@Takara-Senpai Thank you ❤❤❤
This is such a lovely, well written message and you have no idea how much it means to me that you took the time to write it for me.
Good luck on your story! Of course I would love to help you in any way I can, so here goes:
To make any character feel "real" I like to think about how I know they react to situations... This way I can get a feel for them and then apply it to other situations. A lot of the time I will start writing, with a loose idea of how the situation will go and how the character will react, but then they don't do what I want them to... Which isn't a problem! Just let the story flow and you'll find the characters acting exactly how they would. For example, when I was writing the scene where Sam and Y/N swim to shore after the boat sinks, I planned on Sam panicking about Nate, and Y/N would have calmed him down, but instead it ended up with him being calm and playing a trick on Y/N, because I felt that was more in character of him...
After I write a scene, I'll go back and read it and make sure it sounds right too, even if I personally don't agree with how the character is acting.
I hope this helped and isn't too confusing to read.
I wish you the best of luck with your story, and thanks again for the lovely message