A great character is one that shows up in your mind’s eye with a little bit of quirkiness and a little bit of something I like to call space. Let me say more about that. I usually rely on the people that have shown up in my life over the years. In one of my books, a certain character named Sam continually loses his retainer at lunch time. He’s done it almost four times! But that, is the small quirky thing about Sam. It reveals that Sam isn’t paying much attention to the little things that he’s supposed to be responsible for. He never has his homework and he’s got half eaten sandwiches stuffed in his locker, so his mom and the cafeteria lady won’t know.

I know Sam. I’ve watched him and his type for a long, long time when I was in school and then when I was teaching in the classroom. They always have important thoughts, so you can’t be fooled by the little things. But when Sam comes to school with his head shaved, and won’t remove his hat for a full day, that’s when he kicks up more trouble for himself. That my friends, is where the juiciness of story begins.

A Great Character with a Problem—
The world is full of problems and sometimes it feels like there is no solution. The good news is, I can stretch out a problem and think it all the way through, and so can you. So, look around you. Who is experiencing a problem? Are you?

Start collecting ideas about the people around you, their problems, and maybe a way to solve those problems.

*If the problem is yours and it’s a big one, be sure to challenge yourself and talk it out with someone who can help you. Or let your character talk/act it out. There isn’t always a solution available right away, but story happens bit by bit, so follow the breadcrumbs and build your story along the way!

In Front Desk, by Kelly Yang, the problems are big ones! When her family moves to America, she has dreamed of a big house with a dog and hamburgers everywhere!
Instead, they were living in their car for a whole summer and splitting one hamburger amongst them! Now, that is a boatload of problems!

Ivy Leigh, my character, has a ton of problems too. A whole universe full!
She has an evil grandmother who wants to get rid of her dog! A neighborhood full of spies that report to Grandma about the escapades of Peachy, Ivy’s untamed, escape-artist dog. (Peachy was returned to the Animal Shelter three times by her almost adoptive humans.) Ivy has a sister, too, who goads her into growing up. There’s a bully on the bus…Rachel, who waits and watches her constantly, moving in and out of her space. She has clothes problems, boy problems and friend problems too. Characters need to fall into a pit of problems and be overwhelmed a bit. That’s when the fun of fixing those problems is up to you! (PS: Don’t worry about Ivy now, she’s one tough cookie who will conquer this universe of problems!)

So look around you, dear writer! Start building that nest. The problems you find around you, the characters too, are all there, right in front of you for the plucking. Make sure you write them down. You’ll find yourself dreaming the dreams of a good story almost right away.