4 Super Easy Ways To Create Characters For Short Stories

Create-Characters-For-Short-Stories “4 Super Easy Ways To Create Characters For Short Stories” by Mia Botha | May 3rd, 2017 | Writers Write.

“Characters in Novels versus Characters in Short Stories

Creating characters in short stories is the same as creating characters in novels, but once again, when dealing with a reduced word count we have to make our writing work harder. We don’t have 80 000 words to develop a character arc. How can we work with a reduced count and still have a fully developed character?

1. Write Epic Descriptions

Sometimes we only need one line to summarise a character. Find a way to describe them that creates an image for the reader of who they are.”

“2. Dialogue

How does your character talk? Vocabulary, sentence structure and how they talk all help us to show character.

The age, level of education and nationality will all influence how your character speaks.”

“3. Body Language

Make your characters move. This conveys a lot about them. Make sure to use strong verbs.
Don’t say: the woman walked. That doesn’t tell us a lot about the woman. Rather say: she strode, she raced, she shuffled, she tiptoed. Those all create images and different scenarios.”

“4. Internal Thoughts

Internal thoughts are still one of the simplest ways of showing character. Once you are in the mind of a character you can share their motivation, thought processes and backstory.”

“By using a combination of these methods, you’ll be able to convey as much of your character as possible using the least number of words. Tip: Don’t forget to apply to principles of ‘show, don’t tell’ to really pack a punch.

Happy writing.”