Writing Help

Character Development

This topic has much to discuss, and I can't get into it as fully as I'd like in one chapter. This will be introductory, seeing as much of it is up to the author to decide.

For a full and complete book, there will be many characters you'll have to develop. In short stories you can often get away with barely (or not at all) developing characters, but with longer works you have to go in depth with every character you interact with more than just a few times.

The basic list of characters that need developing is this: Main character, supporting characters (such as friends and family), the antagonist and anyone closely related with them, and any other character that adds to the plot. It's a lot of work, but it's worth it to see your book come to life.

To start off, it's good to write up something physical for the character. I have a notebook dedicated to plotting and character development because I work best when all the information is physical rather than digital. It also helps if you're artistic and draw up sketches of the character, or to be a little more messy than doing it digital can offer. 

I always suggest going for a multi-media paper sketchbook, which is relatively cheap at craft stores and Walmarts alike. Multi-media means you can use a number of different mediums on the paper (Paint, pencil, ink, pastels, markers, etc.) and it won't warp or bleed through. This lets you glue lined paper into some of the pages, as well as character, scene, or setting reference photos.

My plotting notebook is a little crazy. It's messy, incomplete, and sometimes I can't read my own handwriting. But I have been able to give myself a reference photo of what my character looks like, a basic timeline of her life leading up to the beginning of the book, all the basic details of her character, what she likes and dislikes, her personality, and even a playlist I put together to match her character.

The whole point of this notebook is not to be neat or pretty, this isn't a bullet journal, it's putting your brains on the table. It's supposed to help keep everything in one place.

Now that we've discussed what to do with your developed character, we have to actually discuss how to develop your character.

Say you're starting from scratch. You have a story in mind and the very basic points of a new main character. The first thing I usually do is start off with basic bullet points of everything I know about the character. Age, physical features, likes and dislikes, and goals. If I'm developing the main character first (which I almost always am) and I have some semblance of a plot, I start writing out their goals and what they contribute to the plot. I won't have everything down right away, but having as much as I can written (in pencil!!) right away is key.

The next (and more tricky) part happens when you've created more of the plot.

Your character has goals.

The point of a book is almost always to accomplish a goal within the story. One of the biggest part of character development is noticing how each character evolves under the pressure of those goals. What lessons they've learned, who they've lost, what they've gained, and how all of that is going to change them.

This is especially important if the main goal of the story is something more mental and emotional. Their personality can change from either age or environmental factors, events such as character death, politics, or other major events within the story. It's important to pay attention to each of these events so you can gauge how to accurately respond to them.

Certain traumas may increase a certain mental health condition. The death of a character close to them may leave them feeling vulnerable or unsafe, and taking the grieving process into account is incredibly important. People will often change significantly when someone close to them dies, and even the most emotionless, strong, rock hard characters can still be affected by those things.

To finish it off, if at the end of the story your character is the same as when they started, you probably developed them wrong, or the plot wasn't strong enough. People change in personality quickly, sometimes for no reason. Phrases they used to say won't stick forever. Their tendencies and mannerisms will change. People get into highs of loving a certain phrase or acting a certain way, but will quickly get over them, just like we do. It's a very human thing to take into account. 

I always find it helpful to create a timeline. Or multiple. One for the actual major events in the plot, and one for how the character changes throughout the story and reacts to those events. It helps me keep a good account of everything I need to remember about how to eventually write the character.

While developing characters is long, tedious, and sometimes wildly unpleasant, it's both necessary and rewarding. Watching the people you worked so hard on finally come to life and fulfill your plot is possibly the best thing you get out of developing your characters. You can write the story while you're developing, and it's even encouraged sometimes. You'll be able to write along with your characters and really find out for yourself how they'll respond. Remember, you can always change what needs to be changed. It's okay to go back and realize that how you thought the character would react isn't how they'd react, or change pieces that weren't quite right. This is your book and it's up to you to decide how everything goes, even if that means changing what you used to think was correct.

As a final thought, and the one I started with, character development is different for everyone. While I use a notebook, others may want everything digital. While mine is messy, you might want to take your messy notes and put them into a more bullet journal style, nicely organized notebook, and that's perfectly okay. As long as your characters react correctly to the plot, change along the way (for better or worse), and accomplish the goal they set out to accomplish at the beginning of the story, that's all you need to worry about.

Good luck with your characters!