“When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.” -Hemingway

Characters are an integral part of poems, story writing, and playwriting. They are people within your work who carry the action, represent a larger idea, and show readers the heart of the conflict within your story. There’s no rule on how many characters you need for a work to be effective, but there are certainly rules to writing characters well. Consider the five dimensions of effective character writing:

1. IMAGE: What does your character look like?

The most effective aspect of all Disney movies is the attention paid to the character’s “image.” Most importantly, are there two different images: The image the character wants others to believe and the image the character shows a select few.

2. VOICE: What does your character sound like?

You want your characters to have unique voices. Each character should be easily distinguished from the next without signal phrases like “X said” or “Y cried.” How do you create a unique voice? Remember, diction, rhythm, and perspective. 

3. DESIRE: What does your character want?

Every primary character should have a goal. I don’t mean an abstract goal. I mean a literal goal. The more specific it is, the easier it is to push your story forward.

4. CONFLICT: Who/what gets in the way of your character getting this want?

The action comes from your character(s) not getting what they want immediately. What gets in the way of their desires? Think Harry Potter villains or internal setback like anxiety, confusion, insecurities.

5. ACTION: What does your character do? This can be quite literal—what does the character physically do in the text? Or it can mean figuring out how your character tries to achieve their want.

Run, Lola, Run is a 90-minute thrill ride. It follows Lola as she runs to get what she wants: the safety of her boyfriend and a significant amount of cash. What does she do to get her want? She runs!