By Avery Cole 🙂
Creating memorable characters can feel like trying to breathe life into a blank canvas. Maybe you’ve wondered why some characters stick with readers long after they’ve turned the last page, while others fade into the background of their memory. The secret? A solid framework for development.
As a disclaimer, I’m far from being an expert on creating characters, but the development tool I’ve found has yet to steer me wrong, and, as a bonus, it’s easy to follow! I call it the BINGUS method: a tribute to a hairless sphynx cat that stole my heart earlier this year after his passing (RIP Bingus. Gone but never forgotten). It’s a simple, yet effective way to build multidimensional characters that feel real and relatable. Whether you’re crafting a bold protagonist or a goofy sidekick, this method ensures every character has depth, purpose, and that extra spark of uniqueness. By the end of this post, you’ll have the tools to take your character creation to the next level.
B: Basis – Who is your character based on?
A character’s Basis is rooted in a person or existing character for relatability. Writers write best what they know, and it’s usually based on loved characters or people in their lives. Generally when I plan out my book, I can come up with at least two characters (from other works) who would play an excellent role in my book. Now, of course, I can’t just copy and paste someone else’s character into MY story, but we’ll change them as we go through the method. A house is only as good as its foundation, and if you start with the basis of a strong, pre-existing character, the house will be less likely to topple.
I have pulled characters in my book from everything: Across the Spider-Verse, Gregor the Overlander, The Ascendance Series, Mistborn, even Breath of the Wild. Also, stories aren’t the only place I pull from. Several important people from my life are put into my books as a base, even myself sometimes. The possibilities are endless.
However, if you feel like you’re ripping off another person’s work or like you’re being lazy, remember that most, if not all character tropes have already been used in a work of sorts. You will end up imitating something, whether intentionally or not, and several writers do admit how other writers’ characters influenced their own. They do this because these characters WORK in their stories and something would be missing without them.
I: Image – What does your character look like?
Now, this one might seem like a throw away point, but I assure you it isn’t. A reader’s imagination is only as good as the descriptions a writer gives them. Though, yes, an author’s view of a character’s appearance will never line up completely with the reader’s, it’s your job to get it as close as possible.
The way a character looks says a lot about them. If I describe a young man wearing formal business clothes, has a cleanly shaved beard, and carries himself erect everywhere, chances are you’ll picture a businessman of sorts. His description would differ greatly from a homeless man, who would have tangled, matted hair, and whose clothing would be complimented if you compared it to dirty rags. Your character’s appearance can differ on anything: skin color, clothes, piercings, tattoos, hair color; the list goes on.
Your goal when crafting a character’s appearance is to first line up a person’s image with their personality/job, then make it memorable. The best way to do this is to repeat it (though not too often!), whether directly or indirectly, or even better, tie it into the plot. Maybe a character discovers they’re the son of the villain based on a shared birthmark that runs in the family, or two long lost siblings are reunited based on their strikingly similar eye color. This will further cement a character’s image in the mind of your reader and make them far harder to forget.
N: Name – What is your character’s name?
Give your character a meaningful, well thought through name. I can’t explain how many writers I’ve seen throw the importance of a name to the wind and spam Google’s search bar with letters until they come up with a ‘perfect’ combination. However, you can do better. A character’s name should flow with the setting (time era), culture (where the character grows up), and sex of the character; bonus points if it has a meaning behind it!
A common example I use of my own characters is named Einar, who’s a prince in a nomadic/viking culture based in medieval times. His name comes from an old norse name, flowing with the names of the rest of his family: Arkyn, Hauk, Fen, Cerria, and Freya. Additionally, Einar’s name carries a meaning, translating to ‘lone warrior,’ which alludes to what happens to him later in my series.
The best way to find a name is to first figure out which culture and time period he or she lives in. Then, you get on your internet browser of choice and begin the search for a perfect name for your character. I highly suggest https://www.fantasynamegenerators.com/ or any baby name websites. You have so many resources to make a character’s name meaningful and bring depth to both themselves and the greater plot; don’t waste them!
G: Gap – What is your character’s weakness?
One of the most important things beginning and experienced writers (*coughs* J.K. Rowling-) both skip over is giving their characters flaws. Every character needs a flaw. No one wants to read about a perfect hero who slays all the dragons with a flick of his sword and wins all the women’s hearts, no problems encountered. Your story will not gain popularity or fame like that, and I would argue that it shouldn’t even be published. Whether it’s something as small as bossiness to as large as greed and manipulation, as long as the flaw affects the character’s day to day life, whether one or many, it’ll do.
After discovering a weakness, the character’s backstory can be found much easier. Say a character is ambitious to the point of losing themselves, maybe it’s because their parents pushed them too hard as a child, even to the extent of beating them to do better. Maybe a character is manipulative, and they manipulate others as a defense mechanism after being manipulated themselves. Flaws happen for a reason, and as a writer, it’s your job to flesh this out as much as you can.
Bonus: Readers love sympathizing with characters (most often protagonists) who share their own personal struggles. Try crafting a character that struggles with something people you know often deal with and see where it goes!
U: Utility – What is the character’s function?
No character should be in a story without reason. It draws away from the stars of the work and gives the reader one more person to keep track of. Each character needs a reason to be in a story. The best way to figure out if a character has value in a story or not is asking the question: “If I took ___ out of the story, could things still function and work properly without them?” If the answer is a no, then leave them in, but if it’s a yes, you might want to consider removing them.
Now, you definitely shouldn’t try to condense characters’ roles in the book, as that leads to an over abundance of character detail that will eventually lead to the character collapsing in on themself and overloading the reader. Functions can be as small as a character who has a connection to a boss to get the main character a job or as large as a main protagonist or antagonist. As long as the character is useful, they have every right to remain in your book.
S: Singularity – What makes the character stand out from everyone else?
Give characters a quirk that helps them stand out from other characters or people in the book. This can be a good way of taking the base personality of a character covered in point B and changing them to be your character (including the tips from the other steps). Characters’ quirks can be small, like for instance with my bat named Ohko, who won’t go anywhere without his silly bandanna, or my character Rowland, who’s a sheriff (the universe’s equivalent of a police officer), who roleplays as a cowboy wherever he goes. The point of a quirk is to have your character stand out in a crowd, making them more memorable and lovable to the reader.
Creating memorable characters isn’t about reinventing the wheel; it’s about taking a thoughtful approach to every aspect of their development. The BINGUS method offers a practical, step-by-step framework that ensures your characters are relatable, purposeful, and unforgettable. By starting with a solid Basis, you ground your characters in something familiar while leaving room for your unique spin. Through careful attention to their Image, Name, and Gap, you create a character that is vivid, meaningful, and flawed—just like real people. Ensuring their Utility keeps the story tight and focused, while their Singularity gives them the distinctiveness that readers will remember long after the story ends.
Writing compelling characters is no easy feat, but with this method, it doesn’t have to feel daunting. Whether you’re an experienced writer or just starting, this framework will help you craft characters and breathe life into your stories. Good luck and happy writing!
Rest in Peace, Bingus.
January 2, 2024.
Your legacy will always live on.
Abigail Fredrickson here, with a BIG thank you to my friend Avery for writing this month’s writing tips post. 🙂 Some of you may remember me wishing her luck convincing me that ‘BINGUS’ can be related to writing and, well, she succeeded, and I offered for her to be a guest writer on my blog.
Happy New Year to you all!
Abigail Fredrickson 
Leave a comment