CREATING THREE-DIMENSIONAL CHARACTERS

Flawed but Lovable? Evil but with a Sense of Humour?

It should be easy, shouldn't it? 6'4, strong-jawed. an enviable six-pack, walks alone, always wins, always gets the girl, etc etc?

Well, that's OK for JACK REACHER, the hero of Lee Child's popular action book series, although I suspect the attraction is more in the escapist story lines - and anyway, I can only picture him now as 5'5 (or is it 5'4?), with a boyish little face and a mumbling delivery, standing on a box to punch the villain on the nose.

Here are some of the ones that interest me more:

JESSE STONE, Police Chief in the Robert B Parker series. Laconic, never using two words where one would do, an alcoholic, a loner, still in love with his divorced wife, unpopular with his superiors, his only companion a dog that no one else wanted.

CORMORAN STRIKE, JK Rowling's war veteran, missing a leg, now a practically bankrupt private eye - 16 stone, messy, ugly, bad-tempered and untidy, a 90% failure rate but his brilliant intuitions keep him in the headlines.

JOHN REBUS, Ian Rankin's Edinburgh detective, middle-aged, cynical (but with a well-buried kind heart), a hard-drinking messy misanthrope who sleeps in his car by night and props up his favourite bar by day.

Just three main characters, but they're multi-layered, they have strengths and flaws, they're endearing in some way.

These are all detectives, but the same criteria apply if you're writing about a romantic idol, a politician, a robot, a scientist or a schoolboy. Out-and-out saints are boring, devils are far more interesting if they have one or two good traits; however intelligent the character, they should have a few blind spots, etc.

The hero of my latest book is a small and skinny fifteen year old boy with OCD, desperate to be taller, braver, more athletic, more popular, who despite his inadequacies proves himself to be courageous, determined and loyal. I've grown very fond of him.

All the above, of course, applies equally when you're creating a female character, heroine or villain.

So take time to bring your character to life and let him or her dictate the story for you!