Chapter two, Character: Casting Shadows, focuses on building characters. There are many factors that go into this, a lot more than one might think. For example you have to think about desire, complexity, consistency, contrast, change, speech, appearance, thought, and the list can go on. Before the author even dives into creating your character, he speaks briefly about an interaction between him and a young ill girl. When he asked her why she loved reading she responded with, “because I get to meet lots of different people.” That kept replying in my head as I read through the chapter. I’ve never thought of it that way when reading a story. She is totally and completely right, you do encounter many people when reading, it’s fascinating. Now, when you create your character you need them to be real enough they can cast shadows. What the author means by this metaphor is that you want them to become so real to someone they can feel them come alive. Stories revolve around characters, it would be nothing without them. You can give a character certain distinguishable habits but like all humans, the character should want something. This makes them intriguing. You also don’t want to bore readers with the same old typical character, reach into that creative mind to make up a character so interesting that they contribute to the story so deeply that it wouldn’t be the same without that character. Providing contrasting traits will help build that complexity. Adding a villainious character is another way to provide complexity to your main character. Consistency is an important key. Characters can go through changes just like people, but you don’t want to put something into a story that seems out of character for the character to say or do. It may shock readers in the way that it doesn’t make any sense. You want the character to have a somewhat predictable personality. You want the readers to be able to see the potential change. People watching is a great way to develop ideas for building a character, people you don’t know, or maybe someone you do know can inspire you. Keep in mind not all characters have to be developed equally, it is okay to leave some in the shadows and the readers wondering a bit. After all, developing all characters equally would be far too complicated and lots of work. Introducing a character can be tricky, you have two methods: showing and telling. You can straight up state the character or introduce them smoothly into the storyline, perhaps with one who has already been mentioned. Another thing you must do is come up with several ways to make your characters speak. Do they have an accent? Do they stutter? Do they pause a lot? Do they speak bluntly? Do they speak in run-on sentences? You decide! I think appearance may be the most difficult of all because the options are endless. As you can see, there are many many factors that go into creating a character. Before reading this chapter I had no idea it would be this difficult. I’m a bit overwhelmed now.