Creating characters how to build story people by dwight v swain is a non fiction title for writers that delves into the art of character creation the cover ill start by saying that this book is almost 30 years old yet while the cover art feels somewhat dated it is only due to the character images and the clothing they wear. Describe a characters personality in familiar terms to create believable characters create a personality for your main and secondary characters based on characteristics of real people that will help you create a multi dimensional round character with recognizable personality traits and quirks paint a physical picture of your characters. But it is true nonetheless that writers build characters first when they report them what happens to the main characters in the stories we edit is called the plot or the story line or the arc of the narrative we ought to develop plots or story lines through scenes as much as possible ill try here to suggest some ways to develop the characters in those scenes into full three . But lets help you understand what each type of character brings to the story with this information you can better understand which character development to focus on with each of the fictional people you create 12 actionable character development tips now that you know which type of character youre focusing on here when writing your book lets dive deeper into the character