K.C. has helped by stepping up and writing a great self-interview on creating believable characters. I found it a fantastic read - hope you do too. THANK you KC!

How do you develop believable characters?

What makes a great character is goes beyond skin deep. We know that every sexy main character is six feet tall, has a full head of lush gorgeous hair and a flawless smile…right? Wrong! Fiction is where anything can happen, so why not throw out the cookie cutter molds and start thinking outside the box.

What makes a well-developed character into a great character? It’s more than their physical traits. This is where the reader becomes emotionally invested in the character’s life. We want to know what makes them tick. Why do they do and react the way they do?

Even if the reader isn’t told the entire backstory of each character, we can learn about them by how they react to a situation.

Family and economic status also molds who a character is. Someone who is the eldest child in a single-parent family of five will have different point of view from someone who is the youngest child in a wealthy family. What if these two guys were on a date? How would they react to a $500 bottle of wine?

Not every character is perfect. In fact some of the best characters are flawed. Their imperfections can make them more interesting. A crooked smile, a unique scar, or nervous twitch can make them stand out in a crowd.

So, what do you when the character that you're working on does something unexpected? I usually go back to the character profile and try to see if it is something they would do in real life and if so I have to have a good reason. If I can't justify why a character does something (forgive the pun) so out of character, then I go back and make a list of alternative outcomes until I find one that fits my character.

How about something bad happening to a character you've really invested in? It's hard to see bad things happen to good people but that is real life. Sometimes the bad guy wins and the nice guy finishes last. When I get emotionally invested in a character I'm working on, I hate to see something bad happen to them, but I'll take a step back and take a look at the story as a whole to see if the actions move the plot of the story forward.

Thanks again KC - and if you have something you want to share with the community, please let Renee Stevens or myself know!