Tips for writing a realistic character

Characters are what drive a story, if you don't what characters then your basicly describing a setting and nothing else. Plus what story (other than poetry) doesn't have characters? It should be very obvious that you need characters in order to make a good story. Since writing (and films) these days seem to crave realistic, and dark characters here are some helpfull tips on writing a realistic character:

1. Show don't tell. Telling a reader the character's personality traits and then never actually showing them gives your character an 'unintentional personality'. An unintentional personality is one where the audiences finds a character to be a certain way despite the fact that the author didn't intentionally write the character to be that way. Example: A character who the author wants to come off as selfless, smart and independent might come off as selfish, whiney, and dependent to the readers. Show don't tell is one of the most important rules in fiction. If you show your character's personality slowly, and don't flat out say, "He's intelligent", then it makes you seem like a better author. Telling and not showing has a very negative impact on the character. For example: If you say your character is normal looking, but then have tons and tons of boys/girls adoring him/her and having perverted thoughts, then we (the audience) believe that he/she must be gorgeous. If you want to tell the audience that your character is a certain quality, then show it throughout the novel. Example: If your character is a major book worm, then have your character reading constantly, referencing books (and not the books that end up being significant to the story), and talking about books. Show don't tell

2. In order to have a realistic, and relatable character, your character needs to have flaws. Oh and be sure that your flaws are equally paired with the positive traits. For example: I read on a yahoo question, that a character this girl was writing both cared for the feeling of others, and was selfish. As I said pair your positive traits and negative traits well, you don't want a character to both care for others and be selfish. It just doesn't make sense! If your character has no flaws (or flaws that aren't personality flaws like being clumsy but then never showing that she's clumsy) then the readers can't relate to them, and believe me readers hate perfect characters (aka Mary/Gary Sues)

3. How will she/she interact with other supporting characters. Will she be cruel to them, and if so then she should probably stay that way for a good part of the story. Most changes that a character goes through usually happen near the end of the story. Helpful tip: Don't make every single person who dislikes the character be cruel, mean, or jealous of them. It sets the allusion that everybody adores your character, and everybody who doesn't is generally hated by everybody. Maybe have somebody who is liked by many people dislike your character for reasons other than, "He/she is jealous of him".
4. The introduction of a character gives the first impression. For example: I read the book Vampire Academy, and the way the author introduced the main heroine just made me feel sick. Ok so it starts when this female vampire bites the mortal girl (the human girl allowed her to) and the mortal girl described it as feeling better than sex, being high and being drunk. That one page had soo many allusions to sex, that it was just gross. I thought that I accidently bought a vampire porno. Let me make this clear: When a male vampire bites a mortal girl then it is cute, but when a vampire girl bites a mortal girl, then it's just disturbing. In short the way that you introduce a character instantly gives us (the audience) first impressions.
5. Have your character act her own age. I mean you usually wouldn't see a 14-year old using fancy, long words. If your character acts either too young or too old for her age then you should probably mature/or dumb down her/himself up. Now I know that there are some characters out there who are supposed to be childish or mature, but if you are trying to make a character for teens to relate to you have to make your character actually act like them.