BUILDING CHARACTERS Writers and readers (unconsciously) share strict criteria for "realistic" characters. By understanding these rules, our characters come to life. The trick to this magic is to embody each of these "rules" in highly concrete behaviors, memories, and language. We've broken characterization into three steps: These create the sort of characters that drive the plot of a technical thriller. The link for each of these provides practical tools and advice for creating the characters of (y)our novel.