Rowan asked Shannon Messenger:

I am a hopeful writer and love your books! I wanted to know some of your major tips and tricks on how to write a book with as amazing characters as in KOTLC. I'm not much for fantasy writing but I would like to know how I can use your tips to make any book genre! Thanks!

Shannon Messenger Yay for liking KotLC! And for being a writer! And it honestly doesn't matter whether you write fantasy or contemporary, stories always need interesting, believable characters.

I wish I had some sort of brilliant strategy to teach you, but really, creating characters comes sort of naturally to me. Most of my characters come to me with their personalities already in place. All I have to do is trust them and let them tell their story.

That being said, I think the most important things to remember are that:

a) Every character has something they WANT. Usually several things, actually. And if you don't know what those "wants" are, you can't tell their story properly.

b) The more interesting stories are where what the character WANTS is not always what they NEED.

c) Every character should have flaws. Some big. Some small. It's those imperfections that make them seem real to readers. So let your characters make mistakes. Let them say and do the wrong things. It will make your readers root for them all the more to have them get it right in the end.

Hope that helps. And happy writing!

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