Character development

I've decided to make a post that is strictly about developing your characters for your story. This is harder than it sounds, especially if you're writing a story for adults, or a story with a lot of emotional depth.

I do have some advice on it, and there are TONS of websites and blogs dedicated to this very thing. I have some helpful sites and pictures listed below.

When I started on my characters, they were very flat. I didn't like it but I didn't know how to fix it. I tried basing them on people that I liked and wanted my character to be like so what I did was that nice bubble diagram (that's what I call it, not sure if that's what others call it) Where you take the character you want your character to be like, for example I'll use Aragorn from Lord of the Rings. I loved his character, dark, mysterious but very moral and brave. I put his name in a bubble and branched off all the qualities he had that I wanted my character to have.
You can't just take all the good qualities though, if you want your character to have depth you need to look at their flaws too. I put down the flaws of the characters I wanted my character to be like and I looked at 'why' they have those flaws. I did this with at least five different characters from various literature and tried to look at my main male protagonist as a person and not just a tool that gets my story from point A. to point B.

Essentially what's going to have to happen is, well you're going to have to go on a first date with your character. That's what it's like, it's like going on a blind date, only you get to decide exactly what your date is going to be like. However like on a date you need to ask your character some questions that will let you 'get to know' this character.
Some good ones to ask that I've found follow like this:

* What were their parents like, how did this affect them?
* Do they have any siblings, how is their relationship with them?
* If your character had to list five words to describe themselves without thinking too much what would they be?
* If your character had to list five flaws without thinking what would they be?
* If your character could choose a super power (if they can't already choose what super power) what super power would it be and why?
* What's their favorite color and why?
* How do they feel about the opposite sex, and the same sex?
* Are they prejudice about anything, why?
* If they had a day off to do whatever they wanted what would it be?
* If they had one wish and they had to spend it on themselves what would it be?
* Who do they care about most in the world and why?
* In an instance where their life is very important, like great things are riding on their survival but their life is in jeapordy because a child is attacking them. What do they do? Do they kill the child without thinking about it, do they try to talk the child down? What do they do if that doesn't work? Do they die even though they 'know' their life is important for some story related reason? If they kill the child how does this affect them?
* What is their weapon of choice? (sword, gun, words, or their a pacifist) and why is it so important to them?
*Do they have an item that they love, why do they love it?
* If they were an animal what would they be and why?

All these odd personality questions that you don't think about when writing a story can really help you flesh out the character to yourself and then that will come out through the writing. Also don't be afraid to put your character to the test with some situations that will really show their true personality, and don't always feel your protagonist has to be the good guy all the time. No one is perfect, people love a good guy they can relate to and is real to them.


Example: Jax Teller on 'Sons of Anarchy,' for those of you that don't know this show, basically he's trying to get his club out of the guns and drug business, make them legit and be a good guy. To do this though he is thrust on a highway to hell becoming the very thing he hates in order to save this club and create a better life for his family and the families of the club members.
People love that! We love that he's trying so hard to be good but he has to do all these horrible things to get it done. We love that it tests his character and we see a side of him that is borderline psychotic.
Another character, and a famous one that I do think Jax Teller is based on (and so does my husband) is Shakespeare's Hamlet. This is another character on the brink of madness trying to do what is right. Unfortunately Hamlet doesn't get his happy ending.
   People love that, they love a character that feels doubt, fear, rage, they love a character that has all the emotions, and if your character is pretty apathetic they want to know 'why?' How did this character end up this way?

Also the antagonist that isn't all bad. People LOVE that, they love a bad guy they can like. A great example is Loki from the movies of Thor. They do a great job of creating a bad guy that you can relate to, even root for but know that he's still a bad guy.
Even the really creepy bad guys like Hannibel Lecter, you like him yet he absolutely terrifies you! You want to have a conversation with this man yet you pray he's not hiding under your bed ready to munch on your face! These are the bad guys that people remember, and for good reason!

So, what a good thing to do is take some sheets of paper and write out your character. What do they look like? Why do they look like that, are their choice of wear a fashion statement or practical? Where did they get the color of their eyes, their facial hair, their hair style and why? Always ask why? Why do they believe like the do?
Why do they feel this way about this person, or these people, and don't just one sentence it. Really think about this, and if you have to do this with every main character, even side characters do it! It can't hurt you, some people feel like they need to rush through writing and now worry about it but I'm telling you! IT. MATTERS!
Date your character, find out their likes and dislikes. Rewrite them, change it to fit better if you think it will, but find out, and I'll say it again ALWAYS ask yourself WHY they are like this!

Below are some great sites I've found that talk about characters. One of them is my pinterest, it has a three part (meaning it's in three separate pictures on my board) walk through of fleshing out your character. It's very in debt and a great thing to do when you're thinking about your characters. Also is my facebook page that has a lot of tidbits, crafts, and mentions sites that are helpful to writers and many other things!

http://missolive.hubpages.com/hub/Writing-Tutorials-Describing-a-Character
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/174162710563690076/
http://www.londonscreenwritersfestival.com/the-top-5-female-character-stereotypes-1-tip-to-avoid-them/
http://www.jsmorin.com/2013/11/write-genius-character/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Quite-Contrarium/478334692182568