Month: July 2025

Dealing with Difficult Characters

Writing problems with characters

Some characters seem to come with diaries that a writer only has to consult to figure out their personalities, motivations, and goals. Others seem like old friends you’ve known for years, and the words flow effortlessly. But some characters stubbornly refuse every attempt to get to know them better.

When I wrote the first novel of my Rae Riley Mysteries series, the extended family of my main character Rae Riley was critically important. I decided to give her father an older sister, a younger sister, and a younger brother. The dad and his two sisters came to life early and easily. But Younger Brothers turned difficult. No matter what approach I took, I couldn’t develop him into an interesting character, one who would contrast with his siblings.

If you are dealing with a difficult character, try these four trouble-shooting techniques.

Change the Name

Naming characters appropriately is critical for me when developing them. If I give a bubbly character a name that somehow suggests a quiet, sensitive type, the character won’t work for me. But the name wasn’t Younger Brother’s problem.

Change the Face

This is the same as changing the name. Usually when I build a character, I start with a face that I’ve seen somewhere and that signals a certain kind of personality. Younger Brother’s face suggested a reserved, intellectual, but I had another character like that who was working well within the story. I thought maybe I just needed to …

Write a Scene with the Character

This technique had worked with Rae’ grandmother. I knew I had to have a grandmother, but she proved a slippery character, her personality assuming all sorts of traits as I tried to structure her in my mind before I began writing. Finally, I decided to stick her in a scene and see what happened. Pretty soon, Gram’s mellow, warm-hearted personality shone through, making her a nice contrast to her son, Rae’s father, who is a worrier.

But when I wrote a scene with Younger Brother, he became irritating, sounding whiny. So the only thing left to do was …

Combine or Eliminate the Character

I offed him in cold-blood with a a lot of relief. I simply didn’t need him. If I hadn’t already had a character similar to him, I might have taken his qualities and those of another character to combine them into someone new.

I think the reason I worked so hard to keep him is that I often create groups of four characters. I’m one of four sisters, so I understand how that group dynamic works. What I had failed to realize was that I already had a group of four characters. Older Sister married the neighbor boy, whom Rae’s father and sisters grew up with. So he’s like a brother, although an older one to Rae’s father. But I’ve had a ton of fun writing about how the brothers-in-law jab at each other.

Click here for more tips on creating characters.

What are your tips for dealing with difficult characters?

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Who Are Your Favorite Villains?

Writing characters

Last week, I asked about your favorite characters. I’m sure most of the ones you mentioned were the heroes of the story. So why am I asking who are your favorite villains? I don’t mean evil characters we root for. I mean those bad guys who are the perfect contrast to the hero. Or their villainy says something true about life. Or they are so bad that it’s a delight to see their wicked plans foiled.

The detective series Columbo wouldn’t have been so popular in the 70s if the murderers Lt. Columbo was pitted against weren’t so arrogant, superior and often nasty. Viewers wanted the rumpled, humble cop to bring these wealthy elites low.

The villains in Death on the Nile are some of my favorites. Their relationship is complicated and not what you’d expect, especially from Agatha Christie, who isn’t known for the depth of her characterizations.

So tell me who are your favorite villains. Stories just wouldn’t be the same without them!

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Have Fun With Minor Characters

Writing tips for creating characters

Creating characters for fiction can seem impossible. Mountains of books and posts have been published giving acres of advice, some of it contradictory. Main and major characters should be realistic and relatable. Likable. No, not likable. Intriguing. Flawed but heroic. Peanut butter but jelly. After working so hard to make our characters ones readers want to spend time with, it’s a relief to have fun with minor characters. I don’t have to worry about how they are growing and changing through the plot. Minor characters serve a limited purpose, so I can tinker with them as much as I want as long as they accomplish what I need them to in a particular scene.

Feel Like Stretching Your Writing?

If you feel like your major characters, great as they are, have confined you to a certain type of personality, experiment with minor characters who are very different from your major ones. My main character, amateur sleuth Rae Riley, is reserve and/or shy with a sense of humor based on observations. So I might make a minor character more outgoing or outrageous to widen the variety of characters in my story.

Let’s say Rae needs to talk to a woman working at the post office. I could write the woman as extremely chatty, going off on tangents left and right, making it hard for Rae to find out what she wants to know.

Even better, I could have two minor characters play off each other. The chatty postal worker could work with a woman as gloomy as Eeyore the donkey from the Winnie-the-Pooh stories. The contrast would be a ton of fun to work with.

Choose Minor Characters from the Setting

Think about the setting your scene is taking place in. What kind of people do you normally find in that setting? Let’s say your main character is a mom who is waiting in the principal’s office to have a meeting with her. Who would you find in the principal’s office of an elementary school? One or more secretaries, teachers coming in and out, students coming in and out. Possibly other non-teaching staff, like the school nurse or speech therapist. Any of those could be used to freshen this scene.

You could also toss in unlikely people you’d find in the office. Like a single uncle who got stuck delivering his nieces and nephews to school that day. Or a toddler who escapes from Mom while she waits for her second-grader to come to the office for an appointment.

Here are more tips on writing characters.

What story had memorable minor characters?

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Who Are Your Favorite Book Characters?

favorite book characters

Since this month’s theme at JPC Allen Writes is characters, who are your favorite book characters? For me, a character becomes a favorite when I seek out their company again and again. Here’s partial list of mine because I’m sure there are some I’ve forgotten:

Let me know in the comments who are your favorite books characters.

Here are writing prompts for characters.

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How to Write Characters Who Are Leaders

Writing advice on characters

Giving advice on how to write characters who are leaders is a bit complicated because there are so many different kinds of leaders. Leading soldiers into battle requires a different kind of leadership from leading volunteers at a church or students in a classroom. But you can ask yourself some basic questions for any kind of leader as you create him or her.

Effective or Ineffective Leader?

Is your character good at whatever kind of leading you want him to do? Or is she in over her head? If the answer is yes to the second question, you can concoct a variety of reason for her ineffectiveness. For example:

  • Lack of skill, talent or training
  • Received position due to nepotism. For a stunning example of an ineffective leader, you should watch the 1956 movie Attack. An officer has been promoted to captain during WW II due to who is father is, and his incompetence is getting his men killed.
  • Ambition exceeds ability
  • Personal problems, such as taking care of a chronically sick spouse or relative

But if your character is an effective leader, the next question you should ask is …

Good or Bad Leader?

We’ve already decided this character can lead. But does he do it in a good or bad way? If he leads in a good way, there are numerous routes toward making him a believable leader. He may lead with charisma or by being transparent or likable or personable or many other admirable attributes. One of my favorite novels is Watership Down, the story of a band of rabbits trying to survive the English countryside while establishing a new warren. Two of the leaders, Hazel and Bigwig, have very different styles and yet are both effective leaders. I found it interesting to learn that the author Richard Adams based the two characters on two officers he served with during World War II.

If she’s an effective but bad leader, her flaw usually comes down to leading through fear. That use of fear can be deployed into two main ways: aggression or manipulation. The aggressive leader is a bully. People under him fear his intimidating or humiliating tactics. The manipulative leader keeps the people under her off balance. No one knows what she’s doing behind the scenes, who will be let go next, or even what the rules are because she can change them without notice. And you can have a leader character who combines aggression and manipulation.

What books or shows have memorable characters who are leaders?

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