You’ve heard the phrase, “flesh out your characters.” You want to take characters from a room full of stick people to dimensional people. When we do this, our readers begin to imagine their appearance, interests, how they sound and move across the room. When we give characters personality characteristics, if we get it right, our readers begin to talk about them as though they have life. That’s what we aim to do. Give our characters life.

Real-world people fall into categories of personality types, but none of us is a cookie-cutter of another person. Still, we say, “Yeah, I know the type.” And, you do.

We say, “That’s just not like me,” as though there is only one way we can be.

Think of your characters as a type. When they act out-of-character, it will add a surprise for your reader and keep them interested.

Here are 8 ways to give your characters personality:

1. Create characters with different personality types in your work. Think of a party where everyone who comes into the room has their own type and quirks, interests and skills. Some are mentally stable and some are not.
2. To write about an extraverted person, have the character always speak first or take charge of the conversation. Describe her “breezing in from the club and grabbing a bite before dressing up to go out on the town with friends.” In other words, you don’t say the character is extraverted and likes to be around people, you show the character’s actions. Readers will get the type.
3. To convey your character’s introversion type, describe internal dialog the character is thinking. They think before they act. This character would, “sigh a sense of relief to be home after the club meeting and look forward to spending an evening in pajamas reading a book, alone.” Again, we know the type.
4. There is the obsessive type. Remember the old TV show, “The Odd Couple”? One character was obsessively neat, the other not. Describe a character’s unease when he/she notices a picture off-kilter. Always straightening things is another characteristic readers will recognize. This character is good at spotting things out of place.
5. Have characters dialog use, “I think” to convey a person who uses logic and reasoning to make decisions.
6. Have characters use “I feel” to convey a person who incorporates gut feeling and emotions when making decisions.
7. Have your characters report a dream where they see themselves acting out of character.
8. Embellish the characters until they you have a sense of their own style. Think about what interests and hobbies they would have, how they would dress, and what types of people they would like to hang out with.

Once you write about each character, it will be easier for you to weave their personality characteristics into your story. You’ll spontaneously know who talks too much and who is the quieter person. Just like being at the party. We know the types.

Good writing!