z

Young Writers Society


Character Development



User avatar
121 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 1832
Reviews: 121
Thu May 22, 2014 12:54 pm
View Likes
WritingWolf says...



I'm currently writing a novel, but one of the things that I'm struggling with is that I only really know two of the characters. I very unsure about the rest of them.
So I was wondering if YWS had any tips/suggestions for developing characters? By this I don't mean the little form game things, those are easy, it's just a bunch of decisions (what's their favorite color? how old are they?). Those are good to do, but I usually have already answered those questions by the time I decide to look for help with a character.
What I need to do is to get to know my character. How will this person react to said situation? What kind of things can I do with my characters to learn these things?

The one thing I've thought of is to think of small things that have happened to them in their past (like finding a kitten) and writing a short about how they reacted to that event. But I don't really know what kind of events would help me? Any suggestions?

As of right now I have a specific character I want to develop more. But I will probably reuse any techniques that work well.
~You can only grasp what you reach for~
  





User avatar
172 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 0
Reviews: 172
Thu May 22, 2014 1:09 pm
View Likes
Laure says...



Frankly, I love creating and watching my characters grow but I will admit it has been a very long time since I've done that. Character development is a difficult to manage, and those so called fact sheets won't really help you at all.

The best way to develop a character is actually to place yourself in their shoes, explor their history, their background, their personality and what motivates them to do certain things. Dig down deep until you know every ounce of who they are, even in a classroom situation. You can ask yourself, what they will do.

I remember once, years ago I had this wonderful character I adored. She was literally there within my thoughts and I viewed her as another human being. When you can view your characters as living things and let them do their own things as you write. That's the truth abo developing. You build up little by little with each chapter, but first, like all things. You have to understand how they work, how their gears turn and what propels them to do certain things.

This is my experience, hope I helped.
  





User avatar
121 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 1832
Reviews: 121
Thu May 22, 2014 1:14 pm
WritingWolf says...



Thank you Laure. I agree with everything you said. But the thing is, you didn't tell me how. Should I go with writing shorts like I had mentioned? Do you have suggestions for other things I could do to get to know my characters that closely? I still don't see how.
~You can only grasp what you reach for~
  





User avatar
396 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 27
Reviews: 396
Thu May 22, 2014 1:36 pm
View Likes
Pompadour says...



Characters are what run your story! I'm glad to see that you want to really get to know your characters, and that's always a brilliant approach; to live in your novel and to see your characters as people. It's not possible for you to reach the same depth for every character, I think, but it depends more on the number of characters, and the role they play in your book. Let's say you have twenty characters throughout a series; characters you expect your readers to interact with. There are several other unnamed faces, but we're not talking about them over here.

So, basically, what do you want to know about your characters? Do you think knowing their favourite colour is important? Or do you want to know their strengths and weaknesses, their flaws, their thoughts and their opinions? Character development is something that you learn as you write, and you need to know how different events -- as well as the unfolding of the plot -- will influence your character. But background knowledge? It's much needed.

I'd suggest you draw up a template if that's what helps you. Personally, I find it difficult to keep organized, but it depends on the writer, I guess. It could be something like this:

1) Name/Age/Features: These are the basics. Creating a strong image of your character in your mind always helps. You're free to base them off real people, if that helps. Are your characters acting according to their age? That's something you should always keep in check.

2) History: A little bit of history never hurts. Where were they born? What was their childhood like, and how did it influence them, making them who they are today? If they were orphans, they could be love-hungry and distrustful. If they lived a sheltered life, they might be shy and not so willing to adapt to unexpected circumstances. It's a simple case of cause and effect. You understand the causes, you understand the effect, i.e: your character and their actions make much more sense to you.

3) Flaws/Weaknesses: Your characters are people. They make mistakes. I think you know where to go from here.

4) Strong points: What do you admire about your characters that you would about any other person? Mull over it, and make sure you maintain these qualities throughout the writing process!

5) Relationships: To understand how your characters would react to others throughout your novel, you have to know what their relationships are with other people. Take Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter. Arch-enemies. Cue the lack of animosity, burning hatred and excessive name-calling; you're good to go!

6) Explore: Take risks. We're all learning how to write, so experiment as much as possible. Write spin-offs; place your characters in unlikely situations and see how they deal. Get to know them. Play conversations with them -- in your head, on paper, anywhere! Don't be worried if they're flat in the beginning. Once you settle down and get into the flow of writing, those voices speak for themselves. Write, write and write some more!

If you're looking for character templates, you can check these sites out. I would suggest you make your own template, however, since that is one of the best (and easiest) ways to go!

Good luck, and I hope this helped. ^_^
How to format poetry on YWS

this sky where we live is no place to lose your wings
  





User avatar
121 Reviews



Gender: Female
Points: 1832
Reviews: 121
Thu May 22, 2014 7:03 pm
View Likes
WritingWolf says...



Thank you for the advice Pompadour!
~You can only grasp what you reach for~
  





User avatar
1272 Reviews



Gender: Other
Points: 89625
Reviews: 1272
Sat May 31, 2014 8:36 pm
View Likes
Rosendorn says...



First off, strengths do not necessarily have to be good and weaknesses do not necessarily have to be bad. What makes a complex character, and a realistic one, is their strengths being used against them and their weaknesses helping them out. These are not black and white lists, which is why I prefer to mix them under one list called "traits" instead of anything that indicates one is better than the other.

Take, for example, somebody who's always diplomatic. This makes them fantastic mediators, but they're far less likely to know when they need to not be diplomatic. Their diplomacy, normally a strength (seeing the other side, not rocking the boat, trying to help other people understand what the issue is from both sides), is then turned into a huge weakness: they spend all their energy trying to fix something irreparable, convince bigots who refuse to change why they should, and could put themselves in a very dangerous situation.

On the flipside, somebody who's timid and shy will probably hear everything around them, get a lot of opinions, and has probably noticed every single escape route because they wanted to get out of that situation at the first opportunity.

If you think always in black and white, then everything becomes more of a convenience than anything. You stick in a flaw to hamstring them in this particular situation, then a strength to help them in that particular situation, and they don't really overlap. It becomes a checklist instead of a person.

Motive and history are two huge ones. I'd expand them, however, and add in:

1- Parents'/guardians' expectations. Who raises us is a huge factor in how we behave in the rest of the world, so once you know how somebody was raised, you've got a good chunk of their personality figured out (this is especially evident when parents were toxic in one way or another; their behaviour becomes "the norm" and people raised in that environment are confused at other situations, and often replicate what they grew up with)

2- Social class. This ties into how people grew up. Different socio-economic classes will have drastically different mindsets, from poverty to the rich.

3- Attitudes towards things they need to interact with. How do they treat work? School? Fun? Money? Their things? Other people's things? This lets you know how they'll interact with those around them.

4- What's their social circle like? Are they used to supportive friends, a close knit group, or being abandoned? Friends are another big part of how our attitudes are shaped, so figuring them out is another important part.

Basically, people do not exist in a vacuum. As much as Western society in particular loves saying "we're individual and don't rely on anybody!" ... we do. A lot. We are often shaped as much if not more by our environment than we build ourselves. Even if you have somebody who does something purposely to shape themselves, they've probably done it as a reaction to something that happened to them (if a friend has been abandoned, they can make a promise to themselves to never abandon anybody. Likewise, if somebody has never been abandoned, the thought of abandoning anybody is so alien they won't).

Make sure to figure out the setting the character came from on top of who they are. The two grow in tandem.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





Random avatar


Gender: None specified
Points: 270
Reviews: 18
Sun Jun 01, 2014 3:19 am
shulchan says...



Have you ever heard of Jung's sixteen personality types? He was a psychiatrist who basically categorized personalities down to sixteen types. There is extensive info available on all the types and I like to use it for character personalities. Here's a link to gt you started-

http://www.personalitypage.com/high-level.html

There are loads of other sites, though, just do a google search. It makes it really easy to create characters because the personalities are already established. Obviously, to make original characters you'll want to create a history and add some unique quirks and stuff, but it's a great starting place.

Hope I helped! :)
  





User avatar
1272 Reviews



Gender: Other
Points: 89625
Reviews: 1272
Sun Jun 01, 2014 4:47 am
Rosendorn says...



Jung's personality types, while wonderful, only really provide a structure for motivations, drives, and potential interests.

For example, two of my very good friends are INTJ. While both have similar meticulous work ethic, almost mechanical thinking, and are in biology, they are extremely different people to talk to. One is almost always calm and collected, and their anger manifests as white hot words that can cut you like a knife. The other is extremely passionate and is known to dissolve into angry sputtering if something makes her angry enough, and she has to stop for awhile to gather thoughts.

While Jung's personality types are useful for determining core traits such as what interests them, the way they'll attack a problem, and motivation, they are by no means a pre-made personality.

Also, people have a tendency to fit in more than one of those personality types. In some situations, I'm ENTJ. In others, I'm INTJ, or INTP, or ISFP, or ISTJ, or whatever. People don't fit in those boxes very easily, even though they often do have a dominant personality type, they are by no means pegged to one.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





Random avatar


Gender: None specified
Points: 270
Reviews: 18
Sun Jun 01, 2014 5:38 pm
shulchan says...



@ Rosey- You're right, I should have clarified that. I only meant it to be used as a starting place- I personally find it much easier than to start from scratch.:)
  








Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others.
— Groucho Marx