By Nina Munteanu » Fictional characters need to appear real without being real. For instance, in real life a person may act through no apparent motivation, be confusing, incoherent, etc. Characters in fiction fulfill a dramatic function in the story for the reader and are, therefore, more logically laid out. They may, as a result, be more coherent, consistent and clear in their actions and qualities than a person in real life.

In his 1995 article in SF Writer called "On Writing: Constructing Characters", Hugo and Nebula award winning SF author Robert J. Sawyer reminds us that "story-people are made-to-order to do a specific job." This notion goes back "twenty-five hundred years to the classical playwrights," says Sawyer. "In Greek tragedy, the main character was always specifically designed to fit the particular plot. Indeed, each protagonist was constructed with an intrinsic hamartia, or tragic flaw, keyed directly to the story's theme."

Your characters have a dramatic function and a role in advancing the plot and theme of your story. They need a reason to be there.

Characters written by beginning writers often suffer from lack of distinction or purpose and just clutter up a story. A character's "voice" must be unique. Give your character distinctive body movements, dress, speech, facial features and expressions that reveal his inner feelings, emotions, fears, motivations, etc. Then keep them consistent. You may wish to focus on fewer rather than many characters. It may also be useful to create character dossiers on major characters to help keep track of their distinctive traits and keep them consistent. Dialogue is an excellent tool to reveal a person's education, philosophy, biases, culture and history. A character's inflections and common vernacular can be used to identify them from a particular region or culture.

Fictional characters come to life by giving them individual traits, real weaknesses and heroic qualities that readers can recognize and empathize with. You play these against each other to achieve drama. For instance, a man who is afraid of heights but who must climb a mountain to save his love is far more compelling than one who is not; a military man who fears responsibility but must lead his team into battle; a shy scientist impelled to discovery; etc.

Make your character bleed, hurt, cry, and laugh. This needs to be clear to the reader, who wants to empathize with some of them and hate others. How characters interact with their surroundings and each other creates tension, a key element to good storytelling.

"The lesson is simple," Sawyer tells us. "Your main character should illuminate the fundamental conflict suggested by your premise."

• Nina Munteanu is  a Canadian ecologist and author of the popular guidebook, "The Fiction Writer: Get Published, Write Now!". Learn the craft of writing and getting published with this easy to read and entertaining guide with practical exercises and examples.