Psychology of Characters in Stories

As a forward to the course, Cecilia Magaña tells you a bit about who she is, what she does, and the stories and authors that have influenced her creative process. She also explains how she builds characters for her fiction stories.

In the next chapter, identify some of the features that give a character substance by observing your surroundings and what comes from within you. Start outlining a character that you can use to approach a topic you want to discuss and define their personal tone to elicit certain emotions.

Then, add depth by using autobiographical resources and what you uncover through research. Answer a set of questions to establish their age, physical appearance, and surrounding context. Explore their inner self to determine what drives them and analyze their relationships with the other characters present in their life.

As a final step, complete your character profile by adding a synopsis of your work–the foundation of your story. To wrap everything up, Cecilia explains how to present your character and their story in different mediums other than literature and encourages you to customize and share your final project.