Have you ever sat down and prepared an outline that describes your characters? Thought about their likes/dislikes? Where they’ve been and what types of things they like to do?

If you haven’t, the time to do so is now. Why? It’s important to know what our characters like and dislike in order to understand what motivates them to behave in certain ways.

Your task is to create a list for each character in your story, whether a main character or a subordinate. Include where they are from, family ties, mannerisms (such as head toss, twiddling fingers) and friends.

Write out some sample dialogue that shows the differences in the ways your characters speak. Do they have an accent? Use contractions or use more formal language?

Upon up a few YouTube videos and listen to what word choices people use. Each of us has a different pattern and rhythm to our speech. Create dialogue that shows those differences.

Lastly  look through websites and find pictures of where your characters live, how they dress, places they might visit.

Put all this in a binder so that it is easy to access.

Now, begin working on your characters!

Have fun  with this one.