy places are a great place to just quietly observe and take in people’s little ways and habits. You see people acting in cute ways or sometimes even see them acting badly, and an idea pops into your head about how you could incorporate that into your story, and just like that, you come up with an interesting character.

When I’m reading I love to wonder how other writers came up with their characters. Does the MC act the way the writer does, do they give us an insight into the writer’s life, or the people they know? It really is fascinating, and it definitely adds a whole new dynamic to the story sometimes, especially when characters are open to interpretation. Next time you’re writing, or reading, try it out, try and think where your characters came from, or try and figure out where somebody else got theirs!