Seven Ways to Get Inside Your Character’s Head

I’ve written about bland characters in the past, but the problem of writing one-dimensional characters is still a difficult one to overcome. I was looking over a WIP the other day and I still just couldn’t make a connection with the main character. So I thought about it for a bit and decided that the problem isn’t so much be that the characters aren’t interesting, but that they’re not alive.

That’s the best way to put it. In this particular piece, as well as in many short stories I’ve read for Theme of Absence, I often feel like I’m reading a book report about a person instead of seeing a story through that person’s eyes. I know…I know…this sounds like another post about “show don’t tell“, but that’s not quite what I’m shooting for here.

What I’m looking for here is more of a way to feel your character, rather than showing your character. What goes on insider that character’s head? Put your reader in there and let them experience the story first-hand, along with your character.

So how can you do that? Well, think about what a real person would be experiencing if your story was happening to them. For example, they wouldn’t be thinking cohesive, structured sentences the way you might write them. They would be looking around, listening, planning, thinking, and feeling.

Here are 7 Things Your POV Characters Should Be Aware of In Order to Feel Real

Surroundings

Description and setting can be difficult to write. One way to make them a lot less “telling” is to experience them through a character’s eyes. Describe the character’s surrounds from that point of view, showing only what the character can see, smell, or feel.

5 senses

Similar to the surrounds, on way to make your character stand out as a real person is to focus on their five senses. I know that’s a common thing to say, but it’s not necessarily an easy thing to do. How do you describe smell? How do describe taste? Think about what senses a character will experience when he walks into a room and keep him aware of it. Our senses are constantly active, so a character in a story should be no different.

Time

Time dictates everything we do. Schedules, deadlines, travel, entertainment. Try to remember this as your character wanders about helping push your plot along. They may be the type of character who checks their phone constantly to see what time it is, or constantly rushes around trying to get things done before it’s too late.

Temperatures

Don’t tell your read “it’s hot” or “it’s cold.” Your character will instantly know how comfortable or uncomfortable the current temperature is and act or dress accordingly. Much like time, temperature is something we can’t avoid, and if we’re not in our comfort zone, it affects our behavior. Your character might be slow to respond when cold or have trouble running up the stairs when hot, for example.

Other visible people

What do you do when you walk through an unfamiliar place full of strangers? You watch people. Who looks suspicious? Who looks inviting? What are the locals doing? What does their “normal routine” look like and how can you not look out of place. These are certainly things to keep in mind for your POV character.

Other potentially unseen people

How often do you look over your shoulder when walking by yourself at night? Or in the backseat of your car before you open the door to get in? Or under your kids’ bed before you tuck them in? We’re constantly looking for someone we might not see at the moment. It doesn’t necessarily have to be someone out to get you like in the previous examples, but we’re also checking for pedestrians at a crosswalk or things like that. In other words, looking around for people is another one of those things we do constantly that realistic characters should be doing as well.

What could go wrong?

Finally, one of the bigger things on your character’s mind could be “what can go wrong?” What if the gun doesn’t fire? What if I can’t get out fast enough after I throw the grenade? What if the monster doesn’t stay dead? What if a meteor falls out of the sky and lands on my head? A character should come off as proactive enough to help guide the direction of the story, and being aware of potential problems will help give that appearance.

So in the end, there are tons of ways to help bring your characters to live. What I have here is more of a starting point then anything. Think about what your characters would be thinking and how they would be feeling whenever a new situation presents itself and you’ll be well on your way to creating realistic, relatable characters.

Thanks for reading, and if you’ve got anything to add, please feel free to leave some feedback in the comments section!