Do you want to know how to create realistic characters?

Watch my video below, or read the post, and I’ll share my secrets with you. 

Hello my lovely writers!

Today I want to talk about how to create realistic characters because it’s something writers are always interested in. 

The first thing to do is to give your character a flaw, or what other people would describe as a lie or a misbelief. This is something they think about the world, the way they view the world or the way they view themselves. Something they believe at the beginning of the book but which, by the end of the book, they will have transformed or changed their view. 

Usually it’s something that happened to them earlier in their lives at an age when we’re influenced by outside experiences and something happened that shaped how we view ourselves. You probably remember something that happened to you when you were in primary school that still has an impact on you – it’s the same for your character. 

Think about something that happened to your character early on in their life that has impacted the way they view themselves by way of a flaw, a negative way of thinking or a misbelief they have about themselves. By the end of the book, you would have taken them on a journey where they realise that that belief is not true. 

How to create realistic characters

The second way to create realistic characters is to give them goals and desires. What is it your character wants more than anything? What is it they are trying to achieve that they believe will make their life so much better? 

It might be they achieve that goal and it does make their life better, or perhaps they realised that was a false goal and it won’t make their life better. Or maybe they achieve it and they realise it doesn’t make their life better and so, towards the end of the book, they have to have a rethink. 

The thing they’re always striving for can be tangible. It can be a real physical goal or something they’re trying to achieve or it can be emotional and more of an internal goal. 

Create a backstory for your character

The third tip I have for you to help create realistic characters is the dreaded word, ‘backstory.’ When we talk about backstory in terms of creating a character, this is not the info dump you hear about at the beginning. By all means do the infodump in your first draft and take it out later, but you want to create a solid backstory for your character. 

For me, that is not about which supermarket they shop at or what brands they buy. It’s about the important things in their lives such as what was their schooling like? What was their relationship like with their siblings, parents or grandparents? What were some of the key events in their lives that have shaped them into the human they are today? 

This is really important because this is giving not just a backstory to what’s happened in your character’s life but these are all the things that shaped your character as well and, as you explore those things, you really get to know your character so much better. 

A bonus tip

A bonus tip for you is to actually write that backstory out in longhand in a journal. Don’t go to your computer. Use handwriting if you can because that connection between your brain and your hand is so, so powerful and it will connect to your subconscious. You will be amazed at what comes out when you handwrite. It’s phenomenal. 

Those are three tips to get you started on how to create realistic characters. We want to give our characters that flaw, that lie, that misbelief about themselves that you will disprove by the end of the book.

We want to give them a solid, clear, dream, desire, goal or ambition that they may or may not achieve by the end of the book. 

Then think about the backstory. Who is your character? What has led them to the point that they are at just now? What have been the transformative moments in their lives that have shaped them into being the individual they are? 

I hope you find those three tips useful. Let me know in the comments if you found them useful, if you have done them, or any tips you’ve got for creating wonderfully realistic and juicy characters. 

​Emma xx

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is a Certified Author Accelerator Book Coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer's block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel.

Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!

Watch my video or read the post below to find out why we’re not supposed to find writing easy.

Hello, my lovely writers. 

I’ve been thinking about before I wrote my first book and before I wrote with intention. I used to write off and on, whenever the muse took me and, for a long time I thought, if I was meant to be a writer, it wouldn’t be this hard.

Writing isn’t meant to be easy

I thought, if I was meant to be a writer, it would be easy. What I’ve learnt over the years is that it isn’t easy for anybody. 

If you’re sitting at home looking at your pages, or thinking about your writing and thinking, ‘Why do I dread this so much? Why does this wall of resistance rise up every time I think about doing my writing? What’s wrong with me? If I was meant to be a writer, then it would be easy,’ I understand completely because I was absolutely there.

But let me reassure you, it’s not meant to be easy. Nothing worth having, nothing worth striving for and nothing that is important is meant to be easy.  

Writing is tricky, it’s challenging, it’s a puzzle you need to figure out, whether it be a plotline puzzle or a trying-to-understand-your-characters type of puzzle. There’s always something to be working out and writing a book is a series of problem solving. You’re getting your characters into trouble and then you’ve got to find a way out of it by the end. 

Don’t give up

If you’re having those thoughts, please stop. Say to yourself, ‘Okay, this is challenging. It’s not easy but, hey, it’s not meant to be easy. If it’s not meant to be easy, I shouldn’t give up, I shouldn’t feel bad. I’ll just get back to the page and carry on.’ 

Remember, writing isn’t meant to be easy. It’s meant to be challenging, it’s meant to be a puzzle and it’s the same for everybody. If I can do it, you can absolutely do it too. So get puzzling. 

Emma xx 

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is an author mindset coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer’s block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel. Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!

Writers can learn a lot from George Michael. You probably think you have nothing in common with him but so did I until I watched a Netflix documentary!

Watch the video below to find out how George Michael’s ascension into stardom can teach a lot to us as writers.

Hello my lovely writers.  

I’m watching a documentary about the pop band Wham!, who became huge in the 80s. George Michael was a member of that band, along with Andrew Ridgeley. 

The Netflix documentary is about how they ascended into stardom. It’s been funny to watch because, when I think about George Michael, I think about this sex symbol, this huge star, this good-looking, successful singer-songwriter/performer who garnered respect all around the world from other singer-songwriters and, of course, his fans. 

But he was not always George Michael and, in this documentary, it’s been interesting to watch his ascension from being Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, known as Yog by his friends, to George Michael. 

From being a slightly overweight, very shy, very introverted, unconfident teenager, who wasn’t a good-looking boy at all, into the superstar and sex symbol that became George Michael and screamed at by lots of young girls and boys. 

The connection between writers and George Michael

You may be wondering where the connection is between George Michael and you as writers?

The connection is the journey it takes. 

When you are starting out writing your first book, you are young Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou. You are Yog. That’s who you are at the beginning. 

But as you practise, as you write one book, then the next, then the next, perfecting your craft and developing your mindset and strength, it’s exactly what Yog did to become George Michael.

The mental transformation in him as he practised, wrote songs, sang, produced, toured and learnt his craft, was where the transformation came from.

It’s the same for you.

Your transformation is going to come as you do the practice, as you write the books, as you spend time with your characters, as you progress and learn. But you’ve got to do it. 

You’ve got to do the writing. It’s all very well to watch videos like this, it’s all very well to read craft books, it’s all very well to listen to podcasts and go to summits and conventions, but you’ve actually got to do the work. That’s where Yog went right. 

He was doing the work; he was listening to the albums and the songwriters that influenced him, then he was getting together with Andrew Ridgeley and they practised together. They wrote songs and melodies and produced their own demos on old cassettes.

That’s what you and I do when we’re writing our first drafts. We’re getting stuff down, making it as good as we can in that first draft, but knowing it’s going to go into the production studio and get better, knowing our books are going to go into revision and get better. 

Unlock your creative block

Take a leaf from George Michael’s book, be inspired by him, watch the Netflix documentary if you’re interested but it’s all about the practise, it’s all about the doing, it’s all about building your confidence and changing your mindset to believe you are capable of doing the thing you say you want to do. 

If you need help with that, Unlock Your Creative Block is my course. It is a programme designed to help you to stop being scared of the page, to stop you watching so many videos, or listening to so many podcasts and reading so many books. It will help you implement what you have already learned and I’ll bet you’ve already learned a lot. 

If you know that’s what’s holding you back and you’re scared to actually put the words on the page, sign up to Unlock Your Creative Block today. 

Emma xx

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is an author mindset coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer’s block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel.

Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!

Teaching children to read can teach us to write. This struck me one day as I sat down with my son to do some reading.

Watch my video below to find out what the similarities are.

Hello my lovely writers, how are you? 

Today it struck me how teaching children to read can teach us to write.

My son is ten years old and has always found reading and writing a challenge. He’s getting towards the upper stages of primary school, which is the time when he has to think about high school. It’s the time when I have to knuckle down with him and do some serious reading because, although he knows the rules of reading, he doesn’t practise them.

When we first started reading, he was very resistant. He came up with all kinds of excuses about why he couldn’t do it or why there was something else more important he should be doing. 

Then, when that didn’t work, he’d have a bit of a temper tantrum. He’d start huffing and puffing and trying to cause arguments so I’d get distracted and wouldn’t sit down with him to do the reading. 

When we’d eventually sit down to do the reading, it was fine. On the days he got to choose the book, he was confident and the reading flowed. Although he’d never admit it, he does enjoy reading. 

On days when the book is harder and the words don’t flow, he finds it tougher. We get more tears and we get more tantrums before we get to the end of the book, but then he realises he did it and that it was all okay. 

How teaching children to read can teach us to write

Today he read me a story. It was a simple story but he read it with emotion, with intonation and with ease and he enjoyed reading it. It got me thinking about us as writers and the parallels between my son learning to read and us learning to write. 

My son has the advantage, I would say, because he’s got me on his back telling him, ‘You’re doing this,’ and he can’t get out of it. I force him into reading even when he doesn’t want to. Even when there are tears, he has to sit down and do the reading. 

I wish I could do that for each and every one of you who finds it hard to get to the page. I wish I could come to your house and tell you, ‘You’re going to do this. Sit down and get the words done.’ But I can’t. 

You’ve got to be your own Emma on your back telling you, ‘You’ve got to do this.’ 

You’ve got to hold yourself accountable, get yourself sitting down and doing it, even when you’re crying, even when you want to have a tantrum, even when it’s difficult. Because, as I’m seeing with my son after just a few weeks, he is improving no end with his reading. 

Consistency grows confidence

He’s so much more confident and comfortable with his reading. Yes, of course, there are glitchy moments and sticky moments when it feels hard, but it’s the same for you. 

After a few weeks of doing this every day, of doing this consistently, you will find it easier and easier as you go along. Of course, there are still going to be glitchy days when it feels messy and sticky but, overall, your confidence, capabilities and competency are going to increase tenfold, twenty-fold or more if you continue to do it. 

So, your challenge is, next time you have put some time aside to write and you hear Mr Procrastination in the background saying there are dishes to be done or filing to be done, I want you to hear Emma’s voice on top of that being very stern and in a good Scottish accent saying to you, ‘Get that work done.’ 

If you can hear me in the back of your head, maybe it will scare you enough to sit down and do the writing. But learning to read, learning to write, is all the same thing. We’ve just got to practise. 

So get practising. 

Emma xx

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is an author mindset coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer’s block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel.

Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!

If you’re dealing with negative self-talk, you know, that little voice in your head that tells you you don’t have what it takes to be a writer, this video is for you.

Hello my lovely writers, how are you? 

When you think about sitting down to write and you say to yourself, okay, I’ve got some time now, I want to write this book of mine, what does the little voice in your head say? 

Does it laugh at you? Does it tell you not to be so ridiculous? Does it say, ‘Who do you think you are, thinking you can write a book?’ 

Maybe it just laughs out loud. Maybe it’s just a big, simple laugh. If that sounds familiar, I promise you are not alone. In fact, you are in very good company. 

So many writers battle with the demons in their head. Those demons tell you not to let anybody know about this secret ambition you’ve got to write a novel. Those demons tell you to keep quiet about it, don’t talk about it, don’t let anybody know, don’t get above your station. 

Deal with that negative self-talk

If you feel stuck in a rut with these thoughts and never-ending loop of negative self-talk around your writing, I promise you there is a way out and you absolutely can get your head out of that ditch. This is one of the things I help my writers do in my course, Unlock Your Creative Block. 

I will help you. I will give you the tools. I will show you a way out of that never-ending negative loop of self-talk, so you can feel good about your writing and feel confident about your writing. I promise you, when you do it, your creativity will take off, you will fly, and there will be no stopping you. 

If you’re interested in breaking that loop and that cycle so your creativity can take off, come on and join me in my Unlock Your Creative Block course. 

It is going to revolutionise the way you see yourself and the way you see your writing. I’ll see you on the inside. 

Emma xx

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is an author mindset coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer’s block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel.

Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!