Character Development
Character development is something that I really enjoy in writing. I enjoy getting to know the characters, being surprised by them, falling in love with them or being repulsed by them, some of my characters even scare me. Characters are the first thing I notice in a story, because they’re the main part of the story, possibly even more than the plot itself. They’re who the story centers around and you have to be able to at least tolerate them for the entirety of the book. Unfortunately, I’ve read some books that I could only go so far as to tolerate the characters of, or whose characters downright annoyed me. So how do we get to know our characters inside out so that we can make readers love our characters? (Make is a bit harsher a word than I want, but I’m not thinking of one that fits at the moment.)
In this post I’ll cover some exercises that can help us really get to know our characters.
To begin I’m going to say that I agree with Shaelin from ShaelinWrites on YouTube in that I think you get to know your characters best by writing them. I suggest watching her video on exercises to develop characters, because it’s really good. I really like her whole channel, actually, though there are rare occasions on which when uses the S-word, which I would warn you of before you start watching them. Further warning, I can’t in good conscience recommend the videos that include her brother because he cusses more, and in one (Writing High Fantasy) he drops an F-bomb, which is really a shame because otherwise it’s a really great video, but overall her channel is cleaner than some other writing channels I’ve seen. Anyway, that turned into an unexpectedly long bunny trail. *cough* Let’s get back on track, shall we?
I think you get to know characters best by writing them, and so most of the tips and tricks in here will probably have to do with writing your characters in one way or another.
Since I linked to Shaelin’s video I’ll just give short explanations of the methods laid out in said video, in case you’re not going to watch it, and if you’d like them expanded on you can watch the video.
The first method she suggests is basically word association. You make a list of things that remind you of your character. The second method is to grab a list of adages (curiosity killed the cat, the early bird gets the worm, a watched pot never boils, etc.) and write how your character would feel about these adages. Would they agree or disagree with them? Method number three is to write scenes about your character. They can be scenes from the book, or just random situations that you throw your character into and see how they react to. The last method she suggests is to make a pyramid of motivations, which I can’t really explain and you’ll have to watch the video to get explained.
And now we get into my suggestions. One of the things I do the most to flesh out a character is to role play (RP) with them. I tend to RP with my best friend since she’s also a writer and I don’t really have many other people to RP with, and we just toss our characters together and see what happens in certain situations. We have soooo many RPs going at once it’s not even funny. A lot of them end up neglected, and the majority of them focus on the same core group of characters that we call “The Squad,” but that’s not something I suggest, lol. It’s better to play around with different characters, see how they react to different people, different situations, etc. Some will get along really well and some just… won’t, just like in real life, and it’s really interesting to see those relationships unfold. A couple of my characters and hers have actually gotten married to each other in alternate timelines, so… yeah. AUs (Alternate Universes) for the win!
You can also use character profiles. These can be more or less helpful depending on what questions are on it. I’ve actually learned a lot about characters from templates that have deeper questions, while more shallow ones are just a “laundry list of facts,” as Shaelin calls them. They’re not really helpful. So if you can find a really extensive, deep character profile, I suggest filling it out and seeing what you learn about your character. The only downside to these long ones is the fact that they can be really tedious to fill out. I have one that works well for me that a friend of mine gave me and I altered slightly, and while it’s really, really helpful, I also occasionally have to take breaks when filling it out because it’s so extensive. And there are some that are a happy medium, and those are pretty good, too. Again, it depends on what questions are asked.
These are the best ways I’ve found to develop characters, and hopefully they’re helpful for you as well. :)
Your RP sessions sound fun and creative!! Sometimes I write crossovers for my different series, where all my MCs are good friends, and I imagine what sort of fun they would do together. I imagined a quadruple date for couples from 4 different of my books, girl’s-day-out mall trips, dangerous enemies they have to face and defeat, etc. Like single player role play, heh heh. Sometimes I’ll even throw in myself or my brother, and imagine if I was lucky enough to know my characters!
BTW, as author/creator of your worlds and characters, do you imagine yourself as the “parent” of your characters, or as a friend, sibling, or monarch? And do you think your characters would believe you if you ever went into their world and told them you wrote a book on their lives and adventures? (Most of mine would believe me EVENTUALLY, if and when I had explained a LOT, or shown it to them with their own eyes. I would be a family friend, or maybe a cousin.)
That’s fun! I’ve done some single-player RPs, too, usually throwing a variety of characters together to explore some new setting that I can make up as I go along. For me it’s usually driven by an interest to see how their relationships would develop if they met and were put into a situation where they have to solve a mystery or puzzle or find their way around someplace new together, and how the different dynamics would play out. They might eventually get to those scenarios where they’re already good friends, but it’s the development of different relationships that I tend to find interesting to start with. I did once start a short story exploring what would happen if the characters of a particular series met me and learned I was their author, but it didn’t go very far.
I used to think of them all as my “children,” and I do still refer to them that way sometimes if I’m commenting on something stupid they’re doing or putting them through something hard that they would need protecting from (comments like “Come on, child,” or, “Poor child”). But as a whole I don’t really know. Some of them are like friends (especially when I spend long enough with them), some are just characters that I have say over like a monarch, some from my earliest stories do feel somewhat like siblings. I don’t think there’s really one answer I could give to that question.
I don’t know about their responses to learning I’m their author, either. Some would probably hate me and/or demand I change their stories; some would find it hard to believe at all; some would be peaceable with the idea; some would ask lots of “why” questions, lol.
Lol, yeah, every story and character are different. It’s always interesting seeing how different dynamics and adventures would affect them. Thanks for the reply!!