How to Write Multi-dimensional Characters

Flat, one-dimensional characters will doom a picture book. Similar to being larger-than-life, the main character in your story needs to be dynamic. By the end of the story, great characters experience growth. Of course, for a character to actually experience growth it follows that the character must have shortcomings or flaws. A perfect character is a boring character.

It might seem obvious, but multi-dimensional characters need to have multiple characteristics or aspects of their personality to give them depth. Or as Shrek might say, great characters are onions. Onions have layers. Great characters have layers. Or if you prefer to be in the Donkey camp, you could also say that great characters are like parfaits. Especially if you’re talking about parfaits with layers of melted chocolate, vanilla pudding, bananas, chocolate cookie bits and whipped cream on top. With all those delicious layers you can’t go wrong. Bottom-line, whether you prefer onions or parfaits, your main characters need layers to make them more dynamic, interesting and irresistible.