When you’re a new novelist, sitting down to draft your first manuscript, there are so many things running through your mind it can be easy for your characters to get lost in the shuffle of plot, dialogue and action. But regardless of your genre, crafting compelling characters is an essential piece of your book’s success. So as you’re developing your story, keep these character building concepts in mind.

Motive is Key

What is it that drives your character in this story? That is the most important question to ask yourself when you’re just getting started. Unfold their ambition, their desired destination and their goals.

Before you reveal who your character is, spend some time getting to know why they are operating the way they do as it pertains to this story.

Now all of this won’t make it onto the first pages (or possibly at all), but if you need to understand your characters motivations, then these crucial driving forces will emerge throughout the narrative and propel your MC forward. We don’t want characters who just wander around on the page waiting for life to happen to them. We want a distinct direction.

Your Character is Like a Cake

No one wants a one-note main character. The perfect hero or idyllic love interest or even the purely evil villain are boring. Add in factors that will take your audience by surprise.

A multi-layered character is the key to a great story (and great cake). Perhaps they are very career-orientated, but also devoted to caring for an unwell relative… that creates tensions and conflict. Maybe the “bad guy” suffered something horrible in childhood that makes them who they are (i.e. Thanos losing his home world.)

Your character’s secrets and history will influence their present actions, giving you opportunity for backstory, inner turmoil and depth.

Growth is a Must

As your story progresses, so too must your MC. It’s okay for side characters to stay static and steady, but your main character has to be growing as he or she moves through the plot. An unmoving, unwavering character is an uninteresting character.

Harry Potter must come to accept the power he possesses and grow into his role as “The Chosen One.” Katniss Everdeen must move beyond survival and the drive to save her sister to become a leader of the rebellion. The Narrator in Fight Club must relinquish his dependence on the stronger, more driven “Tyler” and become the master of his own destiny.

It’s called an “arc” for a reason because your character must be on a trajectory that elevates them beyond where they started out in the book. From naive to intentional, from passive to courageous, from hopeless to hopeful! Where your character begins should not be where they end.

Details in the Dialogue

While every story will have some exposition to bring the reader up to speed, you should be using dialogue as an opportunity to reveal the most about your character. Do they speak with sarcasm to avoid the things that make them uncomfortable? Do they lie to stay out of trouble? Do they appear confident at work, but behave meekly when confronted by their spouse at home?

This is a huge part of the “show don’t tell” rule. What we say and what we don’t say reveals a lot about who someone is.

In Gone Girl, who the main character, Amy, presents herself to be in public versus the things she says in her diary and does in private reveal the manipulative and arguably sociopathic nature of her personality. Not only that, but it creates an extreme level of conflict as her husband tries to prove his innocence while contending with her pristine public-facing persona.

Look Around You for Inspiration

Undoubtedly you’ve already discovered that the real world finds its way into fiction fairly easily. Being a keen observer of people and their many quirks is a crucial tool in an author’s toolbox. The way your mother-in-law clicks her teeth when she’s disapproving of how you parent. The way your partner’s eyebrow twitches when he’s nervous. Or the way your sister talks really fast when she has a bit of gossip. Start perceiving these little human ticks that say a lot without words. And write, baby write!

Disclaimer: Your family and friends may pick up on these nuances if they are too familiar. Mix it up in unexpected ways if you’re worried about that.

Consistency Isn’t Boring

Sometimes, in order to throw a thrill into their book, an author will have a character do something uncharacteristic. While this may feel like a fun way to put your audience back on their heals, done without regard it can just make your MC feel unreliable and unrealistic. Sure, your character will do shocking things, but it should align to them in a way that makes sense.

Your prim and proper PTO mom may snap one day in a meeting and lose her temper, but your character development has to lend itself well to the scenario. We have to have seen that the pressure is building at home and that this woman has been on the verge of a breakdown. If your character is just as likely to go to the grocery store as she is to rob a bank, we can’t really know her.

There are so many things to think about when you are drafting a book. And each piece of the puzzle is a crucial component to a successful novel. But the more work you can do up front to better understand your characters will help you sprinkle in intriguing details, heighten the dialogue and elevate the believability of your story.