Building a Character a Reader Believes

A reader believes a character when the character wants something and does something about it. Everything else - description, backstory, a memorable habit - is decoration on that engine. Start with want and obstacle. Not 'Amelia is nervous about seeing her father' but what Amelia wants in this scene, from whom, and what is in the way. A character who wants nothing from the people in front of them cannot hold a scene, however interesting their history is. Then let the reader infer. Instead of naming a trait, give us the behaviour and let us name it: 'Aaron counted the biscuits twice before he offered them, and took the smallest for himself.' We now know something about money, hospitality and how Aaron was raised, and we were not told any of it. Give contradictions room. Believable people are inconsistent in a consistent way: generous and watchful, funny and frightened of one person in particular. Choose one contradiction and let it show up twice - once where it costs them something, once where it saves them. Finally, decide what the character knows that they will not say. A character with a secret carries the scene whether or not the secret is ever spoken. Try this Write a page of action in which your character wants one small thing from another person in the room - a favour, an admission, a ride home. Do not name any emotion. Let us see the want through what they do, how they move, and what they choose not to mention.