How To: Develop Your Characters
I think weâve all been in the situation where we want to write about a specific character but have no idea how to approach it. For some reason, despite them being your own character, you have no idea how they would act or what they would say in a certain situation. Sometimes, if you even write about your character(s) at all, when you read it back they seem fake or 2-Dimensional. Unrealistic, if youâd prefer.
In this post, I am going to give you some exercises to get past hollow characters and help develop your writing.Â
Pretty simple. Think of what your characters would have in their pockets on a day-to-day basis. It doesnât have to be anything super extraordinary, of course. Just start writing some everyday items down and think about whether your character would have these items in their pockets.Â
Letâs take a look at one I did for my characters earlier. (sorry that just sounded like something from Blue Peter)
Character Aâs Pockets Contained:
pack of gum, empty pack of cigarettes, library card, NOKIA brick phone
So, here a few things you can tell about Character A simply through the items in their pockets. They visit the library often, meaning that they probably have a high interest in reading (this also could be a sign of intelligence). Judging by the fact Character A has both a pack of gum and cigarettes this could indicate a potential smoking habit, chewing gum is a known way for helping people quit smoking. The pack of cigarettes could show that they are not very good at restricting themselves and could in fact be addicted and finding it hard to cope with smoking. Finally, the NOKIA brick phone shows how they may want to feel connected to people or want to allow their friends/family members/whoever to be able to contact them but have no desire to get the latest model of phone or perhaps believe that having such a device would distract them unnecessarily.Â
When doing this exercise, think about key objects which portray certain details about your character! Try not to overthink it too much, write whatever comes to mind and put it down on the page! After writing down a couple objects, go back through them and feel free to edit out items you think are unnecessary or add items which you think would suit the character.Â
2) Go Through Their Daily Routine
Again, another easily explained exercise. Go through a regular day in your characterâs life, try and do this exercise as if it was happening before whatever events occur in your story or novel. This way it makes it easier to understand your character before they met a secondary character in the novel or before whatever events happened in your writing which may affect their routine. You donât need to include every single detail in your description, just brief notes or key events which occur during their day would be fine. You can make it as short or as long as you wish, maybe donât just do it for one day in your characterâs week perhaps do it for multiple days.Â
Does their routine change during the week? What time do they wake up? What time do they go to sleep? Are they punctual with going to work? Do they do any other activities outside their day-job? These are the kind of things you may want to ask yourself when writing it.Â
3) Give Them Fears/Phobias
Everyone fears something: whether it be a phobia of spiders or oblivion, everyone has a fear. Giving your character a phobia makes them seem more realistic, it allows your reader to easily relate to your character.
However, just having a phobia for the sake of it doesnât help develop your character at all. If you give them a terrible phobia of snakes and they come across a snake and suddenly within moments are able to get over their fear just like that, itâs not a phobia. Itâs more of a mild inconvenience than anything else. The reader needs to feel convinced by their fears, they would feel more dissatisfied with your writing if they felt the character could dismiss anything and everything than knowing them being confronted by their fears could be a possible problem. Besides, it would give them no reason to motivate or encourage the character if they knew it was impossible for them to be defeated by anything. Still, this does not mean that your character has to be destroyed by their fear. There is a very big difference between simply dismissing your characterâs fear and perhaps overcoming it in the future.
An easy way to write your character possibly overcoming their fear in the future is that when they first encounter that fear, add an element of chance or fate into it. For example, if a character were to move to get away from the creature which may be coming towards them; in the process of getting up, they could slip which could cause their legs to lash out towards the creature. The sudden movement may just be enough to scare the creature away, this way it does not appear to the reader as ridiculous or uncharacteristic courage but instead accidental bravery. This sudden revelation that the characterâs horrible fear may not be as all powerful as they first thought could be the first step for them to slowly overcome that fear.
Donât believe me? Letâs think about this for a moment. Imagine your character, letâs call them the Protagonistâ˘, is stuck in a terrible situation. It doesnât matter what the situation is but letâs say itâs something which involves them being trapped in a room with a snake. Iâm going to give you two examples, both involving the same situation.
Example #1:
Protagonist watched with wide eyes as the snake slowly slithered towards them. The snake paused for a moment, it hissed lowly as it waited for Protagonist to move, waiting for the right moment to strike. Â Not hesitating for a single moment, they suddenly realised how dire the situation was and jumped to their feet. Their heart pumping wildly as their body was filled with adrenaline, they were terrified yet they had to do something. Protagonist grabbed the nearest thing to them and stepped towards the snake.
âGet away!â They threatened, âGet away!â
Protagonist watched with wide eyes as the snake slowly slithered towards them. The snake paused for a moment, it hissed lowly as it waited for Protagonist to move, waiting for the right moment to strike. The blood in Protagonistâs veins ran cold as the snake grew closer and closer, Protagonist couldnât move. They begged and screamed on the inside to move away, to get away as far as possible. They had lost all control of their movement, their fear had consumed them. They were frozen to the spot and could only watch as the snake widened itâs jaw, ready to bite down on itâs prey. It widened itâs jaw once, twice - suddenly, Protagonist gained back their instincts. Fleeing seemed like the only realistic option and seconds before the snake could chomp down on their ankle, Protagonist stumbled to their feet. They stumbled backwards into a puddle of water which had pooled behind them and their ankle rolled as they slipped, their legs accidentally lashing out towards the predator. The snake recoiled backwards in shock before deciding that the risk wasnât worth it: it quickly retreated back to itâs nest, disappearing from Protagonistâs view.
Now, hopefully you see what I mean. I think we can all agree that the second example is a lot better than the first one.Â
4) Create Their Flaws/Bad Habits
No one is perfect, this includes your characters.Â
If youâre finding it challenging to think of any flaws, try to think of some bad habits. It doesnât have to be anything so terribly bad thatâs itâs illegal. Think simple when it comes to this exercise. It can range from anything between chewing their nails to swearing.Â
It might help to try and develop these bad habits into possible flaws or weaknesses. If your character keeps biting their nails that might be a sign of nervousness or anxiety. So, creating bad habits might be a good way to show a certain trait your character may possess.Â
Flaws are important as well. Letâs be realistic, if no character had any flaws then every single book we read would be filled with a bunch of characters which are exactly the same. Besides, whatâs a hero without itâs villain?Â
So, to give you a few ideas, letâs go back to superheroes. Maybe a hero is so set on doing the right thing that they lose sight of what they want? Perhaps it gets to a certain point where they canât handle that hollow feeling inside of them that they grow arrogant, selfish or even stubborn? Thereâs a story for you right there.Â
Not only that, by giving your characters flaws it is possible that you could work that into your story somehow. This way, not only will you get to show off your amazing character development, but it could also be an exciting point in your storyline.
Write down some ideas, think of flawed personality traits and just write them down! Try to write down at least five straight off the bat, for each one you donât like you should think about why it doesnât suit your character. Youâre bound to find one flaw youâre happy with!
Now that youâve developed your characters, go ahead and write them in your story! If you think you still need a bit of practice, try writing something about them being in a certain scenario. It could be anything from ordering their favourite coffee to being trapped in a prison: just write it! Try not to think about it too much, just do whatever feels write (I unintentionally made that pun but iâm not deleting it).Â
It doesnât have to be long either, just a couple paragraphs would be fine. Try to focus on body movements and interior thoughts, it would be ideal if your character was on their own in the situation: that way you can get to know the character on their own a lot better. No other characters means no distractions. Itâs just you, the wonderful author, and your character - there is an endless amount of possibilities for you!Â
Have faith in yourself too! Nobody knows your brilliantly developed characters better than you do, so hereâs your chance to show them off! If youâd like a second opinion, write something about them and give it to a friend/parent/random stranger etc. to read! If they donât want to, make them read it anyway!Â
I hope this helps you all in developing your characters!Â
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