I took notes at this writer’s panel at a writers conference. Any inaccuracies or misinformation in any of these notes is the fault of the note taker.

• Base characters on people you know.
• You learn about a character by their actions and behavior.
• You can base a character on an actor and you can review a video to refresh yourself on their behavior.
• Alter your subjects different enough so that people can’t identify who the original person was.
• Need to have internal consistency.
• Villains don’t see themselves as evil.
• Create core elements that readers can relate to.
• Character may be a quick thinker
• A character may not be swayed by criticism.
• A minor character might make observations that will let the reader know about a character.
• Scot Card: had a taxi driver that showed a lot of personality.
• Give a character their unique tick. i.e.: eye patch or behavior.
• You need to have some pig-headed characters that will add conflict in the story.
• When you create a character you make a first assumption of why they are the way they are. People may make the same assumption as you so find a reason of character that is more unique.
• Interview your character.
• How someone responds to a situation defined what type of person they are. There is a girl who enters a river to protect/ rescue a kitten. Or a character has arms full of rocks to fight against a 4 ft. spider.
• Search the text of your manuscript for each character’s dialog and actions to make sure that individual is unique and consistent. Mg: some will actually color code the dialog to better catch differences.
• Speech patterns is a good way to make a character unique from others.
• Visual cues also define a character such a red boots the squeak.
• Many authors will create a character bible to keep track on the history and individual traits of each character such as ticks, speech patterns, their friends and colors they usually wear. you will want to include the first time they are introduced to the story. You might also reference the various scenes they are in after the first time. You can do a copy and paste to bring info from the manuscript. If you have it in a doc you and do an easy search for the relevant info you need.
• Authors who are good depicting children are Steven King, James Howell, and Bruce Coeval.
• 12 yr. old kids want to read about characters.
• There are online beta groups.

Any inaccuracies or misinformation in any of these notes is the fault of the note taker.