"Stereotypical", "flat", "two-dimensional". You might have heard these words about your characters, or you might have thought them of characters you've read. What makes a character feel real? They're not real people, you're reading fiction, after all. I hate hearing, "Well, in reality…" or "In real life…" You're not writing about reality or real people.
But, you can use real-life traits in your characters that real people--you and I--can recognize and relate to in some way.
Here are some things to consider:
1) Flaws
Your characters shouldn't be perfect. They shouldn't look, act, or respond "perfectly" unless they're robots or some other simulacrum, and even then, they'd be pretty boring. Flaws are what make characters feel "real". They are also the details that make them sympathetic and believable. If you make your hero's love interest "perfect" with "flawless skin" and "perfect hair", your reader will yawn and move on. But if her eyes are a little too wide and her hair is a little too frizzy and she has a crooked but bright smile, your hero will think she's perfect, which is the whole point of that love-connection. He has eyes only for her, crooked smile and all.
2) Depth
Dig down deep into your characters' psyche. Why do they want what they want, and what are they willing to do to get it? What aren't they willing to do? What is the one thing that would make them cross their personal line, and why? You're the creator, so go down into the psychiatric depths to plunder their deepest secrets. There has to be more to a coming-of-age story than just "boy has magic powers he has to develop in order to save the world from the evil demon lord". What traits make this boy special--it's not just his magic. It's much more than that, and the boy, himself, can have doubts and fears (all your characters should have doubts and fears--it's what makes them relatable). Harry Potter has doubts about his fate and his affect on others. Neo has doubts that he is "the one" to save humanity. Luke has doubts that he can repel the dark side of the force (*waves geekflag wildly*).
Of course, not all characters need to have a full set of knock-off Louis Vuitton baggage--those kids in the Magic Treehouse books have very linear wants and needs. They want to help someone, they need to act within a certain time frame, and they have to get home through the treehouse. The boy is often more hesitant to jump into action because he's a little older and more circumspect while his younger sister is all about aiding those in need. It's a pretty good balance that offers just enough tension to keep the story from devolving into pure saccharin history-lesson-as-story.
3) Voice
What do your characters sound like when they think? When they have their internal monologue? When they're having a conversation? Give them a distinctive voice so that your readers create an audio track in their minds. It's the same as creating each character's individual physical looks--give them a voice, too.
Voice also applies to the narrative. If you're writing in tight 3rd person Point of View, your narrative can have the "voice" of your main PoV character. I'm not saying leap into cockney or some mangled form of southern drawl, I'm talking about the cadence, rhythm, and tempo of the narrative exposition. In Neil Gaiman's Graveyard Book, the narrative has a storyteller tone, an almost "Once upon a time…" melody. George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series switches PoV every chapter, and while the author's voice is firmly planted, you definitely know which character's Point of View is revealing (or hiding) the story. That's voice.
You see it most obviously in 1st person PoV narratives--Holly Black's Curseworker books, Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels series. Those voices are strong and very individual. They also have to be unique to carry an entire novel or series. Individual outlooks that are sometimes unreliable (which means that the reader only knows as much as the narrator; sometimes, that ignorance is what gets that character into trouble and keeps the reader glued to the pages) can make for a really great mystery (it also can show off all those neat flaws that make a character so individual).
So when you're creating your characters, move beyond the simplistic physical traits, go deeper into their psyche, and give your exposition a unique feel all your own. Use these things to propel you further into creating magnetic characters that move through your world and act out your plot.
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