One way to elevate your writing and the experience of the reader is to give your characters distinct voices and personalities. Just as in real life, people have different ways thinking, speaking, and acting from one another, so aim to reflect that in your story.

What are some ways to set characters apart from each other?

While backgrounds and motivations play a large part in character distinction, so do factors like their flaws and strengths, the way they speak, and their attitudes and behaviors.

Consider which traits you want to be most prevalent in your character. Are they more brave or cowardly? Are they more kind or selfish? Are they more timid or outgoing? Now how can you display those characteristics in a realistic way to the reader?

First, try to have an idea of some of their biggest flaws and strengths. If their strongest trait makes them great in one thing, consider the flip side that makes them weaker in another area as a result. An example might be that while they are highly intelligent, they've gained an ego that blinds them to their shortcomings.

While thinking about flaws and strengths, it's often a good idea to make a foil character, where the second character has opposing traits to the first. If character A is passive, making character B active is a good way to emphasize that trait through contrast. This also tends to provide interesting dynamics and potential conflicts or subplots within the story.

Keep in mind that flaws aren't so much about "annoying traits" or something as simple as "selfishness". Real flaws for a character should go deeper and involve how they navigate their world. This links back to the lie your character believes about themselves, others, or the world. Rather than just making them selfish, push deeper. Why are they selfish and why is their reasoning behind this a major flaw? Perhaps the character has experienced things that taught them that looking out only for themselves is the best way to survive and avoid being used. They believe selfless people are naive and bound to be manipulated. Then an arc for this character would be them learning where they might've been wrong in this belief.

Next, let's think about how characters might speak in different ways. There are plenty of basic examples we can look at: if one of them has an academic background, they may use a higher vocabulary level than the other characters. If one of them is known for being irritable and impatient, show them speaking to other characters in short, to-the-point sentences, or snapping at a character when they are asking unimportant questions. If a character is more reserved, you might show them speaking in quieter tones or refraining from commenting at all. If you want a character to be known as the ray of sunshine, have them offer positive perspectives on a situation, and maybe have them speak more animatedly than the rest (like using exclamation points or talking fast).

One way to evaluate whether your characters feel very distinct from one another is to read dialogue between them but without tags (like 'he said' or 'Jangmi shouted'). If it is clear who spoke even without the tags naming who it was, then it's likely your character's voices are strong because their manner of talking is identifiable from other characters! But just to note, it's not bad to include dialogue tags for clarity. However, when it is clear without, consider removing them for less distraction.

Whichever characteristics you want to shine through to your readers, using dialogue and character interactions is a great time to do so. Take advantage of the scenes where they speak, and reflect who they are through what they say and how they choose to say it!

In addition to dialogue/character voice, you may also want to focus on their attitudes. This includes how they view their world and how they behave with it. For example, you may want to show a cynical character carefully eyeing any new person they come across, or showing a naive character extending warmth and friendliness to even the most sketchy strangers. You can even go into smaller details like gestures, in which a character struggling with anxiety might have the nervous tick of bouncing their leg, or a closed-off character might cross their arms and sigh often.

Whichever traits you want to be at the forefront of your character, try to find ways to display them through foils, dialogue, and attitudes and behaviors. The more you can integrate their personalities into their actions, the more believable your character will feel to the audience.