Edit with me! Why can't I stop thinking about this character? 🤔

Where I reveal the secret to crafting characters that feel real

I’ve been working with an author on a family saga that I frankly can’t stop thinking about. Their protagonist has an inexplicable hold on me; I feel like I’ve gotten to know her so intimately, and care for her so deeply, that when I finished the latest round of edits, I found myself missing her. Wondering how she was doing. Wanting to know if she ever ended up telling anyone about that very secret, very questionable thing she did.

My emotional attachment to this character surprised me, since I, like many readers, tend to find myself feeling the most connected to characters that resemble me in some way (such as those in a similar age range or stage of life as myself). But this character? She’s nothing like me — she’s several decades older, lives in a different part of the world, and has a completely different worldview. I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out why I can’t stop thinking about her.

How did this author make me feel so strongly about a character who (if she was an actual person I met on the street), I likely would have a polite exchange with and wouldn’t think twice about? After weeks of mulling it over, I think I’ve gotten close to figuring out what made this character so compelling, someone who frankly feels real.

And in the answer lies a valuable writing lesson for any author who wants to craft more realistic, authentic, human characters that stick with readers — no matter who they are — and won’t let go.

The secret to creating characters your readers will fall for

When I reflected on why I felt so connected to this character and why she felt so real to me, I kept circling around a few moments in the narrative that, at first, didn’t seem to have anything to do with one another: a scene where she was criticizing her daughter, a scene where she confessed a past secret, and a scene where she deviated from her standard routine.

These moments weren’t even the biggest plot moments or the most dramatic reveals in the story, yet they did the heaviest lifting in terms of developing her character. Then it hit me: these were all moments where she said or did something contradictory. And it was these contradictions that made me see her not as a character in a book, but as a real person I actually cared for.