Draw the reader in. Readers need to identify-with/love/relate-to your character. Then they will keep reading to find out what happens to the character.
What’s your character’s name? Names are important. A name must ring true to your character without drawing attention from the story. With children, be aware of name styles. If your character is 5, some names are no longer in vogue.
What’s your character look like? Size, age, hair, health issues etc. are vital to give the reader a mental image.
How does your character speak? Slowly, bass/treble, formal, uneducated etc. Accent is important, but just give the readers hints about the dialect or slang.
How does your character behave? Emotional, mental, & anger states are important, if only to give the character reasons for their behavior.
How about clothes? Don’t ignore clothes/lack of clothes, as they can give the reader an idea of the character’s appearance.
Gives us the specifics. Giving your character specific interests/likes/dislikes personalizes them, makes then unique.
You must eat. What/where/when does your character like to or have to eat. Food can be regional or it can reflect a child’s whims.
Location? Where your character lives or visits can be important to the story line.
What’s your character’s past? Even if you don’t include the backstory in the manuscript, it can be important to the plot.
Put it together. Once you have built your character, write his/her story.
C. T. Suddeth 
Leave a Reply