One of the questions I’ve gotten asked as an author is this: “How do you come up with so many characters?”
Surprisingly enough, there are many places that you can find character inspiration from and it’s not as hard as you may think. Sure, some authors might say that you just come up with them somehow, but there are ways to actually be inspired by things all around us that help create a great character.
Also, check out my post on why you shouldn’t start writing a series if you’re new to writing.
Maybe this one is obvious, maybe it isn’t. However, Pinterest is one of those platforms that has lots of art and inspiration boards available to you to see and get ideas from. When I was still starting out in writing The Fallen Age Saga, I did draw some inspiration from Pinterest. However, I’d say that in order to get proper inspiration, you need to think about what type of story you’re writing.
For example, if I were writing a story about an assassin, I’d probably look up something like this on Pinterest: “Dark fantasy assassin.”
I happen to also have compiled a pretty good amount of inspiration pins to help you get started. Just head on over to my Pinterest–I’ve got SciFi and Dark Fantasy as well as Military for anyone who writes in these genres (cough cough, I do 😉 )
Video Games
One of my favorite things to do when I’m not writing or working is playing video games. Video games are great at story-telling and many of them have stories that I will praise day-in and day-out as an author. Whenever I play video games, I always like to analyze the story and look at the way the characters are designed. I think it’s a ton of fun to draw inspiration from video games, because a lot of them really understand how to play on the human emotions.
If you want to play some video games with great characters, my list is right below. This is a great way to draw inspiration if you haven’t played video games before and would like to see what I mean:
- Assassin’s Creed (wonderful games all around)
- Call of Duty (the campaigns have great characters in them!)
- Dishonored (a silent protagonist, but a great way of developing his story)
- Far Cry 5 (silent protagonist, but the antagonists are great for inspiration)
- Halo (great way of showing the strong and silent protagonist)
TV Shows and Movies
Maybe this one is obvious, but TV and movies are also excellent ways to draw inspiration for your characters. Don’t be shy to open a new show you may not know and analyze the way the writers decided to make the character think, act, and feel. Movies are also great and have many amazingly written characters. I personally really like watching movies and trying to see what qualities I liked about a certain character. Chances are, you’ll probably end up writing a character with qualities or traits that you think are interesting, engaging, or likeable.
If you want to check out some streaming platforms to see movies on, check out the links below:
- Paramount+ has shows like the new Halo TV show as well as many others. Use my link and get your free trial today!
- Hulu has shows like The Handmaid’s Tale and other really popular movies and shows
- Amazon Prime Video (I personally use it and it has great new and old movies). Use my link to get a free trial of Amazon Prime today!
Other Books
I feel like this one may be obvious, but other books are definitely a great source of inspiration. Chances are, if you write books, you read them too. I used to read books all the time, and I certainly found myself enjoying the way some characters were written over others. Obviously, you may not find exactly what you’re looking for, but that’s why inspiration exists!
I love classics and modern fiction alike, and I know that there are characters in there that could easily help you find your next source of inspiration.
You can check out my book today:
You can also check out more books on Amazon Kindle, for example.
Yourself
This may sound weird, but you actually can inspire your own characters. Many times, authors like to insert a bit of their personality into a character. It doesn’t mean self-inserting (which I don’t usually recommend, because it’s not a very good model to create a character with), but it means drawing upon your personality to give your character a little piece of yourself.
For example, you may really like playing video games. You can give your character that trait as well. It allows for you to elaborate on the things that you know and understand, which is great. First-hand experiences are the best way to be convincing. Of course, you don’t need to be inspired by yourself, but it helps out if you’re stuck!
What other techniques do you use to draw inspiration for your characters? Let me know in the comments below! Also, let me know if you used any of my tips and what characters you were able to come up with!
(Please note that I use affiliate links, which means that I earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. Thank you for your support!)