It’s common to focus on characterisation in writing, but don’t underestimate the importance of building strong character relationships. Your protagonist’s relationships provide vital context for them. Relationships can also be the catalyst for important growth or change in your main characters. Well-developed relationships give you the chance to show several sides of a character. They’re also just plain interesting for most readers!

So, how do we go about building strong character relationships? I’ve got four tips for you.

Well-developed characters make for well-developed relationships

It’s easier to get invested in relationships when the characters involved all feel three-dimensional. To make your characters’ relationships feel interesting, the characters have to be interesting.

If there isn’t enough space in your story to develop all of the characters whose relationships you want readers to care about, consider whether you might have too many characters. You might find my post on side characters useful to work out whether all of your characters are really serving the story.

Dialogue is key in building strong character relationships

Dialogue should always be doing more than one thing. Even if the main purpose of a bit of dialogue is to deliver some sort of exposition. Dialogue can, and should, be your go-to means of developing your character relationships.

Consider how you speak to different people, and what that would reveal about how you relate to them. Use of language that’s more casual, or more formal. Nicknames, or using titles to refer to people. Characters who know each other well may not need to finish every thought out loud to understand each other. Characters who don’t know each other so well might need more clarifying questions.

Influence goes both ways

I mentioned at the beginning that relationships can be the a catalyst for character growth. For relationships that feel real, bear in mind that this often goes two ways. Demonstrate how the relationship is affecting both people in it, not just the main character. Character development in supporting characters will help the whole story world feel more alive, and make those relationships more compelling.

Most relationships have an element of conflict

Chances are you don’t agree on everything with even your closest friends. If you want the relationships between your characters to be dynamic and interesting, consider where the conflicts will be. There are obviously degrees of conflict, everything from points of minor tension to all-out rowing over disagreements. Think about what makes sense in each of your relationships.

The interesting thing about conflict in your relationships is not just about where the conflict comes from either. Consider how your characters resolve those differences. Is it by pretending one of them has convinced the other? Actually coming to see each other’s points of view? These nuances can make a massive difference to how character relationships are interpreted.

How do you go about building strong character relationships?

Have you got any favourite examples that you’ve read, or seen? Let us know in the comments!