From the POV of a Book Blogger: How to Create Good Characters

One of the many issues book reviews/bloggers like to pick out in while reviewing books are their characters. Being a book blogger myself, I must say that we are quite picky in this area (I ain't afraid to admit it!). When we can't connect easily with the protagonist in the book, we rant about it. When the character does some, or a few, stupid things, we pick on it. Of course, we may try to be lenient once in a while, maybe because we really enjoyed the book, and the flaws the character(s) had were pretty small anyway, so we do our best to ignore it. Either way, here's just my take on how to create good characters and escape the wrath of book bloggers! 

Keep your characters constant.

You, as the author, should write and craft out your characters exactly as you want them to be. Don't try to change their personalities to make a certain section of your book more interesting! This only causes your readers to become confused and, of course, whine about it. No one likes a girl who struck them as intelligent and clever in the beginning to become a dumb, why-are-they-fighting-over-me kind of person when boys are around (I've met several instances of this, unfortunately). Keep your characters constant, unless it's a mistake they made that changed them! 

Keep your characters realistic.

This is one thing bloggers love picking on, because we love reading about characters who are three-dimensional, real, and not over-the-top. Keeping your characters realistic also makes it easier for readers to connect with them, like them more, and sympathize with them. Let us feel what they're feeling. This also helps improve our feelings about the book itself (based on my experience, at least).

Get to know your own characters 

Being an aspiring author myself, I've learned that planning out your characters and really getting to know them makes them better and, of course, more fleshed-out. And--OKAY, I ADMIT IT. *whispers* I pretend to be my characters during showers. I really do. I answer questions the way my character would answer them, talk the way my character would talk. After all, if the author doesn't know his/her character enough, who will?

Act your age!

I've met characters who don't act like their age at all. Needless to say, that definitely annoyed me to no end. Even though teenagers may sometimes do lots of stupid things (I freely admit this, being a teen myself), certain levels of maturity are required! 

Do what you think is best for your characters.

Need I say more? :-)