3.WRITING PROCESS: Develop-Character Development

This is what I use to “flesh-out” my characters. It is a couple of key points that I feel covers all the bases in character development. First of all, I put my characters in three categories:

Primary Characters

Without these characters, there would not be a story.

Secondary Characters:

Characters who are close to the main characters, like sidekicks or henchmen. They are important to the story but not primary.

Extras

These characters may pop in an out of the story very quickly and may only serve one specific purpose. They are not primary or secondary, but may need to be developed to give them life to better fulfill their short role in the story.

Afterwards, I develop my characters with the categories below.

Name

A real name, nickname, code name, or alias, by which is your character called?

Past

To develop my characters, I need to know where they have come from and what they have gone through. Their past should explain their present. Oddly enough though, I work in reverse. Usually, I know how my characters are at present so I work backwards to come up with WHY they are the way they are. Whether my character is a loving parent, shy teenager, or psycho killer, I need to figure out what events in their past molded them into what they are now. I often think about how their childhood must of been, how were their teenage years? Once my imagination gets going it’s easy to think of a logical back-story or chain of events to connect their present to their past.

Present

Here, I explain my character's present state regarding the main story. I go through their current position in life and list any key details as needed for the story, and I write out their take is on things as far as when they enter the story.

Future

Though not every character has a future in the story, because they either will be killed off or are only in the story for a short period, regardless, I like to come up with future goals for all my characters. One reason for this is it makes them that much more real. If they have a goal that they want to achieve it makes them seem less like they are in the story just to support the Protag or Antag. In addition, their goal is what drives them and it can be something they talk about in passing with other characters. The readers may not ever need to know what this is but I like to know in order to give my characters more life. My second reason for coming up with their future is that sometimes I stumble upon some good plot twists. One character may want to achieve something that will interfere with the key characters plans and that’s when lies, betrayal, and blah, blah, blah comes in to play.

When I come up with a characters future I try to make it as natural as it can be based off their past and present because if it does clash with the plans of the main characters it will be a natural clash and not one that was forced into existence, which can feel...well..."forced" if not executed correctly.

Personality

What is my character like? What is their attitude? Why does Karen roll her eyes every time Robert walks into a room? As I said before, I usually know "why" already because it is connected with the characters Present State, but by creating their past, I further enhance their personality and link it to actual events.

Objective

What does my character want to accomplish in the current story? Be it the Protag, Antag, or secondary characters, I need to know what they want to accomplish in the story. As to where the character's future goal doesn't have to be based on the current story, the characters objective is all about the story. If it's not, they should not be in the story. If I have a main bad guy and he has a henchman, I should know his henchmen's objective, even if their objective is just to protect the main bad guy. With all the fleshing out and brainstorming that I do to develop a character's past, present, future, and personality, their objective brings all that energy back to focus on the main story. To me, this makes our characters a lot like us. Although we all have our own hopes, dreams, and personalities those times that we pop in and out of each other’s lives are for a particular purpose/objective. The security guard in a bank has his own life story but while I'm in the bank, his objective is to protect me and the financial institution, or, stop me if I'm the one trying to rob the place. He is there for a reason and he has an objective.

Conflict

Characters most likely will have their own individual conflicts to resolve. They can be internal or external and I look at them as subplots because they can be in line with or apart from the main story. Being that my character has an objective; chances are it will conflict with either the main plot or another character’s objective. This is where I identify that conflict and explain whom or what it is with and the “why” behind it.

Resolution

How will the conflict be resolved? Just like in the Story Concept portion, I need to know how a character will resolve their conflict so that I can write in that direction.

Description

This is where I develop the image of my character. I detail what they look like, how they dress, and specify any particular qualities or abilities that they may possess.

Head: I describe age, eyes, hair, and any other unique features about the characters face.

Body: I describe body type, weight, and physique. If my character is a warrior of some kind, their body should show it whether if they are male or female. A character's body type should fit their "occupation". A drug addict should look like a drug addict, a dancer a dancer, and a warrior a warrior.

Clothes: What do they generally wear in the story? How do they dress? This also links to their personality. A person into Goth wouldn't normally dress in a pristine white suit, unless it served some metaphorical purpose of course and even then, it would have to have a particular style to it.

Items: I list and describe any particualr items of note in their possession like a keepsake from a deceased parent, a magical item, or favorite piece of jewelry.

Notes

In this section, I usually detail my characters powers, special abilities, or oddities that do not fit in any other category. I name them, explain how they work, and list any side effects, advantages, or disadvantages.

This is another process where I feel that each category helps in the development of the others. The Past, Present, and Future categories obviously influence each other, but also, they dictate a character’s personality. This is multi-directional and not just linear as well. As I mentioned before, I usually work from my character’s present state then develop their past. Obviously, you can work from the past to the present, but also, you can develop their past and present starting with their personality.

In what ways do you develop your characters? How do you flesh them out and make them “real”?