Subscribe in a reader

More creative writing tips!

The best short stories involve complex personalities. Let’s face it nothing is ever black and white. Your characters are all shades a gray between. Your characters are not static, their moods and actions change on a continuum of human existence. You want these characters to signify more than a passing acquaintance. Your readers need to feel what your character feels, see what your character sees, in essence be your character. If you have a believable character anything can happen in your plot line and be convincing.

So how do you develop character?

In order to develop living, breathing, multi-faceted, human characters, it is important to know more about the character than you will ever reveal in your story. By knowing all there is to know about your character, you can predict what that character will do in any given situation. If a dog jumped out, you would know your character would run away as they have a phobia of dogs.

Start with the basics

It takes effort on your part to develop real characters. You will have to sit down and make a list of all the basic features of your character. This may seem like you are wasting time when you could be writing the story, but it actually increases your productivity. You won’t find yourself staring at the computer screen trying to figure out what your character is going to do now. You’ll know, because you know your character as well as you know yourself.

Here is a basic list of character details to help you get started:

• Name
• Age
• Job
• Ethnicity
• Appearance
• Residence
• Temperament
• Favorite color
• Friends
• Favorite foods
• Drinking patterns
• Phobias
• Faults

What’s in a name?

Maybe you are asking why name is first on this list or why their name is important at all. Couldn’t it just be any name you happen to like? No, a name tells a lot about the character. Maybe the character goes by a nick name their mother gave them; you could imagine this character might be a mama’s boy. Maybe they changed their name when they were 27 years old because they didn’t feel like a Katie or a Mary, they felt like a Bella.

Ever know someone that their name fit or didn’t. Sometimes names bring up a type of person. Anyone who has ever gone through the struggle of naming their child knows a name is a lot more than what you call this new being. It almost appears as if it shapes that person. You find yourself going through names and saying,”No, I remember a girl with that name and I didn’t like her.” You wouldn’t have a character named Charles who works at the local Gas-n-Go. He would be called Charlie or Chuck, right?

Now go further

Once you’ve developed the basic characteristics, you’ll need to dig deeper. Does your character have any pets? Maybe they have strong religious beliefs or maybe they are an atheist. What are there hobbies? Are they single, married, with or without children?

Consider the following:

• Your character’s secrets
• Something your character hates
• Memorable moments in your characters life
• What are your characters sleep patterns
• Any illnesses?
• Nervous tics?

Imagining all these details will help you get to know your character and in turn help your readers get acquainted with your character and empathize with them. You are not going to tell your reader all of the information you have on your list, but it will be there in the background and as your reader reads, finding themselves asking, “what are they going to do?” in fact they will know what that character would do in most situations. The key is opening the gateway for empathy. If your readers can empathize with your character, they can believe in the reality of that character making your story ever more real.

Because you want your story to show more than the basics, you have to delve into the specifics. Your reader probably won’t need to know much more than these four areas:

Appearance Gives your reader a visual understanding of the character.

Action Show the reader what kind of person your character is, by describing actions rather than simply listing adjectives.

Speech Develop the character as a person — don’t merely have your character announce important plot details.

Thought Bring the reader into your character’s mind, to show them your character’s unexpressed memories, fears, and hopes.

But that is the tip of the iceberg. Underneath there is a universal understanding, where all your readers can see who they are by what your character does.

“Man will become better when you show him what he is like.”
–Anton Chekhov

If you’ve developed your character well and they do something heroic, your reader is forced to question whether they would be so gallant. When we start questioning our own existence, we better ourselves. This is your job as a writer, to help other empathize and question the world around them.

Join the forum discussion on this post - (1) Posts