Character of Our Characters

by Cindy R. Williams

It is not our ability that shows what we truly are; it is our character - Abraham Lincoln

Great advice for our characters. I mean think about it. You can have the most accomplished hero in your story, but if they knocked a child over then laughed, you have more of a villain than a hero.  If you have a character that never makes a mistake, you have a boring character.

The character of our characters is probably the most important thing in creating and writing good characters. (That's a whole lot of character going on there.)

We all know people who others refer to as "What a character," usually meaning that the person is quite a joker, or a story teller or the like. We know some characters character is dark and mean, while an other's character is bright, shiny and happy.

The character of each of our characters makes or brakes whether the reader love or hate them.

Here's a question just for fun. If you were in your own book, what kind of a character would you be?

I would be sometimes serious, sometimes silly, sometimes hard working, sometimes lazy, sometimes happy, sometimes sad, sometimes outgoing, sometimes quiet and shy - yeah I know . . . hard to believe, sometimes funny, sometimes I just think I'm funny but I'm not, sometimes wishy washy, sometimes determined, sometimes good, sometimes not so much. I think this is probably how most of our characters characters really are. I am not black and white, cut and dry, so why would my characters be so. However, I know my heart, and my heart is in the right place.

Maybe the trick is to know the "heart" of our characters. Hmmm . . . I think I'll save that for another blog.