Ask Ned reader Gilberto wanted to know about creating characters and developing them. Ned shared some advice about how he approaches this challenge.

Gilberto Asked:

How do you come up with your characters, and how do you expand their personalities once you have an idea for one?

Ned Answered:

Gilberto, I come up with characters largely by basing them on real people. The easiest person to base a character on is myself because I know myself well (allegedly). So the main character in all of my books published thus far is based on me. These main characters have feelings and observations that I have had and know intimately. Other characters are based on friends or acquaintances — or are “dream” characters, people who I would love to meet but never did. For example, Noelle from It’s Kind of a Funny Story is not based on anyone real; she’s the kind of girl I would’ve liked to have met in high school (but did not).

Once you have the groundwork for a character based on a real world or a dream, you need a twist. The most basic twist is a change to the character’s name so as not to offend the friend (or enemy) you have based him or her on. However, the bigger the twist the better. For Noelle, I added scars. For other characters I have added baldness or vocal tics or given them funny hair. These twists on real life are what expand the character’s personalities and make them large enough to occupy a story.

Finally, a note about names: if possible you should have your characters’ names mean something. Jeremy Heere, from my book Be More Chill, “hears” a voice in his head. I don’t always give characters meaningful names, but all other things being equal it’s a good way to go. If you had a character who was a dancer, for instance, you might look up words for “dancer” in other languages and give the character a name based on one of those words. That will help expand the character’s personality as well as whatever twist you come up with. Hope that helps!

Ned

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Have questions about writing, or the business of publishing? Ask a real writer! Ned Vizzini Vizzini is the author of three acclaimed young adult books: It’s Kind of a Funny Story(now a major motion picture), Be More Chill, and Teen Angst? Naaah…. Ned has spoken at over 200 schools, universities, and libraries around the world about writing and mental health. E-mail your questions to askned@artandwriting.org.