Hey everyone! 

 If you’re looking at the title of this post, yes, I know it probably sounds weird. I’m pretty sure most of us writers know how to write human characters. Unless you write non-human characters. But the kind of human I’m talking about in this post is ‘human’ characters as in relatable and realistic characters.

 If you didn’t already guess, characters are my favourite part of any story. There’s something so fascinating about writing or reading about characters and learning about them and what makes them who they are. 

 So what exactly makes a character ‘human’? There are a few key parts that make up a ‘human’ character, so let’s take a look at them! 

 Goals 

 Giving your characters a goal is an important part of making a ‘human’ character. It’s both the driving force of the story and what makes the readers root for the character. If your character doesn’t have a goal, the story won’t move forward and the readers are left with a character that just sort of… exists. Part of what makes human characters is goals— give them motivation, fears that drive them, dreams they want to obtain. It’s a lot more likely for readers to root for your characters to achieve their goals if you actually give them goals to achieve. 

 Strengths and flaws

 Every writer knows it’s important for your characters to have strengths. Some characters are smart, others are physically strong, and others are kind. But it’s important that your characters don’t have just one strength that becomes their entire personality. This can make them become one-dimensional and unrealistic. But even with more than one strength, characters can still feel flat if they don’t have any flaws. 

 Now it can be easy for writers, especially newer ones, to be worried about flaws making their characters unlikeable. But flaws are part of what make characters realistic. We can admire strength in characters, but it’s the flaws that really make us relate to them more. It also makes characters more interesting, especially if the flaws contradict their strengths. (This doesn’t always have to be the case, but it does make for some fun ideas. Maybe a kind character can struggle with anger issues. Maybe a tough character has a fear of sharp objects. The possibilities are endless!) 

 Don’t be afraid to give your characters flaws, and don’t be afraid to let them act on them. Let your characters be angry. Let them have fears. Let them be selfish or weak or desperate. It’s a big part of what makes them human and can often be the most interesting part of a character. 

 Mistakes (and growth) 

 This is related to the first point, but another key part of making characters human is by letting them make mistakes. This can be something else writers are worried will make their characters unlikeable. But mistakes are probably the biggest part of what make characters human. Let your characters fail— let them mess up. Characters who constantly succeed are at risk of becoming Mary Sues, and I think most of us can agree that Mary Sues are not interesting characters to read about. (Unless someone out there has made an interesting Mary Sue. Please let me know if this has ever happened.)

 But where your characters fail, let them grow from those mistakes too. If your characters just mess up or are bad people most of the time and don’t learn from it and try to be better, then it can be difficult for readers to care about or root for them. When your characters learn from their mistakes and grow from them, your readers are more likely to relate to them and care about what happens to them. 

 Quirks and traits 

 A key part that makes characters human that I honestly think is overlooked is to give them different habits or quirks. Sometimes it’s the small things that truly bring a character to life. Obviously don’t try to force every single habit or unique thing of your character’s into your story, but find ways to include some of them throughout your story. Sometimes these habits might even pop up out of nowhere while writing (definitely not saying that because that’s happened a few times with a character from one of the projects I’m working on right now). 

 Give your characters hobbies. Give them a habit they’ve had since they were a kid that they haven’t been able to break. Give them something that they do that gives your readers a deeper glimpse into that character and how they think or act now that they’ve learned about it. Don’t overdo it, but mentioning the small things and even scattering habits throughout the story that readers can pick up on can make characters even more human. 

 So there it is! What have y’all found that makes a character more human? (Anyone else have characters who have habits that you have absolutely no idea where they came from?) 

 Thanks for reading! – Em