forum How to Make Character Personality Unique?

Started July 10, 2018 by @RebeccArt

tune

Hi! I have pretty much everything in line, but my characters' personalities seem to be cliche and very common within storylines. How do I make them different from everyone else's characters? I have 4 characters that need work. The main character is a young male who wants to do his best, and tries very hard but makes many mistakes and is a bit timid. He's ignorant, naive, but very very determined. The 2nd character is his detective partner, he is angry 90% of the time, and violent. He's headstrong, stubborn, rude, sloppy, and has zero manners. The third character is a young female, she's all class and business. She's smart, stern, and proper. She keeps the team on task and on time. The fourth person is a very young female witch who is playful, entertaining, and quite cute. She is carefree, happy, and social. She gives comedic relief in stressful times and packs a punch with her magic abilities. She acts like a child and doesn't quite understand consequences yet. They all have unique backstories but I'm still worried that their personalities aren't quite as developed as I'd like them to be. Any advice or comment is appreciated.

You need atleast a side character who is 100% done.

what do you mean?

A character who doesn't care and doesn't give a thing.

The thing that sets a good character apart from a one dimensional character is purpose, or motivation. Think of it this way: what do your characters want more than anything in the world? What keeps them going? How active are they in the story? Characters can be broken down into three vital aspects. Likability, competency, and activity. In my opinion, a character should have an abundance of no more than two out of the three categories.

Likability: Could you have a good conversation with this character? Are they a pleasant person? Are they funny, goodnatured, etc.? Likability is an important aspect of a character, and should be considered in building one. However, it is not a vital part of a character. If a character has strengths in the other two categories, then they are a successful character. Likable characters include people like Peter Parker from Marvel, Aang from Avatar the Last Airbender, Samwise Gamgee from Lord of the Rings.

Competency: Is your character good at what they do? Are they one of the best? Do they excel in their chosen field? Competency is also important, as most characters are at least somewhat competent in a certain area. Competent characters include Tony Stark from Marvel, Iroh from Avatar the Last Airbender, and Aragorn from Lord of the Rings.

Activity: Is your character the driving force of the story? Do they do things that directly impact the plot, or do they simply react to the plot working around them? Active characters include Thor from Marvel in Thor Ragnarok at least, Azula from Avatar the Last Airbender, and Frodo from Lord of the Rings.

A character should have high levels of at least one of those categories, preferably two, but no more than two. If your character fits all three categories, then they may be too perfect. If they fit in none or just one, then they may be one dimensional or flat. Regardless of activity, competency, and likability, motivation is something that all characters should share. A motivation can be simple, like wanting to eat cake one last time, to more complex, like justice for a wronged loved one.

I recommend checking out the YouTube channel "A Closer Look." Which is where I got a lot of this advice. Good luck on your character building!

Well I mean your right this is definitely not the first time those aractypes have been assembled but before I say any else it's worth considering that they're cliches because they're good, I mean there is a reason why we see similar characters across so many different medias and its because we like them. ANYWAY that being said one thing you might want to consider is to break the mold with your people by (even though they start cliche) not ending them cliche. What I mean is, usually when you see a gruff angry older man character by the end they reveal they have a soft side and will really care about their young partner. Usually childish characters will grow up and come of age and nobly take on responsibilities that nobody thought they could uphold. Serious female characters normal met a nice guy who helps them loosen up, have a little fun and ending up changing their lives for the better, etc etc etc. Hopefully this is making sense, my point is, there are kinda these expected emotional arcs that we put on characters and you see them all the time, so my advice to you would be to not do that. Modern stories normally try to bring everyone to a more normal level by the end of them, as in the mean guy gets nicer the reckless guy gets wiser and so on so. and you can use this to your advantage, your audience will probably expect to follow kosher character development and expected plot lines and if you dont they'll be sure to remember it. Hope that helps??

I guess the finer details of each character does make them unique but also likable. I have an idea of what each character is like and all of their talents/insecurities and whatnot. I think the hardest part for me is figuring out how to keep them different from each other. There are four characters, and I'm all for the 'opposites attract' thing where each character compliments the other's personalities. But there's four of them, which is harder than simply two people. If I follow the 3 aspects of a character, the main character is likable and active. His partner is only active. The female witch is only likable. And the nymph girl is only competent. Motivations would be to end the chaos reigning in their town but for each individual it's different. The main character wants to become the best detective there is and solve as many mysteries that come up such as his missing memories. His partner wants to take down his villainous brother and his gang. The witch girl wants to use her magic for good and keep magic alive. The nymph wants to find the monster that destroyed her home and to find her long lost friend. In a way, they already seem unique but during conversations, they begin to be a bit cliche and I wanted to break free from copying other characters' manners and whatnot. I'm just not sure how to go about it or to even try to change it.

Mannerisms and ways of speaking are very important when developing unique characters. Body language, cadence, the use of humor or lack thereof, how often they smile or laugh, what they do when they're bored or absentminded, etc. Brainstorm unique mannerisms for each character and incorporate it naturally into the narrative.

Well first off, for an outside perspective at least, it sounds like your story is pretty unique already. So lets see with four main characters you'll have 6 one of one relationships to build, if your sweetheart is A, detective is B, business woman is C and Flower child is D you have
A to B
A to C
A to D
B to C
B to D
C to D
but yeah you knew that already, my point is thats ALOT of room to explore the inner depths of your people. and by going fully into each one of those connections you'll be able to show the finer quirks and ideas of them. I mean it really seems like you know what you're doing, and it's a good sign that you're aware of a potential pitfall and that's probably how you'll avoid it. I don;t think you've got that much to worry about

Sweetheart to detective is brotherhood-they take awhile to get there but become best friends that rely on each other.
Sweetheart to the Businesswoman is a student to mentor-she offers knowledge, advice, and mental support.
Sweetheart to Flower child(haha I like that) is comedic stress relief-they offer each other fun adventures and good laughs.
Angry detective to businesswoman is a misbehaving child to older sister-she teaches him manners and how to handle his emotions
Angry detective to Flower Child is an older brother to little sister-The brother protects her, while she cleans him up and reminds him that he is needed.
Businesswoman to Flower child is like sisters, they stand for each other and offer different perspectives and knowledge. Together they represent the tag team of independent women, intended to be role models for young girls.

I also have their relationships to specific villains that go against their strengths and playoff weaknesses, in the end, they all face one main villain who knows more about them than themselves. I am struggling a bit as to how strong those connections will be for the plot development. I'd like to move onto that if anyone is interested in helping me with it.

Hahaha wow I really love that, especially sweetheart and detective and detective business woman. It really seems like you love this story and these characters and (They actually don't sound very stereotypical) and if you do, who cares what other people might say? I mean it's your story, tell it how you want to. But anyway yeah, you sound solid

Thanks, I guess I just feel insecure about what people think of my characters. I want everything to be perfect, and sometimes I end up being too hard on myself. But it pays off!

Ha Yeah I wish I didn't relate to that so much either. Good luck man

Completely avoid stereotypes