Before we start to create our characters, and develop them to make them real, let's familiarize ourselves with the various elements of a modern novel. The theme of the novel is the underlying meaning. What is the author trying to say? This is sometimes simple, and it's sometimes complex. The plot can be in several sections, but often has one main plot. Here's a road map from the beginning to the end, his way that the author draws a reader through the story, along with the main character.

The setting or the settings is where the novel and the action take place. narration is the act of telling the story and the narrator can either use the first person or the third person that is to say, he can start telling the story from the point of view of I or me, or he can say he or she, there are the points of view possible. These two are the main ones, and for a beginning writer, the most preferred. The study of creating and developing characters also includes the study of dialogue. The way that the characters speak to each other, drive the story forward and display emotion and conflict. Characters drive the story forward through their action and their dialogue.

Dialogue with other people involved in conflict, and also internal dialogue. They need to involve the readers emotions, so that the reader cares what happens to them. So where do these characters come from? They come from inside the author from the author's experiences and observations about everyday life. Here are some important characteristics of great characters. They must be realistic, so we believe them.

They must be complex. Everyone is a mixture of emotions, desires, and motivations. The character should have a rounded personality. It shouldn't be too much, there's too much of that and not too extreme in any one way without a balancing emotion or action. A bit of a sense of character needs to have a history like an ordinary person. This history needn't be told outright, but can be hinted at and develop throughout the novel.

It helps if the reader can easily identify with the character with a character's frustrations and his dreams and desires. The reader likes to sympathize with a character. He wants to be on the character side to feel sorry for the character, in short, to become emotionally involved. Basically, the reader needs to care for the character. All of the above indicates that the reader must perceive the character has been real. The author's job is to craft the character in such a way that the reader can suspend belief and start to follow the character story.

So how does an author create a character? The process starts with getting to know them yourself. Where do they live? What do they eat? For example? Where do they eat?

What makes them angry? These are many of the questions helped to round out the character is a great tool for an author to create a profile for each character and to fill in the blanks. And this is what we'll take a look at in the next video.