#charming characters

[novlr]

How to write charming characters

With both positive and negative aspects to their personalities, charming characters can be difficult to write convincingly.

Whether you're writing a romantic love interest or a compelling con man, here are some examples for giving your charming characters depth.

How do they behave?

Attentive listeners: they pay close attention to people around them

Take pride in their appearance

Are happy to share personal space

Speak with a strong voice and an energetic tone

Are often hospitable and give off an air of welcome

Always give the impression that they are happy to see you

Demonstrate empathy

How do they interact?

Have a firm handshake and make strong eye contact

Are often encouraging

Compliment freely

Use humour to create a fun atmosphere

Communicate physically (through touch and gesture)

Make a point of using a person's name

Initiate conversations

Describe their body language

Have a relaxed stance with a straight and confident posture

Inclusive and attentive

Mirroring: they will mirror the body language of the person they are interacting with

Will lean forward to show attention

Lightly touch to create connection

A slight head tilt to show interest

Rarely cross their arms or legs

Maintain eye contact

Describe their attitude

Carefree

Good sense of humour

Friendly and playful

Self-aware

Opinionated and confident

Exhude an impression of honesty

Good intuition

Highly social

Polite and respectful

Eager to please

Potentially manipulative

The positive aspects of charm

Charming characters put people at ease, praise them freely, and boost their confidence. They make friends easily, talk their way to favourable resolutions, and are often the centre of attention.

They have impeccable grooming, conveying trustworthiness and concern for others, leading to a sense that they have your best interests at heart.

The negative aspects of charm

A charming character can manipulate others for personal gain. They can be overbearing, exerting their will on less confident individuals.

Their charm often draws focus, making others feel inferior, making them perfect for a protagonist to exhibit personal growth, or for a villain that a reader will fall in love with.

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

Do you have any tips on how to write a charming character?

Oooooof that’s tough. As you can tell, I’ve been avoiding this one. As per my other writing how tos I can’t say it’s that easy. There’s no standard trick of “do these ten things and your character will be fantastically charming!”

But, as always, I’ll do my best.

Read Books and Consume Media

Read books with particularly charming characters or, barring that, watch shows/movies/plays with characters you find particularly charming. Try to think what it is about them that makes them so damn likeable, try to whittle it down, and it likely won’t be something obvious.

It, in fact, is probably going to be very hard to find. Nonetheless, see how the greats do it and try to break it down into what they’re actually doing to create this character who’s so damn appealing.

What is Charm?

What does it mean to be charming? Well, it’s in some sense to be likeable, to be charismatic. However, there are many different forms of charisma and many different ways to be likeable.

I’d say back away from the “charming” aspect of your character. They are charming because of some other quality about them, something that draws you and everyone else in, and instead try to figure out who they are in that respect.

If you figure out why people will gravitate towards them, then the charm will come naturally.

Don’t Rely On Other Characters Telling Us How Charming a Character Is

One ploy I see many authors do is they have secondary or background characters near constantly remark on the qualities that the author wants noticed about a certain character.

“Ah”, they’ll say to their friend, “X is so brilliant! Look how smart X is. X is so smart. Have I mentioned X is smart?”

Resist temptation, this will give your character negative intelligence and negative charm. For every character that remarks on how amazing your character is, especially if they do so with no prompting or reason, you now have to justify to me as the audience why your character is this amazing.

This may seem like an easy out, and that’s because it is, it’s an easy out on your end so you don’t have to write X quality in your character. So, resist temptation.

Say the Dialogue Out Loud If You Have To

Often, I see charm written in stories as smug douchebaggery, and this is because I think there’s a fine line that’s unfortunately easy to cross. A one-liner that sounds great in our head, in practice, is just awful. 

Reread the scene you’ve written starring your charming character, picture someone actually saying this to your face. Picture your own reaction.

Is it charming or do you want to punch them in the teeth? If it’s the latter, you’re going to have to tone it down a few notches. 

And I think that’s all I’ve got as far as general advice on charming characters.

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Chihuahua Images #chihuahua #green mug #tropical symbolism #petcore #charming characters #dog #cute #23:33

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Turtle Coloring Pages #Disney turtle coloring pages #beautiful sea turtle coloring pages #animated illustrations #charming characters #avian-themed #RTX on

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Bunny Coloring Pages #coloringpages #embroideredrabbit #realism #loosepainting #glenkeane #charmingcharacters

[yakwho]

포텐간 후카다 에이미 시리즈: 매력의 끝을 넘어서 (Potent Fukada Aimi Series: Beyond the Edge of Charm)

포텐간 후카다 에이미 시리즈: 매력의 끝을 넘어서 (Potent Fukada Aimi Series: Beyond the Edge of Charm)

포텐간 후카다 에이미 시리즈: 매력의 끝을 넘어서 (Potent Fukada Aimi Series: Beyond the Edge of Charm)

[carrotstache]

I need everyone who hasn't read Witch Hat Atelier yet, to read it RIGHT NOW. The anime is coming out in 2025 😭😭😭😭