More on Developing Characters

There's an endless stream of advice on how to make a character feel real. Moreover, when you're looking for how to invent a character, the choices for how to pursue that nigh limitless. I thought I might take today to share a little bit of what I've heard, plus what I do. Hopefully you'll find something useful from it. 

Now, I've never been one to hate on tropes. Tropes are necessary tool in the writer's toolbox and shouldn't be confused with cliches. That said, they shouldn't be a crutch, either. If you're putting together an ensemble story, something that's going to have a team, the Five-Man Band is a good start to figure out what roles your characters will need. But you can't stop there. Sure, finding your leader, your lancer, your big guy, etc... is important, but you can't let your characters be defined by their role in the team. 

From what has to be my most referenced podcast, it's often useful to figure out what the story needs, then define a character to fill those needs. If you figure out what the basic story needs, figure out what elements you want to portray in the story, then you'll know what kind of person you'll need to carry those actions out.

After that, the next idea from Writing Excuses that I've found useful is basing your characters off real people. Now, this isn't to say that you just write your friends or family (or enemies) into your book. Think about how the people in your life react to situations. If you're just thinking "Hey, my guy's the lone wolf, so he'd act like this." That's just going to spit out stock answers. Real people are more nuanced than entries on TV Tropes. Sure, you can start there, but by observing real people you can pick on little eccentricities and idiosyncrasies. Writing Excuses actually suggests people watching as a great way of developing characters.

So what do I do? Well, pretty much those. I rarely develop my characters too far ahead of time. I get to know them as I write. The situations I want for my story, the twists I want it to take, those dictate the kind of character I need. And when I'm looking for specific details about them, I look to people I know. I pay attention when I'm out shopping. I keep an eye out for how people interact with each other, then I use that as a way to help my characters act realistically. 

I hope you get something good out all that. And if you have a different method, share it in the comments below! Until tomorrow...

Be Excellent To Each Other