Overview
An interesting cast of characters is the heart of a successful story. Readers are compelled to continue reading when the characters they encounter are realistic, flawed, and deeply complex.
Individuality in each character is complex to achieve. Picking a few string character traits for your cast and intentionally applying these to your story will help you make your characters more interesting and compelling.
In this article, we'll learn what character traits are, and how to use them to improve your writing.
What Are Character Traits?
A trait is a quality, behavior, and emotional pattern that defines a character. Some examples of character traits include:
- Honesty
- Courage
- Selfishness
- Kindness
Traits can be further distinguished into internal (related to the character's inner world, including their emotions, thoughts, and morals), and external (the character's outward behavior and appearance, such as their actions, speech, and physical attributes).
Why Think about Character Traits
Thinking about your cast of characters in terms of their traits is useful in a few ways. Below are a few examples, but there are many more!
Holding too many complex characters in your head is hard. It's easier to think about them in terms of their traits, and when you're writing each chapter, you can dive deeper into each character. This can help offload your working memory and be more efficient in your writing, as you're only holding deep context about each character when you write about them.
Character traits can inform the way you write, making your story more realistic. They can help the readers keep track of the characters, especially when the cast is large, or introduced very quickly.
Traits can help create balance. If you mentally map your cast in terms of their moral traits, for example, you can easily spot whether your story lacks balance. Perhaps there is a little too much positive or negative, and you may want to balance it out by introducing a new character or changing an existing one.
How to Develop Character Traits
Let's explore a few ways in which you can develop complex and interesting traits for your characters.
- Use backstory: a character’s history can shape their personality traits. For example, a character who grew up in hardship might develop resilience.
- Show, don’t tell: reveal traits through actions, dialogue, and interactions with other characters. For example, a character might constantly sacrifice their own needs for others showing selflessness.
- Consistency and growth: ensure traits are consistent but allow room for character development over time. For example, a selfish character who gradually learns to be more selfless.
Making Your Character Likeable or Detestable
Positive traits, like bravery, compassion, and loyalty can make your character likable or admirable. You may use this to guide the reader and the way they look at your characters. Remember, however, not to make a character too "perfect" — add some flaws to make them more realistic.
Negative traits can have the opposite effect, making the character unlikable. Some examples include arrogance, greed, and impulsiveness.
Lastly, complex traits can blend both positive and negative qualities. For example, a character might be ambitious but ruthless, leading them to be a high achiever. This may make the character likeable to some readers, and unlikeable to others. Using contradictions within traits to create depth.
Conclusion
In this article, we learned the importance of giving unique and interesting traits to your characters. These can be simple or complex, positive or negative, or a blend of both.
The proper use of character traits can help you elevate your story the the next level. The next time you write a new chapter, ask yourself:
- Can I identify enough interesting traits in each of my characters?
- Given their existing traits, are my characters likely to be remembered by the reader?
- Is there a balance of traits?