We all want to write characters that have depth and
complexity. We want them to feel like real people who struggle with decisions
and choices, and we want the reader to be curious about what path they’ll take.
The problem is that if you give characters all the
reactions and moods of a real person, they can turn into a confusing muddle of
contradictions.
Conversely, if you try to streamline a character’s motivations
and goals in an attempt to create a strong throughline which the reader can
clearly identify and follow, that can make the character seem one-dimensional
and robotic.
How, then, do you make a character feel fully
formed and yet at the same time easy to engage with?
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