No writer wants to hear that their characters are “vanilla” or too much alike. We all want our characters to pop so our readers love them as much as we do. Trouble is, that it is easier said then done.

How can brainstorming help you to deepen your story and make those characters fly off the page and into a reader’s heart? By highlighting opposites in your novel.

I’m not talking about the hero or heroine always being opposites. Rather, the Hero and his sidekick or the heroine and her sidekick. When characters are too much alike, we run into the whole BORING problem.

Create characters that are different in habits and personality. This causes natural tension and added interest to your characters.

Let’s try this idea out to see how it could work.

Introducing our heroine’s qualities:  Sally is cautious, detail oriented, health nut, wears a tailored business suit to work, and gets her nails done every third Saturday of the month.

Who would be a great contrast to highlight Sally’s profile?

Introducing our heroine’s sidekick:  Debbie is an adrenaline junkie, a free spirit, she loves French fries and hostess cupcakes, her free flowing peasant style shirts are all in vibrant colors, she is spontaneous and likes to feel the dirt between her toes.

Can you see how this can add all kinds of fun tension to your book?

Just being around each other will cause tension in their approach to life. A lot of misadventures and iron sharpening iron will occur in this relationship. You will also be much more aware of your own character’s personality as it is showcased by the opposite behavior of their sidekick.

Analyze the personality of your cast of characters.

To avoid the perception of vanilla characters, you should analyze the whole cast of characters in your novel. Do they talk similarly? Do they compete for a certain kind of attention on the page? Are they each unique with no overlap?

This could be a hint that you are not keeping your hero/heroine unique. For a character to pop, they need to have some qualities that belong to them alone. By keeping them unique and showing the exact opposite qualities in someone in the story that makes their qualities stand out more.

How can highlighting opposite personalities deepen your novel?

Through opposites we can showcase the different struggles our character has and show their need to overcome them.

In our weaknesses others can see our need to grow. Who better to show our weaknesses than a character who is beside us through much of the book?

A hero or heroine’s sidekick can bring out the best and the worst in a character. They force them into crazy situations and push them out of their comfort zone.

The next time you develop your hero and heroine, be sure that you have highlighted opposite qualities in the characters around them. It is amazing how a bit of dry humor, spontaneity and quirky behaviors can bring out the unique in our characters. 

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Our Huddle Coach, Michelle Lim semi-finaled in the 2011 Genesis with Death’s Apprentice and received Bronze Medal Recognition in the 2010 Frasier contest with Singed. She is the vice president of MN N.I.C.E., a local chapter of ACFW. At My Book Therapy she coordinates the e-zine’s Genre Java Column and is the Brainstorm and Huddle Coach,our program for local craft groups. Michelle taught elementary school for eleven years. She lives in Minnesota with her husband Hui Hong and four rambunctious kids that keep her life full of laughter and suspense. Contact her at: huddles@mybooktherapy.com.