Whether you’re editing, like I am, or writing a rough draft, getting to know your characters well can make a world of difference in your writing. Go beyond your characters’ looks, jobs and immediate motives and explore what makes your characters real.

Because what makes your characters real to you will make them real to your readers.

Dear Diary

For each character, write a diary entry. You may want to treat this as a freewriting exercise; that works best for me. I set my timer for about 15 minutes and begin writing. I may need to do several sessions for some characters, but only one or two for others.

Here are some beginning lines that might help you. I try to focus on entries that show a wide range of emotions.

• If only I could…
• I wish I had never…
• If (name) would only stay…
• If (name) would only go…
• I don’t know what I’m going to do about…
• I’m so happy that I finally…
• I’m so relieved that…
• One day, I want to…

I tend to focus on relatively negative diary entries. After all, a character who had no problems would make for a dull book.