Character Development for Writers
Shiloh Adlar
March 2018
A lot of people on HOL do not know that I love to write. I began writing when I was very young as a way to get a lot of thoughts out and to distract myself from the negative ones. Writing became a passion of mine since it was a way to escape the realities of my world. Playing pretend when a person is young is quite normal, but for me, it was a daily part of my life to get through many difficult things. I began creating characters in my head and stories about them. From there, I started writing stories about adventures they would go on, and I myself would travel on those adventures with them.
Reading for many is also an escape, and this is what attracted me to books so much. As I began discovering more and more books, I realized that the characters in my head that I had created also wanted their own stories told that were not being told. And that is where it all began.
Everyone begins a story differently, so my way will not work for everyone nor should it. Whatever gets your creativity flowing is how you should proceed. However, this is a good starting point if you find yourself struggling with your characters and where you want them to go. After all, I believe character is the most important part to a story even if Aristotle did say plot was number one in his Poetics. People in modern times love a good plot, but I find that it is the characters that keep me interested in a good book, movie, or tv show.
What makes a good character?
First, we need to figure out who our character is. This includes physical descriptions as well as personality and a backstory. I like to set aside a page in a journal to begin physically describing how I see my character. When writing a story, your character’s physical appearance is often given to the reader over time. Earlier on, I may write something about my character’s dark hair waving over his shoulder with the wind. This tells the reader that the character has dark colored hair, perhaps brown or black, and that he likes to wear his hair long rather than stay cropped. Then later, another character may say in dialogue, “His eyes are dreamy. They’re so green like fresh pickled toad.” (Thank you Ginny Weasley for the idea.)
However, in the journal I am keeping, I can give the full character description whether I use all of that in the story or not. This way I have a good picture in my mind of what my character looks like and there are no continuity errors later on. You don’t want your character to start off standing 5 foot and then suddenly grow a foot overnight. Of course, if that’s part of the plot, then go for it.
Your character also needs a personality. I often find this as I’m writing, but I start off with a good idea of who I want my character to be. This can be done with a quick “branding statement.” A branding statement is something that a person can use to describe themselves when asked in an interview or audition to tell the other about themselves. When character developing, this branding statement does not always have to scream positivity. For example, a branding statement I may use for the character I began describing above would be, “He is a loner, but a master gamer. Quick wit, yet no apparent social skills outside of trash talk. The girls love his mysteriousness, but he is too shy to approach them. Often stumbles over words when having real life interactions.”
Do not forget about body language as well. Body language is also part of your character’s personality and can tell how a character is feeling in a situation without the use of dialogue. Everyone uses body language differently. Go people watch sometime and see what I mean. Give your character a way of talking that is unique to them.
This gives me a route to follow, and I know how I want my character to be seen by others. Keep in mind, it is important to give your characters flaws. This makes them interesting and relatable.
Now comes a very important part, the backstory. While the backstory for your character may not be shared completely with your readers, it is important for you as the writer to know it because a person’s past is what shapes them to be the person they are today.
I stated that my character is a loner and spends his time mostly on games. Why did he decide to isolate himself from everyone? This is a question I need to answer, and it may or may not be imperative for my readers to know; however, by knowing why, it can also describe how he reacts in certain situations. For example, if my character was bullied as a child, it may describe why he stumbles over his words. It may also tell me that he probably has trust issues, and this can play out in the story with those girls who seem to love him so much. He’s afraid of being hurt, so he runs away when he gets the chance.
Perhaps he was given a crazy challenge and this is why he is now a master gamer. Maybe this is part of the plot point. He was given a challenge to defeat the top score in this brand new game in order to win a job at this amazing gaming company. He wants this chance to get away from his old life, so he spends every day at his computer getting his score higher and higher as he gets closer to the goal.
These are only beginning to steps to character development, but they are ones that I take in order to get the best from my characters. Keep in mind that while it is very important to develop your main characters fully, it is equally as important to not neglect your secondary characters as well. This helps to round out your story and will give you places to go.
Thanks for reading and happy writing!
A lot of people on HOL do not know that I love to write. I began writing when I was very young as a way to get a lot of thoughts out and to distract myself from the negative ones. Writing became a passion of mine since it was a way to escape the realities of my world. Playing pretend when a person is young is quite normal, but for me, it was a daily part of my life to get through many difficult things. I began creating characters in my head and stories about them. From there, I started writing stories about adventures they would go on, and I myself would travel on those adventures with them.
Reading for many is also an escape, and this is what attracted me to books so much. As I began discovering more and more books, I realized that the characters in my head that I had created also wanted their own stories told that were not being told. And that is where it all began.
Everyone begins a story differently, so my way will not work for everyone nor should it. Whatever gets your creativity flowing is how you should proceed. However, this is a good starting point if you find yourself struggling with your characters and where you want them to go. After all, I believe character is the most important part to a story even if Aristotle did say plot was number one in his Poetics. People in modern times love a good plot, but I find that it is the characters that keep me interested in a good book, movie, or tv show.
What makes a good character?
First, we need to figure out who our character is. This includes physical descriptions as well as personality and a backstory. I like to set aside a page in a journal to begin physically describing how I see my character. When writing a story, your character’s physical appearance is often given to the reader over time. Earlier on, I may write something about my character’s dark hair waving over his shoulder with the wind. This tells the reader that the character has dark colored hair, perhaps brown or black, and that he likes to wear his hair long rather than stay cropped. Then later, another character may say in dialogue, “His eyes are dreamy. They’re so green like fresh pickled toad.” (Thank you Ginny Weasley for the idea.)
However, in the journal I am keeping, I can give the full character description whether I use all of that in the story or not. This way I have a good picture in my mind of what my character looks like and there are no continuity errors later on. You don’t want your character to start off standing 5 foot and then suddenly grow a foot overnight. Of course, if that’s part of the plot, then go for it.
Your character also needs a personality. I often find this as I’m writing, but I start off with a good idea of who I want my character to be. This can be done with a quick “branding statement.” A branding statement is something that a person can use to describe themselves when asked in an interview or audition to tell the other about themselves. When character developing, this branding statement does not always have to scream positivity. For example, a branding statement I may use for the character I began describing above would be, “He is a loner, but a master gamer. Quick wit, yet no apparent social skills outside of trash talk. The girls love his mysteriousness, but he is too shy to approach them. Often stumbles over words when having real life interactions.”
Do not forget about body language as well. Body language is also part of your character’s personality and can tell how a character is feeling in a situation without the use of dialogue. Everyone uses body language differently. Go people watch sometime and see what I mean. Give your character a way of talking that is unique to them.
This gives me a route to follow, and I know how I want my character to be seen by others. Keep in mind, it is important to give your characters flaws. This makes them interesting and relatable.
Now comes a very important part, the backstory. While the backstory for your character may not be shared completely with your readers, it is important for you as the writer to know it because a person’s past is what shapes them to be the person they are today.
I stated that my character is a loner and spends his time mostly on games. Why did he decide to isolate himself from everyone? This is a question I need to answer, and it may or may not be imperative for my readers to know; however, by knowing why, it can also describe how he reacts in certain situations. For example, if my character was bullied as a child, it may describe why he stumbles over his words. It may also tell me that he probably has trust issues, and this can play out in the story with those girls who seem to love him so much. He’s afraid of being hurt, so he runs away when he gets the chance.
Perhaps he was given a crazy challenge and this is why he is now a master gamer. Maybe this is part of the plot point. He was given a challenge to defeat the top score in this brand new game in order to win a job at this amazing gaming company. He wants this chance to get away from his old life, so he spends every day at his computer getting his score higher and higher as he gets closer to the goal.
These are only beginning to steps to character development, but they are ones that I take in order to get the best from my characters. Keep in mind that while it is very important to develop your main characters fully, it is equally as important to not neglect your secondary characters as well. This helps to round out your story and will give you places to go.
Thanks for reading and happy writing!