Characterization: Five Rules

These five rules are from How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction, a book that has excellent advice for all fiction writers in spite of a title that emphasizes genre fiction. These rules (much abridged) were written by Dean R Koontz. I always prefer advice from successful writers, not amateurs or academics, and Dean Koontz certainly qualifies here.

• Your character must not act irrationally and must not get into trouble merely because he makes stupid decisions.
• Your character must not be passive.
• Your lead characters must not be supermen or superwomen whose actions always succeed.
• Your characters ... must have lives outside the central story.
• Your lead characters must not be concerned solely about his own fate.