How to Weave Historical Characters Into Your Writing

No matter what genre you write in – fantasy, horror, romance, mystery, suspense, etc. – there is one unbreakable rule: your characters must live and breathe, glide or stalk across the pages. They must seem real.

When you’re working on the background of your story, setting up a plot and characters essential to the plot, you should select actors who will drive the story for you. Each of your main characters should contrast with each other, causing plausible conflict (there is no story without conflict, but that’s for another article) – but their contrasts shouldn’t be so strong that personalities can’t work together. After all, even the most dastardly villain might have to work alongside the hero someday.

Many authors draw up character charts listing the various traits of their major players, or actors. Even award-winning software like the Writer’s Dreamkit highlights this important step in setting up a story. Not only do character charts help you in the beginning to remember the vital stats (name, age, and description), but you’ll find yourself constantly adding little tidbits of information along the way to make your characters ache with reality.

So how to start a strong character chart with a believable character from the beginning? Look to history. The characters we’ll be working with in this article are geared toward romance writing (because I’m addicted) but the same steps apply regardless of the type of character you’re aiming to create.

Step One: Dusting off the Oldies

If you want to get published, you really need to spend some time reading publisher’s guidelines to find out what kind of characters they’re looking for. In the romance genre, this means discovering that most publishers are looking for heroines beyond the norm. Today’s romance heroines should be intelligent, witty, able to stand on their own two feet and face down danger… even if they would be more successful in the bravery department with an equally complex hero at their side.