How do you write Characters as People?

How can write three dimensional characters in any setting despite their archetypes?

SoYouWantTo.Make Interesting Characters, right?

There's no definitive formula. Just write the parts they need to play first and then go back and slip in other details to flesh them out. If the new background detail makes their current actions inconsistant, modify the actions as needed.

edited 22nd Feb '11 2:02:52 PM by SandJosieph

Don't define them as their roles in the story only. The role in the story is the metaphorical clothes you're making them wear, but that's not who they are. Try and think about what kind of person might have ended up in the place in life that they're starting at in the beginning of your story.

Often, in the real world, people are in jobs and roles that they ended up in, not that they chose, and their real passions may be things completely divorced from how they make a living. Think about the same thing with your characters. Often, in fact, someone pushed into a role they're really not very suited for makes for great fiction; that is a ready-made source of tension and an excuse for plot-necessary screwups.

How can write three dimensional characters in any setting despite their archetypes?

Can first start by speaking as people actually do. Flow everything from the rest.

Other than that: Are you a human being? Do you know anything at all about human beings?

I'd also suggest just pretending the archetypes don't exist. Some of my best characters I created when I was working in a genre I knew nothing about (thus, didn't know about the archetypes), while ones I created for genres I was very familiar with tended to stick close to tradition. Originality Via Ignorance, in other words.