Characterization is freaking key. Characters are the backbone to a story, and are the driving force behind a plot. Well developed characters can turn a basic story into a magnificent one worth every word read.

Think of your characters as real people- people you know in your life. Each human on this massive world is different, and they each hold traits that sum up who they are as a person. Every person on this entire planet grows up under a specific roof. History, culture, social status, ethnicity, etc. all contributes to someone's persona. So create characters that are multidimensional.

Think about who you are as a person. What makes you happy? Angry? Excited? Heartbroken? What are the best things about your personality? And importantly, what are your flaws?

Don't just think about aesthetics. Delve deep into your character's core. Who they are vs. who they want to be vs. who the world thinks they are. Like reality, the way we are shaped is what drives us to make certain decisions.

Mary Sue & Gary Stu are big no-no's.

If you are unfamiliar with who Mary Sue and Gary Stu are, they are terms used to coin "perfect" characters. They are characters who seemingly have a perfect life with no flaws. They are people in a story with no problems or issues; characters of great convenience.

Avoid this at all costs.

Create in depth profiles for every character in your story. Whether they are in it for 1 chapter, or for 50, take the time to analyze each of your characters thoroughly. Getting to know your characters inside and out, will help you develop plot points for your story. It will help with foreshadowing, with dialogue, and most importantly, for character arc.

Character arc is your character's development throughout the story. At the beginning, your character could be timid and shy, but by the end, they are able to muster the confidence to stand up for themselves.

Below is how I create my character profiles. The example is of my original character, Tasha Aquino, who is the main protagonist in my Harry Styles fanfic, You're Dope, Girl.

Creating character profiles can be as thorough or simple as you want. It's up to your own preferences, however I highly suggest to make it as detailed as possible- especially for your main protagonist.

Even if your protagonist is already an existing character, such as Harry Potter, Barry Allen, or Edward Cullen, still create some kind of character analysis for them. And if you decide to change their personalities slightly to better interweave with your story, then make sure you take note of those alterations.

It's okay for your character to fail.

And honestly, your story will be better if your character does. We all make mistakes as humans. We all try to pursue different endeavors, and sometimes we fail at them. Your characters should emulate this reality.

As your audience reads your story, aim to create a world in which emotion is intensely instigated, and you can do this by designing genuine characters. Readers need to FEEL your story, not read it. They need to be able to sympathize with your characters; to feel their happiness, their anger, and their sadness. Your readers also need to be fucking pissed off at them when they do stupid shit- because they're human. We do dumb stuff sometimes, but those mistakes are what shapes us as people.

In my Watty winning Luke Hemmings fanfiction entitled Drunk Words, Sober Thoughts, the female protagonist Ari Quiroz sparked a ton of heated debates in the comment section. Thousands upon thousands of comments were dedicated towards her selfishness at one point in the story. Readers were expressing how angry they were becoming because of Ari's behavior.

I was happy with the angry comments.

I was able to elicit such heavy emotion from my audience, and as an author, that means so much. I let my main protagonist make mistakes. I let her make frustrating decisions because her Filipino upbringing, her social history up to the point of where the story starts, and everything in between all contributed to Ari's choices.

So keep that in mind as you create your characters. Treat them like real people, and they will act accordingly in your story. If you can design characters an audience will side with; will love, will hate, will sympathize with, then the emotional reaction of your readers will be colossally rewarding.