Check out Reilly’s writing podcast, The Inked!
Transcript:
Jubilee:
Howdy everyone, welcome back to The Book Bardess podcast for an interview with Riley Smith. Riley is a young writer with a passion for the Lord and a love of animals, chocolate, the outdoors, and of course, books. Currently, she's working on one main project—a young adult fiction series called The Amulets of Averon. Riley has been writing seriously for about five years, ever since she decided to write her own version of Pilgrim's Progress. (P.S.—it didn’t turn out that way.) When she’s not writing, you can find her swinging outside, in a theater production, or working on things for her writing podcast, The Inked.
So, when you first start planning out a book, how do you start building your characters?
Reilly:
When I go about outlining or preparing to write a story, I always start with the character. First, I think about how they look physically. Once you have that, you get a better feel for where the character is going emotionally. For example, I might decide I want my character to have blonde hair, blue eyes, and be a girl—or maybe a guy—and then I ask: what is this character’s main conflict in the story? Those are my two big starting points: physical description and conflict. Then I go into more detail from there.
Jubilee:
I'm working on a new project, and just giving a name to that character and thinking about what they look like—it makes them feel like a whole new person.
Reilly:
For sure. I always have so much fun with physical descriptions—I tend to go a little overboard. I have a character with bright white hair, dark tan skin, and green eyes. She’s so much fun. I asked a friend to do some character art and she said, “This is such a weird character description... but I kind of love it.” She’s drawing her now, and I’m really excited to see the finished product. It just makes the characters feel so much more real.
Jubilee:
That's really cool. White hair sounds awesome.
Reilly:
It’s kind of a tendency of mine. That’s like the third or fourth character I’ve given white hair!
Jubilee:
Wow! I also like white hair—it’s just cool. So once you’ve got their physical appearance down, how do you make your characters relatable to the reader?
Reilly:
There are two ways you can make a character relatable: through their main conflict or through smaller, more personal quirks. The main conflict is usually the driving force—like their greatest fear or deepest desire. That might be relatable to some readers, but not all. That’s where the small conflicts—or what I call quirks—come in.
Quirks are the fun, weird, little things about your character that a lot of people can relate to. Maybe they have ADHD—many of my characters do. Maybe they play with their hair or pick at their nails. I had one character who eats tomatoes like apples—just washes them and bites right in. That was based on one of my best friends. She read that part and said, “Wait a minute, that’s me!” And I was like, “Yep!” Those little things help readers connect with characters in a really personal way.
Jubilee:
I love that! I've done the same thing—based quirks on my friends. Since they're real people, it helps make the characters feel more real, too.
Reilly:
Exactly. I often base parts of my characters on my family or friends. Not every part of them, but definitely certain traits. And it’s always funny when my friends read my stories and go, “This is why you were asking me all those questions!”
Jubilee:
That’s really funny. Do you usually write characters that change a lot through the story, or ones who stay mostly the same?
Reilly:
It depends on the story. Sometimes I have characters with a big overarching arc—they start young and naïve, then go through something difficult and grow into who they’re meant to be. They might experience emotional, physical, or spiritual changes, especially in my more spiritually-themed books.
Other times, I have characters—like side characters—who don’t change as much. But overall, most of my stories center around growth in some way.
Jubilee:
So how do characters change throughout the story?
Reilly:
It usually happens at a turning point, where they make a big decision that could completely change their life. For example, one of my characters had to decide whether to join the army. His parents were against it, but he wanted to go fight with his friends. That decision ended up changing him—it gave him a deep sense of compassion he didn’t know he had.
Most change comes through traumatic or chaotic events. But in genres like rom-coms—which I write just for fun—characters might change from small, meaningful moments, like helping someone or seeing something that shifts their perspective. So it can be either big or small moments that bring about growth.
Jubilee:
Yes! In the Bible, it says suffering produces character, and that’s so true. It can lead to good or bad character depending on the direction of the arc. Speaking of arcs—do you plot out your stories or just write them?
Reilly:
Oh, I’m a total planner. I plan every detail. I have outlines, plot charts, worldbuilding charts, character charts—and if it’s a fantasy story, I’ll make a full encyclopedia. There’s so much lore and backstory. I end up with like 20 pages of planning documents. It’s kind of an issue, honestly!
Jubilee:
That’s amazing! Have you heard of K.M. Weiland’s plotting resources?
Reilly:
I’ve heard of it, but I haven’t used it.
Jubilee:
She really emphasizes how character, theme, and plot are all connected. One thing I learned from her blog is that characters often start off believing a lie. Through the events of the story, they gradually begin to believe the truth. I used to write conversion stories where the character believed a lie for 75% of the book, then suddenly switched at the end. But I realized character change happens gradually over the whole story.
Reilly:
Yes, absolutely. That makes so much sense.
Jubilee:
Have you come across any resources that you’d recommend to writers—whether they’re just starting out or have been building characters for years?
Reilly:
Honestly, I don’t use a ton of resources. My biggest tool is just observing people. My dad and I go on walks along the beach in the summer, and we people-watch. The more you understand real people, the better you can write believable characters.
People are dynamic—they’re always changing, thinking, feeling, evolving. Your characters should be the same. Even if it’s an animal or fantasy creature with human-like thoughts, they should still be dynamic.
Jubilee:
That’s such a great point—watching people really is one of the best tools.
Reilly:
Just… don’t be creepy about it, okay? I’m not saying to go spy on your neighbors with binoculars!
Jubilee:
Haha! I read a writing book once where someone said they eavesdropped on people at stoplights. I was like... okay, I don’t think I’d go that far!
Reilly:
Yeah, that’s a bit extreme!
Jubilee:
Well, this has been awesome. One last question—where can listeners find you online?
Reilly:
You can find me mainly through The Inked Podcast socials. We’re on YouTube, and the podcast is also on Spotify. For more information or to submit questions, check out our website: theinkedworld.com.
Jubilee:
Awesome! Everyone go check that out! Thank you so much for doing this, Reilly!
Reilly:
It was a lot of fun!
*****
Did you enjoy this interview? Check out my interview on defeating writer's block here!