Be An Actor

If you want to get good at creating characters, the best advice I can give is to be an actor. It will give you everything you need to make a character and to make them realistic.

An actor needs to get in his character's head. He needs to understand what makes them tick, what their motivations are, what their mannerisms are, how they feel about the other characters. Although some actors do not do this, I personally find it the best method. Instead of being a performer, you are basically becoming a different person and just acting like that person.

As a writer, you need to do the same things when you make characters and when you manipulate them. They cannot be mere rag dolls. They are people and should be as real as you or me. If you wanted to tell a story about your friend to a stranger, you would need to either show or explain a number of details about your friend so that the stranger understands why your friend acts the way he does. You need to do the same thing for anybody else that you tell stories of, even if you made them up.

Acting will affect your mind, especially if you do it in front of an audience. You will be more comfortable with wearing somebody else's skin. You will understand what it is like to be loud or quiet, energetic or lethargic, but for reasons you wouldn't normally feel. When you can understand things in a way different from your own, you will be ready to create characters who are not carbon copies of yourself.