Writing a book can be an exciting yet complicated process. Many writers sit down to write a book without the proper knowledge in hand. These writers jot down their thoughts and may hit writer’s block by the end of the first paragraph. What these writers don’t understand is that story characters are the heart of your fiction book. If you ignore the characters while writing a book then you are stepping out into a thunderstorm without an umbrella. This holds true whether you are writing a plot driven or character driven book.

What do you need to know about your characters? When writing a book your characters will be visiting you on a daily basis as you plug away at your book. You need to get to know your characters. Who are they as people? What passions do these characters have in life? How do their personalities and passions affect other characters in the book and the plot line? These questions can be answered by writing character sketches for each character.

A character sketch can range from the basic make up of each character. For example, on a piece of paper you can write down the character’s name, age, height and occupation. Why is basic information necessary? The physical and mental make up of your character will affect the way they react to certain situations. Let’s say that when writing your book you decide to have a scene where the stock market crashes. This scenario would garner different reactions from a character that is a stock broker heavily invested in the market versus a retired teacher that doesn’t participate in the stock market.

You can always build on your character sketch by adding events that may have happened in their childhood that affect their current motives. Perhaps your antagonist was abandoned as a child and this affects his motives for criminal activity. Some authors spend weeks or even months working on their character sketches. This process gives them the confidence that they will be able to complete their entire book.

If writing a fiction book is in your future then spend time understanding your characters. It is not only a fun process, but will strengthen your book with believable characters.