Creating Characters for Stories Part 01 - Bethany Anne.

During the dog days of summer in Las Vegas, I can't tell you enough how much I appreciate you being here with me on this wild ride with my stories.

You've not only read my stories, but you're here, reading these email comments, too. That means a lot to me.

Today, I thought I'd let you in on a how I come up with my characters. I get asked about it, and I'm happy to share my method with you. It's a mix of different traits and quirks that I hope make my characters come alive in the stories.

Usually, 2 serious, 1 non-serious.

When I start creating a character, I usually begin with things I like in people.

Take Bethany Anne from The Kurtherian Gambit, for example. I love her sense of right and wrong and how she never leaves a friend behind. These are two (2) things that mean a lot to me, and they're a big part of who she is.

But I also like to throw in something a bit different, something that might not be so serious, but makes the character feel real.

For Bethany Anne, it's her love for Coke and not-so-much love for Pepsi. It's a small thing, but it makes her feel more like a real person to readers (I hoped, I wasn’t sure when I did it the first time.)

Trait (1 of 2)

I like the idea of characters becoming like a family. They form strong bonds with each other, just like a real family would. I’ll speak to this more in the next email.

(I’ve done a few of these character emails on Bethany Anne - so be expecting them to hit you hard and fast. Lots of energy after July 4th!)

Trait (2 of 2)

Justice was my second choice. When I was working on Bethany Anne (2015) I was feeling a huge sense of injustice in the world, and it was my way to deal with those issues. It is a trait that I saw I resonated with in the stories I was reading.

Why Female?

When I was creating Bethany Anne, I wasn't ready to write a male lead character. To be honest, I hadn’t seen a male character that I resonated with as I personally am a more empathetic person. So, I decided to make a strong, interesting female character who had the things I liked and the quirks that made her feel real. Of course, I’ve created male characters and frankly, after so many stories, have no issues doing it again. But, at that time in my life there were no characters I admired in the stories I was reading that screamed ‘THIS!’ is the type of male I want to write.

It’s a stew…

Once I've got these traits down, I start thinking about their past, what they want, and what drives them. I might try to figure out how they'd react in different situations. This helps me turn these characters from just ideas into the real, complex people you meet in my stories.

Like Bethany Anne’s love of shoes. Totally stole that from my wife.

So, those are my thoughts on making a character. I will be doing 3 more ‘deeper dives’ into my emotions / thoughts on Bethany Anne in the next few days.

I hope you join me for those emails!

Ad Aeternitatem,

Michael Anderle

PS - For those who are following my adventures with Ramy Vance (I did this to myself, I have no one else to blame) you can click the image below to sign up for the notifications ;-)

I’d Love to have you join! - Mike

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