Fiction Character Checklist
By: Tantra Bensko
Tags: Plot, Characterization, Writing Advice, Fiction Writing, Writing

Questions to ask yourself when writing or revising a narrative

Photo by Felipe Sagn on Unsplash

Unique and memorable personalities

Ask yourself these questions about your characters in a narrative to make your short story, novel engaging enough to command attention from a large audience.

Do the characters’ introductions intrigue readers? The first time a reader comes across a character, do the readers; ears perk up? Do the readers think, “Wow! I have to learn more about this person! What will she do next?”

Are the characters easy to picture? If they are generic and abstract, show them to us instead so we can see them as if we’re watching a movie.

Are they easy to remember? Readers are distracted by internal dialogue and events going on around them. They read for a few minutes on the toilet and come back to the story the next day’s bathroom break. If you use a character’s name, provide a hint to orient the reader.

Do any fade characters out from the narrative inexplicably? If you’re describing their last scene before they’re going to disappear, maybe let us know why. Ideally, tie up any loose ends so we don’t feel something is unfinished.

Do they all speak differently? This can be very challenging, but do your best to make each speech pattern unique to each person. Don’t just give on a lisp and another one a Southern accent. For example, make one speak with a spunky voice that clips sentences, emphasizes words emphatically — with italics, interrupts herself and uses exclamations. Contrast that with another character who speaks in a monotone full of short gravelly words and trailing ellipses because he can’t be bothered to finish sentences.

Do you avoid dialogue info-dumps? Make the characters dialogue full of subtext rather than being on-the-nose. People don’t directly say whatever’s on their mind in wise, complete sentences in perfectly organized long paragraphs. They fumble with their words, make passive aggressive innuendos, feel out each other’s responses as they speak, interrupt each other, try to charm each other without being aware they’re disgusting each other, pause to think what to say next, and so on.

Do you avoid creating stereotypes? Make each character unique, a real person rather than illustrating a point, a point of view, playing an obvious role, or representing a tired stereotype.

Are alienating factors about your positive characters deferred for a while until your readers have a chance to learn to like them and care what happens to them?

Do they contain a mixture of qualities rather than being all good or bad, shy or aggressive, pretty or ugy?

Do you defer telling about their backstories for a few pages in a short story, and for longer in a novel? You need to give us time to become enthralled by the current-time-plot before backing up and informing us about the past. Keep the momentum going forward until while mystifying and entertaining your readers into a state of heightened suspense, you create a need for them to learn about the past.

Do you refer to individuals as “he” or “she” rather than “they? Unless it’s an LGBT issue, use correct grammar.

Does the protagonist transform because of encounters with the antagonist? While in a detective series, it’s possible the protagonist won’t change, but generally in drama, the protagonist drastically changes because of encounters with the antagonist who forces him to move out of a stuck psychological state. The protagonist faces his lies, wounds and improper desires and integrates his needs. His lesson becomes the theme.

Does the protagonist act to achieve one goal? The protagonist should be a typical human with goals, but when reacting to the inciting incident and committing to taking action by the end of Act 1, the general goal should be locked in. But within that general goal other more refined goals will arise as he learns more about himself and how to overcome the obstacles.

Is the antagonist a major threat to protagonist? The stakes must be high for readers to care, especially in a Genre narrative.

Can readers identify with the protagonist? If the protagonist is quite different from other people, be sure to include things about the figure that people can relate to. Up to a point, the more you include his bodily reactions to things, the more you will engage readers as they go along with his journey.

Does he have a foil who provides clear contrast to his personality traits?

Does he first try to fix the central problem of the narrative by taking the easiest way? Does that method fail until he’s taken down into the Climax which is so bad he has to face that he must change? Does he finally face his wound, lie or improper desires and become reborn so that he can be victorious in the Climax? Or, if it is a Tragedy, is he given the chance to do so, but can’t because he is too wounded?

Whether you’re outlining and sketching out a potential story or checking out what needs to be revised before submitting your tale, these are helpful things to ask yourself. If you’re writing a novel, you should send what seems like your final draft to beta readers before sending it to editors and proofreaders. This is the kind of question the beta readers will be asking themselves as they read. So, get ahead of the game. Then, when your beta readers get hold of the manuscript, they can pay attention to more advanced matters. Best wishes!

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