Guest Post w/ Halli Lilburn on Character Profiles

Today at Uniquely Moi Books, we have Halli Lilburn. Let's graciously welcome her on this lovely Friday! Halli is the author of 
Shifters, due to release this Summer. I am anxiously awaiting her cover art! I just love what Halli has to share with us today. Let's begin!

Character Profiles

There are times when a minor character has a three second appearance and we need to figure him out right away.  There is no time to really get to know him so we judge him by his appearance and tiny bits of dialogue, then he’s gone.  This is a good time to use stereotypes.  Suspects or witnesses can come and go in rapid succession while we glean vital information from them:  The Italian unloading crates of apples in the ally who's wearing a white tank top and chewing on a straw.  He says, “I ain’t seen nothing.”  The fat lady in the big, feathery hat with too much make-up walks out of the spa.  She says, “My husband will hear about this!” Or the dutiful, clean-cut butler in his black suit, white gloves and raised chin who has worked for the family for years.  He says, “The Madam is unavailable at this time.” We are all familiar with characters like these.  We have seen them many times in small but effective doses.

Main characters need to be far more complex than that.  They need to have a unique personality, a complicated past and hidden strengths that they might not know they have.  They need to have enduring qualities that we can bond with and feel sympathy for.  Authors often create elaborate character profiles that never get included in the book, but these profiles can ultimately make a character believable and constant.  Here are some ways to bring a character to life.

Form a profile picture.  Whether it is hand drawn, cut out of a magazine or found on Google, being able to look into his eyes is a powerful source of inspiration.  Pick actors who would fit the role if the book was made into a movie.

Write a family history.  What is his birth order?  Where is he from? How much schooling does he have?  When questions such as these get answered, the character is shaped more fully.  Even if this

information is never mentioned in the book, knowing his background might slightly change his attitudes or answers. 

Build a relationship tree.  The more the characters are intertwined the more intriguing they will appear.  If a guy and a girl meet and fall in love it’s cute.  BUT if the guy was the one who killed her sister in a car accident, but she doesn’t recognize him, their relationship becomes far more complex.

There are many other ways to build a character profile and every author uses what works for them.  Whatever the method, we want those characters etched in our memories.  We want to be fooled into believing that they are real.

Well said! If you want to know more about Halli, you can follow her on Twitter, find her on Facebook, and check out her Blog!