The 5 Invincible Channels: How Pulitzer Prize Winner Junot Díaz Brings A Character To Life

And how you can too with AI

Hey There!

Have you ever read a character so real, they felt like someone you could sit down and have coffee with?

Good writers make it look easy. But the truth is, it’s one of the hardest things to do as a fiction writer. People are dynamic. They aren’t flat like the pages you read.

As Junot Díaz, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author behind The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao puts it:

“Characters do shit. A believable character is one who seems like an actual living person. The more dimensions you can put on the page, the more believable your character will be.”

So how do you pull a fictional person out of your brain and transform them into someone readers will swear they’ve met before?

The secret lies in what Díaz calls the “Five Invincible Channels” of character communication.

The 5 Invincible Channels

According to Díaz, characters don’t need to be expressed through all these channels, but he says it’s easier when they are.

Let’s take a look at each one and then we’ll use AI to help you build out your own character using all 5.

1. Dialogue

Dialogue is what your character says out loud.

It reveals personality, quirks, background, and conflict.

"Don' you worry, Harry. You'll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you'll be just fine."

You can infer a lot about Hagrid in Harry Potter from this one sentence. Hagrid is warm. He’s empathetic. He’s not a “proper” wizard.

Diction differentiates.

And it’s a powerful way to enliven your characters.

2. Thought

Thought gives the reader direct access to who your character is—inside.

Unlike a movie, you can expose internal dialogue.

“I spread my arrows over the ground before me with my eyes focused on the hole where the squirrel had been. A moment later the head poked up and I had it pinned to the ground, my arrow drove through its eye.”

Katniss Everdeen is cold, calculating, and a survivor.

And when you combine Dialogue and Thought, you build a complete picture of your character’s motivation. Because after all, real humans are complex and we don’t always say or do, what we are thinking. Which is relatable (and enjoyable to read).

3. Memory

Memories ground your characters in a “lived experience.”

Present actions carry more weight because we understand the context that shaped the character. In Kite Runner, Amir reflectively relives his childhood betrayal of Hassan:

“He knew I had betrayed him and yet he was rescuing me once again, maybe for the last time. I loved him in that moment....I wondered if that was how forgiveness budded.”

Through memory, the reader is allowed into the bigger picture at play. Rather than just starting the story on page one, memory ropes us into everything that came before. Which adds depth and meaning behind what your character thinks and does.

4. Action

Action is the proving ground.

It pushes the story forward. And it’s what most people think of when they are writing stories. But actions require choices that reveal motivation. For example, Hermione in Harry Potter creates S.P.E.W. (The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare) to promote rights for mistreated magical creatures. It’s this activism that displays her sense of justice foreshadowing adult Hermione reforming wizarding laws.

“You know, house-elves get a very raw deal!” said Hermione indignantly. “It’s slavery, that’s what it is!”

Action moves plot and broadcasts character.

5. Body

“The body” reinforces the fact that a character is a human, but in a fictional world.

• Sweating, heart racing, trembling hands when nervous or afraid

• Pacing back and forth, tapping feet, or fidgeting when anxious

• Cringing in disgust, smiling involuntarily in joy, laughing loudly

• Wincing or flinching in pain, shoulders slumping in disappointment

• Goosebumps from cold, shivering in fear, blushing in embarrassment

• Gasping in surprise, shouting in anger, clenching fists

Avoid just writing about how the character is thinking or feeling.

Show their physical experience too.

By engaging a character's conflicts, voice, thoughts, physicality, and memories, you construct a complete person who seems to live and breathe.

Do you think a robot can help bring your character to life?

Let’s see!

How To Make Your Character Come Alive With AI

Your goal is to make your character as complex as an actual human

• Competing desires

• Testing of beliefs

• Marker moments

• A full range of emotion

• Acting against their own interest

• Flawed, contradictory, and growing

This is the magic great writing can create.

Time to give AI a swing.

Step 1: Describe Your Character Sub-Archetype

Let’s say you are just getting started.

• You know your Genre and Sub-Genre.

• You know the Plot Archetype you want to follow.

• You have a draft of your story outline.

• You’ve designed a world.

• And you’ve got a character list!

The next step is to put some flesh on your characters.

Start with one of your Character’s Sub-Archetypes (Hero, Scholar, Observer, etc.). You can find a massive list of 77 Sub-Archetypes here if you need help. Then drop your character into the below prompt and ask for a Character Description.

I want to create a description for my character.

Character Sub-Archetype = {Character Sub-Archetype}

Character Role = {Role e.g. Protagnoist, Antagonist, etc.}

I am writing a {Sub-Genre} story using the Plot Archetype: 

Plot Archetype = {Plot Archetype}

OPTIONAL: And here is the outline of the story:

{Copy/Paste 3-Act Outline}

Please describe my character.

Give the character:

- A Name 
- 1-2 sentences of description
- 1 "contradiction" about their personality that makes them interesting. 
- 1 thing they want (so we can follow their progress in the story toward this goal of theirs)

Here’s what the results look like using the following pieces of our story:

• Character Sub-Archetype: The Mournful Avenger

• Genre: Thriller

• Plot Archetype: Seeking Home

Step 2: Bring Your Character To Life With The 5 Invincible Channels

You can do this for any character in your story.

All you need to get started is a brief description. Which you created in Step 1. Copy/paste the description in the below script.

Here’s the prompt: