Beginners Guide; Writing Realistic Character Growth

Coming up with a good story line can be challenging. But something that most writers overlook is what makes a story memorable, is that;

its not the story itself. But the characters that the reader loves to the point that they find themselves want to be them.

Making a character that is only fiction stand out is a very challenging thing. Often, you find writers writing about characters in a very one-dimensional way. Sometimes the writers' emphasize of a character's looks and drive the story forward. This makes the character so detached that they do not grab the readers' attention.

So how does a character become a reader's addiction? There are many ways to make your character feel realistic to the reader, but the main one is growth. Thus, we must be discussing how to write a realistic character growth to help you enhance your character's readership appeal.

Find out what is missing

Often times, a writer will have a clear image in their mind, a blue print of how their character will be. What the character’s dislikes are as well as their history, looks, and personality. What they do not focus on is the review process. A story character is a work of fiction, meaning they begin out as perfect.

In reality, no one is perfect. The reader does not want to read about a perfect person; they want to read about a character who inspires them. Reviewing your character’s traits is the best way to help you tie up loose ends

Give them flaws.

In the first point, I explained that a reader needs a person that they can relate to. See them more as a friend or even a person that they wish they were.

People make mistakes, and so should your character. The little imperfections that cloud your character allow them to be relatable in the eyes of the reader. If your character is not confident and stammers in front of their crush. If your character feels pressured, they scream into a pillow. If your character likes eating sour things. These little small imperfections set in the story make the character more relatable. More interesting to read about. They make them human.

There needs to be a reason.

If you decide to write a character that views the world in a different light than everyone else around them. Then you, as the writer, need to come up with a reason about why your character is depressed or has no friends. Humans are social creatures. We love being around each other. Though some of us prefer our own company, it still does not mean that we do not want to interact with them.

A child isn’t born evil. This happens through a series of events. A person is not born with depression. This is a result of various things.
If you want your character to stand out in any way. Then you need to take this into consideration before making your character a broody vampire or a cold CEO.

Setbacks are your friend.

Nothing can make your character more inspirational than giving them an epic God moment. For those who do not know what a God moment means. This is the moment in the book where your character has what would be the coolest and most memorable moment in the book.

In order for your character to have a great moment, they need to be facing a complicated task. In an epic odyssey-inspired story. for example;

the main character might be traveling across the lands in search of a valuable ancient item. On the road, they suffer various setbacks that cause them emotional, psychological, and physical damage to the point that the reader feels sorry for the character and questions if the character will survive. Once the stakes are at their highest, the main character surpasses the readers' expectations and has the coolest bounce back moment in all the story.

If you are writing a romance novel, you can add on a series of things to help. the main character has seen the love interest with the love rival. You can cause a misunderstanding that makes the main character look like the bad guy. The list is endless with this strategy, so focus on this and your writing will not suffer.

Use other characters to define your character.

Sometimes it is not easy, depending on the writing style that you have chosen to go with to showcase your character’s evolution.

But you can use a subtle way of showing that the character has changed by allowing your supporting characters to comment on or point out the new things that your main character is doing.

For example, let’s say you are writing a science fiction story and your main character's planet has been blown up by the governing or wealthy class of the universe. The main character and their friend are the only ones left alive and are on a quest for vengeance. Throughout the novel, supporting characters can imply, through dialogue or points of view, that the character's personality has changed.

If you are writing a young adult book, You can have a main character in high school who is having issues either at home or with their teen love life. This means that the character’s friends can have a conversation between themselves about how the character may have become emotional or irrational. This will make the reader realize that there has been a shift in the character's personality. But the character is unaware of it since they are in their own mind.

There are so many ways to show character growth in your story. If you try hard enough, you may be able to find the right type that will fit your plot. It's important to remember that you can't use too many at once because that would be unrealistic. After all, you do not want your reader to think that your character is a walking timebomb.