Of course, one of the elements that make the difference in a novel is build quality of your characters.
Nobody likes those novels with flat characters, that do not undergo evolution throughout the work and that are highly predictable since they are presented as paradigms of good or evil, without moving an iota of what is expected of them.
Nobody in life is totally good or totally bad, and if we take for granted that the main factor of any quality narrative work is verisimilitude, we must do our best to make our characters credible and for this there are two points that we must not leave behind. ignore: the importance of contradictions and the voice of each one of them.
As for the contradictions, we have to say that they are the crucial factor for our characters to be round instead of flat. Everyone has contradictions, and if our characters lack them it will be impossible to identify them as possible existing people, which is what every novelist should aspire to, even in science fiction novels. If the reader does not believe what he is reading, the process of immersion in the work will never occur satisfactorily.
The second point is that of one's own voice. Our characters are not only characterized by their facts and by what the narrator tells about them, but the voice of each one has a very important role in their configuration. One of the main mistakes when get started in the world of narrative it is wanting to write everything in a very high register, thus equating the voice of the narrator with that of the characters. Obviously this is not a success, since Each character must have their own voice, differentiated not only from the voice of the narrator but also from the other characters. This voice must be considered and elaborated in line with features such as the time, place and intellectual formation of the character and also adapted to each situation since no matter how cultured the character may be, he will not speak the same before his boss as before his own wife, friends or children.
Finally, most manuals recommend work with character cards, that must be elaborated before beginning the writing of the novel. We propose some of the points that these should contain:
- Character's name. (Sometimes we can pull symbols to baptize them)
- Physical description. (Sometimes they can carry some characteristic object or garment to which we will refer as a leitmotif throughout the novel)
- Moral description. (With its consequent evolution)
- Customs, tastes, manias, characteristic gestures, vices, illnesses and symptoms. (These will appear throughout the novel and give great verisimilitude and richness to our characters)
- Anecdotes or episodes from your past. (Which can be referred to by the character himself or by others throughout the novel and which will configure part of his current character).
- Goal or motivation. (The reason that moves the character throughout the work and that acts as the engine of his actions).
- Relations with other characters. (Detailing the type of relationship you have with each of the other characters can be useful to develop scenes or dialogues).
- Documentation. (Necessary in case of being a historical figure. It is good to have it as close to hand as possible).
- Picture. (If you are good at drawing, it may help if you make a sketch of what your character looks like, which will be useful for descriptions. You can also create it as a collage based on photos from magazines or newspapers. In any case, it is something optional and perhaps less necessary than the previous points).
Finally we must point out that sometimes it is possible to make a double tile of a character if in the work he appears as a child and as an adult or if he undergoes a great change after a traumatic event and his personality and motivations change completely.