(Originally posted on EZineArticles.com.)

Character is the single most important aspect of a story, because if you have compelling characters, you can get away with numerous mistakes elsewhere in your writing. All aspiring writers must know the secrets of characterization, in order to make their fiction salable.

When you’re writing a story, usually, you’ll have some idea of how a character fits in, even before you create him. On the other hand, creating a character produces story ideas, because character and story interrelate with each other. So creating a character will generate story ideas, and creating a story will generate character ideas.

Whether or not you have a story idea, you’ll want to detail your fictional characters before you write your story. Here’s a three-stage process you can use to create realistic, three-dimensional, interesting fictional characters.

1. Write up a psychological profile based on the character’s personality, based on his personality type. This gives an idea of how the character will respond to various situations. Don’t just copy a stock personality profile, however. Downplay some characteristics, exaggerate others. And throw in some characteristics from another personality type, because all real people have characteristics from all personality types. We just tend to prefer one type above the others. Basing your character on a real personality type makes him realistic. But he still is flat and lifeless, because he has no character.

2. So flesh out the character with details of his character. What are his needs, wants, and goals? What obstacles does he face? What are the best and worst things that ever happened to him? Tell about his job, hobbies, friends, lovers, and enemies, his fears and hopes, and his religious beliefs and cultural heritage. And so forth. In particular, think about what he does in public, in private, how these two differ, and why. This will make the character three-dimensional, because this gives him character.

3. Add quirks, also known as “tags” or “hooks.” These can be nervous habits, physical characteristics, the way he expresses himself, or other extra character traits. Even a character’s name is usually a quirk, not part of his core character. Many online character guides erroneously put this step first. But I always put it last, because quirks cannot make the character. They can only enhance the character that’s already there. Even without quirks, the character will be rich and 3-dimensional. But quirks will make him unique and memorable. It’s how you avoid cookie-cutter characters and make your character more interesting.

You’ll want to do this with all your characters, whether protagonist or antagonist, whether major or minor. Of course, you need less detail for minor characters, but you still want to go through the process, even if quickly.

Now tell your character’s story. By this time, he’ll probably feel like a real person to you. That’s good, because now you can take that realness and convey it in your writing.

It is truly a rush the first time someone talks about one of your characters as though he is a real person. Actually, scratch that. It’s a rush every time someone talks about one of my characters as if he were a real person, no matter what kind of person he is. Because that means my fictional characters are evoking real feelings in them.

If that’s never happened to you, it should.