I’m back! In this post, I’ll give two more tips on how to create an engaging and relatable character for your short story.

The second step to creating an interesting character is to introduce conflict that the character has to overcome.

Creating conflict is kind of an obvious plot technique because it adds tension and drama to the story. However, it’s not just a vital part of building a plot. It has the added effect part of making your reader begin to sympathize with the character. Describing the character in vivid detail can make the reader feel that he/she knows the character, but creating conflict is what will (hopefully, if done right) make the reader begin to actually care about the character’s life.

The third step to creating an interesting character is to use character development.

Once the reader is fully engaged in the character’s story, the final step in creating an interesting character is to guide her personal development over the course of the story. By this I mean that by the end of the story, the character should have learned something or grown in some way. By doing this, you use the character to say something about humanity itself, and the reader recognizes himself in the character. He or she becomes the character.

Thus ends this fancy two-part series on creating an interesting character.