Human characters…
As opposed to ETs? Or a contradiction? As a reader, I peruse a novel as if I’m going to review it, which I often do. Reading that way, you’re bound to notice things. One common observation I have is that some authors’ characters don’t seem human, even if they’re supposed to be.
Sometimes I can see that an author does this intentionally, creating a “larger than life” cartoonish character. This often occurs in humorous stories. When it happens in more serious prose, a reader has to wonder. A character doesn’t have to be cartoonish to seem less than human, though.
The spectrum of human behavior is wide, but every point on it is human. You can create a psychotic villain, but his (or her) abhorrent behavior still must seem human. A protagonist might make superhuman efforts, but they still have to be humanly possible given the character’s mental and physical conditioning.
Good fiction has to seem real, even sci-fi and fantasy; within the worlds the author creates, characters must seem real. Some Harry Potter characters have strange powers, but in the wizards’ world, that is normal behavior. And they have very human emotions otherwise.
We often describe certain characters as two-dimensional. What we really mean is that they don’t seem human. Secondary characters often seem two-dimensional. Authors can make those seem more human in the descriptions of how the main characters interact with them.
This isn’t as difficult as it seems. I’ve been observing human behavior since I was a child, both directly and indirectly in the media. That’s all you need to do. Just make each character’s behavior an amalgam of some of that observed behavior.
In other words, every author should be an amateur psychologist, noting how people react to other people, settings, and situations. We tend to be introverts, but that doesn’t stop us from being observers. In fact, maybe introverts are the best observers…and best writers. Extroverts will often step in to be part of what’s going on; introverts can sit back and observe both introverts and extroverts. By collecting notes on human behavior, they can create better characters.
Of course, don’t forget to study yourself! A bit of self-analysis goes a long ways. You know that person the best, or should. There’s nothing wrong with including characters with your best and worst traits, for example. Any trick that makes you a better writer is fair game. And knowing ourselves well just might save us the cost of a psychologist or psychiatrist!
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For readers interested in interesting stories and characters—humans and ETs, heroes and villains—The Great Spring Thaw Sale continues. For example, The Collector just went on sale. Check my Smashwords author page for all my ebooks. Even if they’re not on sale, the prices are very reasonable. And all books are as current today as when I wrote them.
In libris libertas!
