Creating Thee-dimensional Characters
by Kathryn Elizabeth Jones
Paper dolls. A little girl may love them, but when it comes to writing a novel, whether it 
is romance, mystery, western or something else, your characters need not only to stand up, but they also need to stand out. And that means making them three-dimensional.
So what does this mean and how is a Three-dimensional Character developed?
I’d like to think of any character I create as a real human being. Sure, they may be mentioned on a flat white piece of paper, but the best characters are well-rounded through description, character flaws, strengths and dialogue. No one character is alike. They not only feel, but also respond in the way a human being would.
Description: Your characters’ description should include all of the obvious must-knows, i.e., hair colour, eye colour, height, weight and so on. But the description should also include physical frailties that make the character unique. (Think of Harry Potter and his famous scar.) If your character is perfect physically, say they are a person who everyone else is jealous of because of their looks, they must have some defect. Which brings us to the next category.
Flaws: Because there must be growth, especially in your main character, his/her flaws must be large enough to take the reader through the entire book. Let me explain: if you’re writing a children’s book, a character flaw of say, not getting along with Johnny across the street, may take you through a picture book, but it wouldn’t take you through a children’s novel, unless the flaw was somehow increased to include almost everyone in the book, or the flaw of not getting along figured into divorced parents.
Strengths: Character strengths are important for three-dimensional characters because we all have strengths as well as weaknesses. The good news about strengths is that they help us with the weaknesses we are trying to overcome. Perhaps our main character loses her husband at the beginning of our novel. She was deeply in love with him and is finding it difficult to go on with life, but she has always believed in never giving up—the phrase was taught to her as a child—and now she must truly apply it. She hates the fact that she “knows better” when it comes to moving on with her life and uses alcohol to curb her feelings for a time. But later, through the help of a friend she comes to terms with what she has always believed to be true. And for the first time in her life she feels ready to live what she knows.
Dialogue: A three-dimensional character also speaks like a real person. If you’re unsure how to write a scene with realistic dialogue, take a ride on the bus, sit on a bench in the shopping precinct, go to the park, listen and write down what people say. Pay attention to incomplete sentences, tone of voice, actions that the speaker performs while speaking. They are not just standing still spouting their mouth off; they are doing something with their hands, with their feet, with their body.
Growth: Lastly, think about your characters as growing and becoming better than they were at the start of the book. Not all of your characters will change, but the main character should be a better person than they were at the beginning of your book.
Paper dolls have their uses in play, but three-dimensional characters take the reader far beyond the obvious and to a book worth finishing.
About the Author
Kathryn has been a published writer since 1987. She has published various newspaper stories, magazine articles, essays and short stories for both teens and adults. She is the author of: A River of Stones, a young adult fiction novel dealing with divorce published in 2002, and Conquering your Goliaths – A Parapble of the Five Stones, a Christian novel published in January of 2012. Her newest creation, Conquering your Goliaths – Guidebook, was published in February of 2012. All of Kathryn’s books are available to order from Amazon.
Kathryn graduated from the University of Utah with a BS in Mass Communication and a minor in Creative Writing. Her studies included work in creative writing, public relations and journalism.
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