He’s A Real Boy! An Introduction To Humanizing Your Characters

He’s a Real Boy! An Introduction to Humanizing Your Characters

Characters. Fun to invent, occasional hell to develop. Sometimes you end up with a flat, two-dimensional character that just falls short of being interesting or recognizable. How we do fix this? We fix by humanizing them, making them more recognizable by giving them character aspects of traits. Even if your character isn’t necessarily human, you still need to humanize them in some way. Humanizing allows for likeable and believable characters and allows the reader to empathize with your character, which we want them to. We want identifiable characters, because when your character is identifiable, we are far more likely to suck poor unfortunate souls into the worlds we’ve created and make sure they never, ever, leave. Having a character that is perfect and lives a perfect life and never does anything that any regular person would do is kind of silly. So how do we go about creating a humanized character?

For the purpose of this post, we’re going to create a character. We’ll take a chiseled chin, throw in a nice Armani suit, dark curly locks, and eyes like the sea before a storm. He has a very big intellect, a heart of gold, and musical talent as well. He moonlights as a superhero. He is a perfect man. A delicious, perfect man. But wait! A perfect man is too intimidating and your readers will have trouble forming an attachment to him! He’s two dimensional!  How do we fix this? Here are some quick solutions.

QUICK THROW SOME FLAWS AT HIM. Wait, what? Flawed character are human characters. No one is perfect, and we all know that on some deep personal level, so why should your characters be? Okay, so we’re going throw a crippling fear of water at him, an inability to properly manage his funds, and a habit of cutting himself when he’s peeling apples and then swearing like a sailor. Woah, suddenly he’s become a little more developed and human and a little more interesting now.

GIVE HIM REAL LIFE ACTIVITIES AND EXPLORE THE MUNDANE. This includes both the good and the bad. People do things. People have to make their own beds, do their own laundry, and bathe and feed themselves. It brings your characters back down to earth. A very good friend pointed out the other day while we were skyping and I was squeezing the pus out of my cat’s behind (abscesses, everyone), that while gross, the activity is still something that I have to do in the midst of my oh-so-glamourous life. There are things that can’t be avoided. So we’re going to have him taking care of his cat’s swollen bum when he gets home from a long day fighting crime, give him a dirty roommate to pick up after, and a wilting tomato plant to take care of. On that note, let’s…

GIVE HIM SOME HOBBIES. Hobbies are huge in figuring out a personality, and almost everyone has one. Some of mine include weeping quietly over books, wine, and wondering who turned the damn heat off in the middle of a Canadian March. Hobbies are importantly in both bringing down and fleshing out your character. So our superhero’s hobbies will include video games (where he plays a version of himself), writing bad poetry, and trying to figure out the perfect butter chicken recipe. Remember though, he can’t be good at everything, so we’ll also…

GIVE HIM SOME REAL EMOTIONS. Everyone gets sad now and again. Make him sad. Everyone gets silly now and then. Make him crack a joke. Perhaps he has a favourite one involving the pope, a bar, and a testy crocodile that he tells over, and over, and over again. Perhaps he’s sorting through his feelings or has a bit of anger problem. He doesn’t always respond appropriately, and sometimes he has a tendency to be overly dramatic and monologue to villains. Emotion is a force all itself, and almost nobody has full control over them.

Phew, doesn’t our character seem a little more human now, a little more interesting and identifiable while still being a bit of a total dreamboat? That’s because we tried to humanize him. These are just a few short things you can do, but they all have to do with the one thing you absolutely HAVE to remember when humanizing your character…. 

          5. JUST KEEP IT REAL BRO. People are complex and messy masses of bone and tissues and spirit. Write real people, because real people are easy to identify. I’ve said it over, and over and over again, but that’s only because making an identifiable character is so important. Having your readers identify with your character, that’s what makes them really real. Your readers are the people that make your characters come alive over and over again. Characterization is so important, and there are a lot of things you have to keep in mind. People are deep, and your characters should be too. Complexity is key.

There are a million ways to humanize your characters, and I could go on and on and on, but the most important point is the last one. Your characters are human if they are real. People are real, so don’t forget to include everything that makes people real into your character. Yes, creating someone who’s interesting and deep and complex is hard work, but no one ever said writing was easy, and if they do, they’re clearly a witch and need to be dealt with accordingly.

(Don’t gotta listen to me though, I temporarily forgot how to use a kettle today, so yeah.)