I’ve been going through some old emails and found one from six years ago where a fan asked me about characterization and how to make their characters as cool as mine. It was a very short email with a simple-yet-daunting question, and I when I came across it in the present, I was like, “Whoa, how did I answer this one?”

LIKE THIS. I answered it LIKE THIS, which is basically everything I know about characterization boiled down and condensed into about 1,000 words. This was probably an insane amount of work to have put into answering an email, but I’m a sucker for craft-related questions. Anyway, I thought this might be useful for other people, either as aspiring writers or as readers who enjoy seeing how the sausage gets made.

I’ll do my best to answer your question, though I’m sure I’ll end up leaving something out. It’s been a long time since I really thought about this, and there’s not necessarily one right answer on how to make good characters. Though I will say I wasn’t always good at it, or at writing stories in general, so you will get a lot better with practice. It gets easier, and eventually all the skills and techniques you agonized over will just be second nature and you won’t even have to think about them. But in the meantime…

–Don’t be afraid to make your characters flawed or have negative, “unlikable” traits. I once wrote a book where I was so afraid of messing up the main characters that they ended up being really boring and blah, and the bad guys turned out way more interesting, because I wasn’t afraid to give them personalities or have them make mistakes or do things that might make people not like them. If you’ve read Renegade X, then you might have noticed that Damien is pretty flawed, and I’ve found that the more flaws my characters have, the more likable they are, both to me and to my readers.

–Make sure your characters all want something. The protagonist especially. Give them mutually exclusive wants, which basically means making them want two different things, but they can only ever have one. In Renegade X, Damien constantly strives to be himself, and to fit in, but by being himself–both/neither hero/villain–he doesn’t fit into their society, and he’ll also never give up who he is in order to fit in. He wants both, but he can’t have them. That’s just one example, and that’s more broad, because in each book he’ll have something more specific he wants that he can’t have. Protagonists have both an outer desire, something that they want, and an inner desire, which is something that they need. Usually throughout the story, they go after the thing they want, which they may or may not get, only to discover that it’s not what they actually need. If that sounds too complicated, then just focus on giving them goals for now and finding ways to thwart them from getting it. If you have an antagonist, they’ll have wants that they’re trying to get, too, sometimes the same thing as the protagonist, except the antagonist isn’t willing to grow and change to get them. That’s another thing–characters need to grow and change throughout the story.

–Set up things your characters would never, ever do or an obstacle they absolutely don’t want to face and then find a reason why they have to do that thing or face that obstacle. Just make sure you set it up first so the audience knows about it. Otherwise, it won’t mean anything to us. Examples: someone who’s terrified of bees having to walk through a field of beehives to save a loved one, or someone who’s always really mean showing kindness to someone.

–Make sure nobody in your story gets anything too easily. It will feel off and suck all the tension out of the story if people suddenly get things or accomplish their goals too easily, even if they’re small. And make sure that interactions between various characters make sense. Like, if a character asks their mom for a glass of water, it’s not weird for her to give them the water, but if they ask their worst enemy for it and they’re like, “Yeah, sure,” it will feel weird. (This is a super simple, obvious example that probably wouldn’t happen in anyone’s story, but hopefully it gets the point across.)

–Don’t show things that don’t involve conflict. Stories need conflict (what conflict is exactly can be hard to describe, because it doesn’t mean fighting, it just means, like, making things difficult for your characters), and if something happens in your story that goes well and nothing bad happens, that’s fine, but don’t show it. Just skip over it. If two characters go on a date and it goes well, we don’t need to see it. If they go on a date and something really embarrassing happens, we definitely need to see that. (Well, not *definitely*, because there might be times where it’s more fun to hear about it. Use your best judgment and stick to what feels right to you.)

Present-Day Chelsea here to add: I still find “conflict” hard to define in terms of what makes for good story. A better word might be “friction” or even just “change.” If everything is exactly the same about the characters and their world when we end a scene as when we went into it, if it doesn’t further the story in any way, whether that’s changing someone’s opinion, their thoughts, their relationships, moving the story along in some way, then leave it out. And if there’s a scene you desperately want to write about, but you don’t think it’s doing any of those things, add something or combine it with something that does. Okay, back to the original email…

–Give your characters thoughts and opinions and have them express them. Share them with the audience, if not the other characters, though you’ll probably do both. Every line in your story is a chance to build on characterization, whether it’s dialogue or describing the people and things around them.

–Make it so if you flipped to a random page and read a line of dialogue, you’d know who was speaking just by their personality. This is one I’m not sure I actually accomplish all the time, but it’s worth striving for. You don’t need to make your characters sound wildly different, just pay attention to how their experiences and ways of thinking influence what they say and how they say it.

–Stories are about choices. Keep giving your character choices to make, especially difficult ones.

–Ask yourself what’s the worst thing that could happen to your character and what’s the worst time for it to happen. Fun stuff, though. Not, like, oh, the worst thing that could happen is if all their friends die or something, because obviously that’s too awful and it’s not story specific. I mean, there are stories where that could make sense as the thing that’s going wrong for them, but you know what I mean.

I don’t know if I have any superhero-genre specific tips. I gave Damien flight because it was the last thing he wanted to have happen, and then I gave him lightning because, at the time, that was the last thing he wanted to have happen, too. In both cases, they screwed up his life. (If he’d gotten lightning first, it wouldn’t have felt like a bad thing to him.) I made him have a superhero dad and have to go live with him because it wasn’t what he wanted. Some of that’s story more than character, but it all bleeds together.

Some books that I read that basically taught me everything I know:

–Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass (there’s a workbook, too–definitely worth going through all the exercises). These two books taught me a lot about characterization and story.

–Save the Cat! by Blake Snyder (and the other two books in the series). These books are great for learning about story structure. They’re for screenwriting, but they apply to novels as well.

I know it’s been a million years since this book came out, but at a reader’s request, I have made a paperback version.

I know some people still read in paperback or hardcover, or just like to have them on the shelves, but paperback covers cost more than just ebook covers, and, like, 99% of sales come from ebooks. At the time, I didn’t have the funds for a full cover, and I didn’t have the skills to make one, so… it got pushed to the back burner. And then maybe off the stove completely. But 5 years later, I’ve upped my design skills quite a bit (and my health) and was able to get this finished. Cover art is still by Fiona Jayde, who did an amazing job–I just added the spine and the back cover. And the interior, but I do that part for all my self-pubbed books.

Will there be a paperback version of The Rivalry of Renegade X, you might be asking? Well… yes? Hopefully? I have to recruit help for that one, but I’m working on it.

If I couldn’t believe we were nominated for this, I REALLY couldn’t believe it when we won! I was excited just to get to go to the ceremony and sit at a VIP table. The awards ceremony took place at Comic Con in San Diego and there were, like, actual celebrities there presenting the awards! It was the coolest thing I’ve ever gotten to be a part of, even before we won. Even the meatloaf was good (it tasted like spaghetti!), and if you’ve read Renegade X, you can guess how I feel about meatloaf. :P

I was so prepared to not win that I took a sneaky picture of Mariko Tamaki’s trophy, since she was the first to win at our table, and I thought I might not get any closer to one than that. Except I also thought that the woman on my right (Erica Henderson) had real winner vibes and would probably get a trophy I could take an even closer picture of, lol. But our category came up fairly early on and we were actually the second win at our table. (By the end of the night, everyone at our table had won! We were grouped by publisher, so theoretically that was just a coincidence and it wasn’t purposely a winners’ table.)

Anyway, when they called out the winner and it was our book, I GASPED SO HARD and did a double take out of my seat. We got to go up on stage, where Gigi Edgley (Chiana from Farscape!) handed me my trophy.

The other presenter, Ming Chen, gave Laura her trophy. People keep asking me if we both got one or if we have to share, and if you were wondering that, too, let me ease your mind by saying everybody who won got their own trophy! Also, the trophies are very solid and heavy, like something that would turn out to be the murder weapon in a TV show. The globes actually spin, too, and the plaque has the name of our book and the category we won (Best Publication for Early Readers).

When I got to the microphone, I said what Pam says on The Office when she wins her Dundie, which is, “I feel God in this Chili’s tonight.” XD We didn’t have anything prepared, so I said a few funny things and then thanked Laura, plus our editor, Rachel Sonis, and our designer, Jay Emmanuel. I’m glad I didn’t have anything written ahead of time, because I feel like I do better improvising these things (otherwise known as winging it), and if I had sat down to write something, there are so many stories I could have told or things I would have wanted to express that I wouldn’t have even known where to start and would have stressed myself out. But ultimately, I think what I said in this post about getting nominated pretty much sums it up.

I don’t think anybody’s posted my part of it, but you can watch Laura’s speech:

📚 Inspiring young readers, Bigfoot and Nessie: The Art of Getting Noticed by @CampChelsea and @LauraKnetzger wins #BestPublicationForEarlyReaders! @penguinrandom pic.twitter.com/G9HzkW4ao8

— Comixology (@comiXology) July 27, 2024

I swear neither of us is that orange in real life.

LOOK AT THAT BACKGROUND. I’ve never been nominated for anything in my life, and now my name is on a website with a classy light that follows you around as you scroll.

I found out about this last week and it still feels unreal! When I first got into publishing, I thought my books would stand out and get noticed. (LOL.) I thought all I had to do was get published and people would realize how much they loved my stories and characters and that of course there should be more of them. If you’re a fan, you might be thinking, “But that happened, right? Because I DO want more of your stories!” Well… yes and no. Readers have enjoyed my stories and connected with my characters (and OMG, thank you to everyone who has!), but the industry is tough. (Which industry? Doesn’t matter – they’re all tough.) And it still pains me to admit that I have not had the success I thought I would and, and – and this part is especially painful – might never have. Ugh. OUCH. It buuuuurns.

Ahem. Anyway. After fifteen spotty years of publishing, I thought my fate was decided long ago and that things like this were forever out of reach. Bigfoot and Nessie: The Art of Getting Noticed is about finding the courage to be creative in the face of the fear that you might fail. That no matter what you do, you might never get noticed. Or if you do, maybe outside validation isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. These are the things I struggle with! I have felt like a failure, and I have felt frozen with fear that no matter what words I put down on the page, they’re going to be the wrong ones. Because if they weren’t the wrong ones… wouldn’t things be going better by now? Wouldn’t I have had the success I always thought I’d have?

Neither of those things are true, of course – it’s just my brain’s way of trying to make sense of something I don’t actually have control over. All I can really do is keep making things that bring me joy and hope they resonate with others. As a reader, I always feel like the author can feel my love for a book somehow, even if I never say anything, but as a writer, I feel like I’m putting things out into a void. Like messages in bottles sent off into the sea. Did anyone find them? Did they get where they needed to go? Did the right message get to the right person? Should I keep putting MORE messages in bottles, just to be sure?!

And all of that is a long-winded way to say that the creative life is tough and there are so many ways it can tear you down and make you feel not good enough. But sometimes it does the opposite and hands you something cool. Sometimes the bottles come back with new messages that prove you weren’t sending them off into a void after all.

This book was a collaboration between me, Laura Knetzger, Rachel Sonis, and Jay Emmanuel, and the rest of the team at Penguin Workshop. Having collaborators means not only having people to share the creative process with, but also having people to be excited with when something like this happens! I’m honored to have worked with this group and so proud of the book we made!

You may or may not have noticed that my site has been down for a while, due to some technical difficulties that I didn’t realize were happening right away. I ended up losing everything from last year, which was probably just me saying, “Hey, the Bigfoot and Nessie books are out!” and posting some art, which I can repost once I sort out what’s missing. Any comments from last year are gone, too. Because even though I could have sworn not very much time had passed since I last backed up my site, apparently it’d been more like a year. O__o

But if you were wondering why the site was gone, or why there might be stuff missing, that’s why! And if you’re wishing I posted more or that you could hear from me more regularly, you can join the newsletter, which goes out monthly.

So excited to finally share with you guys the cover (and overall cute, colorful art style) of Bigfoot and Nessie: The Art of Getting Noticed !!!  It officially comes out February 7th, 2023, but you can preorder your copy today:

Introducing a hilarious and heartfelt graphic novel in which an unlikely pair of cryptids–one a Bigfoot whose failure to get himself photographed disappoints his family, and the other a Loch Ness Monster, who seems unable to escape the spotlight wherever she goes–meet up and find friendship, creativity, and just the right amount of attention.

Meet Bigfoot and Nessie! Yes, that Bigfoot and Nessie. Only…Well, things are a little complicated right now.

Bigfoot is having trouble fitting in with his family. He can never quite manage to get himself into the picture, much to the disappointment of his mom, dad, and sister, who always want to be in the spotlight. When he meets Nessie, who’s equally desperate to get away from the cameras, he begins to ask himself the ultimate question: What’s the price of fame after all?

Big-hearted and clever, The Art of Getting Noticed by Chelsea M. Campbell and Laura Knetzger invites us to explore our most tender selves through friendship and creativity—and have quite a bit of fun in between!

I’m so excited to finally be able to share this news! I wrote a graphic novel for kids called Bigfoot and Nessie, about, you guessed it, Bigfoot and Nessie. It’s about their friendship, but at its heart, it’s also a story about finding creativity without putting pressure on yourself–something I struggle with a lot.

The idea came about after binge watching a lot of We Bare Bears, and I was thinking about Charlie (he’s a bigfoot, if you’re not familiar with the show) and how he doesn’t want to be photographed, and I started thinking what if a bigfoot did want to get photographed? But was also failing at it? I added in Nessie, who’s got the exact opposite problem–she’s too famous and is trying to avoid getting noticed–and it came together from there.

Laura Knetzger, who writes and draws the Bug Boys series, is doing the artwork, and I’ve seen it, and it’s amazing! Check out her artwork in the Bug Boys cover below. And also go read it, because it’s a really fun slice-of-life series about two friends having adventures.

Adventurer’s Academy

It’s no surprise when Serena, straight-A magic student, gets into her dream school, the Adventurer’s Academy. But getting placed in Remedial Sorcery? Total shock. Apparently it’s not enough to be good at magic–you have to be good at teamwork, too. But it’s not her fault people are so hard to get along with. Especially her annoying lab partner, a cute warrior who thinks all sorcerers are cowards. Now Serena’s determined to prove him wrong, no matter what the cost.

I’m trying out Kindle Vella! I have no idea what I think of the platform yet, though it is very satisfying to get thumb’s ups on episodes. This story is complete, and you can read the first three episodes for free!

Smythe the dandelion and Maury the earthworm gossip every morning over a cup of tea.

Made in Rebelle with mostly watercolors and some oil pastels for the dirt.

A screenshot from The Weaver of Stories, my upcoming adventure-comedy visual novel about a freelance pumpkin carver tasked with saving the world from monsters. Art made in Rebelle 4. Game made with Naninovel for Unity.