How to create distinct personalities

When writing a book, one of the main things to be wary of is readers getting characters mixed up. This can happen for a variety of reasons, they look similar, their names begin with the same letter, but their personalities can be the same. We all have a favourite person to read about, whether it be the sassy leading lady, the sarcastic drunk, the sly thief, or the all-round nice guy. But you have to stop yourself from making every one of your characters your favourite. Others may prefer other attributes and how often do you meet two people who are exactly the same in every aspect of their personality?

But how do we stop this from happening?

If you've already read my article on planning characters;

https://robynweightman32.wixsite.com/robynweightman/single-post/2018/06/05/Characters---Stage-One

You'll know my rough guide for things to think about when writing them and how to layout your plans. But in this blog, I will go into greater detail on the character's personality and different tricks you can use to keep them distinct.

1. Online personality tests

If you've planned out your character as best you can, you can now try to get into their mindset and get to know them a little better. Online personality tests, though not always accurate, are great to get an idea of who your character is and how they might react to things.

https://www.16personalities.com/personality-types

If you do not feel close enough to a character to take a test and find their personality, you could always pick one of the 16 at random and use those traits to create a characters individual personality.

2. Horoscopes

If you are not into the detail of personality tests, or you want a broader, more movable personality to work with, you can always look to horoscopes for help.

https://www.astrology-zodiac-signs.com/

You do not have to mention what star sign your character is, but you can use one to create a person. You can also use both your personality test and star sign together, the more detailed the better.

3. Character Pinterest

Once you have decided on your character's personality type, try making a Pinterest for that character of things that they would like. They might have a favourite colour, animal, room decor or food. Use the information you have discovered and get personal.

4. Bullet Point

All the above are great, but they involve reading long paragraphs or a lot of scrolling. Once you think you have discovered your characters personality, try to bullet point specific elements of them you could see and know how they would react in a situation. I.e. Shy, Sarcastic, Lively, Excitable, Scared, etc.

5. Proactive or Reactive

An important part of writing a character is knowing if they are Proactive or Reactive. Do they plan out a situation or react to it? A lot of characters begin reactively and become proactive by the end when they take control of their own fate, but this is not always the case. Look at your story plot and decide how your character should be in each scene.

6. Short Stories

The final stage is to use all of the information you have gathered about your character and write a short story from their perspective. This can really help you get into your characters head and learn to be them when you write. Make sure that you write a story for each character and when you're writing about those characters in your story keep their character profiles close and ready to check you're reacting as they would.

Thank you for reading. I hope you found this helpful. Good luck with your characters and your stories!

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