Character Development

Character Development

When it comes to developing characters for a story, a lot of the questionaires and other prompts have a lot to do with what characters look like: what’s their weight? what’s their hight? eye color? Favorite color? The thing is, none of these things are usually going to help when it comes to making fleshed out and rounded characters - the ones readers will root for. The reason why is looks don’t compare against who a character is on the inside. What are their motivations? Why? Where do their little quirks come from? These are the things that make a character memorable.

When it comes to creating dynamic characters, this is the process I usually default to, adapted from indie author Jenna Moreci. All of the catagories belore are intertwined, which will be broken down as well. The beauty of this method is that you don’t have to have everything fleshed out from the get-go. Even if you only have one or two details, you can use this to build that into a whole dynamic character.

The main points you want to get by the time you’re done are:

their backstory/life experience

social role

motivation described in 1-2 words

three strengths/three weaknesses

what the perfect novel ending is for your character

why that’s the perfect end

what your character’s underlying need is

(This has been one of my longest posts in a while, so I’ve put all of the questions below the break)

Afficher davantage

Hi there! Me again! Writings been good but I have a question.. I've been writing slow burn and ofc theres like blush scenes. But I feel like deceiving them becomes monotonous. Like, his cheeks were red etc. Do you have any advice on writing slow burn and all that good stuff

Heya and welcome back! Good to see you’re still going strong! :D

Slow burns can be difficult, because the timing and flow of everything has to be on point. I’m sure though you’re already doing a good job!

I believe the most important thing about slow burns is really that timing aka when two people realize they start to fall for each other, the first “contact”, the first handholding, hugs, any other tender moments you want to include, the first kiss. These are the really good things a slow burn is working up to, so you have to make sure that these are prominent and properly foreshadowed and grounded in the story. If the couple hates each other in one chapter and hugs each other senseless in the next, then that won’t really fit the intention of a slow burn and wouldn’t feel right for the reader as well.

Of course, slow burns live also off the delay of exactly these moments. The blooming couple gets interrupted just when they want to kiss, they get ripped apart just before they can hug, something gets in the way and they probably take one step forward and two steps backwards. There you also have to set a good timing as well as a good plan on what should happen to keep the slow burn interesting. There are a two general questions you can consider:

Who/what is a possible enemy of the couple? (Because not only a person can be a danger for a relationship, but also clashing moral beliefs, ideas how the relationship should be or simply the differing characteristics of your couple. Also differences in status (different social classes), an old ex-lover or enemy can be a reason to be kept apart.)

What should the interruptions consist of?

Basically, you need to have an idea about what will disrupt and keep your intended couple apart. These can be different things or one and the same overall problem.

Unfortunately, when it comes to a slow burn, the classical “his cheeks went red” can’t be avoided. Nothing is lovelier than a man who blushes ;) What you can maybe do to avoid that particular repition is to either become really flowery in your prose (”his cheeks bloomed in the color of wine and blood”) what I don’t advise if it doesn’t fit to your usual writing style or describe the blushing in more detail. From the perspective of Person A, who watches Person B blush, it could look like this:

He was truly adorable. Nothing she had ever seen from him could’ve ever prepared her for realizing how truly and utterly adorable he could be when complimented. Just watching a blush spread from his neck up to his cheeks and even further up to the very tip of his ears could be the highlight of her day. Any day in fact.

I would love to see that every day.

It’s not directly the typical “he blushed”-sentence. Depending on the current POV you use, it could also look like that:

Did she really just say that? No way. Really, no way! His heart was already pounding in his chest from her presence, but her sweet words together with the teasing undertone made the constant beat even faster. Hopefully he wasn’t blushing. But all hope was in vain, he could already feel the blood rise, right up into his face and spreading into his neck and ears.

This was so embarrassing.

Like this, monotonous scenes become a little bit more interesting to read. You can use this principle of putting more detail into these kind of things also for other stuff. You can experiment with that, in fact! Whatever works best for you :)

As always, exercise is the key. Also, your own gut feeling is still the most reliable indicator how your story is progressing. Try to read the latest chapter or what you wrote last a few times and determine if you believe that the pace is right and the flow consistent.

You want the reader on the edge of their seat. You want them to have bleeding fingernails from gnawing at them. You want them cursing you for setting the pace so slow and at the same time relishing every minute of that torture. I hope with this advice and hints that you manage exact that! :D

first, i just wanted to say that your wip sounds amazing and i am already devoted to the characters oh my! but i was also wondering if you have any tips for making scary situations more scary? i know thats a pretty broad question but in my story im having trouble making the dark magic seem scary and not corny

Awe shucks

To answer your question, think of what scares you. Typically fear stems from the unnatural. Fears are visceral, and embedded in our biology - we fear what disgusts us. Many of the most popular monsters today aren’t giant, furry, or loud, because we can fight a monster like that. They’re pale, thin, jaundice, and sickly, which stems from our primordial fear of sickness and death.

Also, we fear the things that seem out of place. Clown in the circus? Cute. Clown in the storm drain? Hell no. This fear of ‘the out of place’ can build suspense and tension, but it takes our primordial fears to deliver the punch.

Now, you said this is for a magic system. Are we talking about faeries or witches/wizards? Because oh boy, there is a lot of potential with both! 

- Faeries are known for malice and mischief - they can create mirages, they can can control nature, and warp the wills of wildlife. There is a lot that can go awry when faeries are out for blood. (I suggest taking a walk in the woods, and looking for things that seem out of place. Trust me, there are a lot of cool, unnatural-looking things in nature.)

- For witches/wizards, consider the possibilities of rituals, incantations, and dreams. Ingredients for potions made from powdered bones, and dried organs. Curses that make the victim lose their sanity and mind. Conjuring people’s greatest fears, and twisting the images to make them even scarier. Lots of potential there!

To avoid being corny, I would suggest being subtle, and avoiding too much gore. Avoid telling the reader when to be scared through your character; instead, show the characters fear through their body language. Make sure you don’t wear down your reader’s suspended disbelief: make sure things are consistent, and realistic. 

Also, blood on it’s own isn’t scary. However, blood crusted underneath a fingernail, or the root of a human tooth, has the potential to be.

I really hope I helped you out

Character's life stories

So like any writing advice, this isn't a universal rule by any means, but I have found that when making characters for my longer form fiction, it's really important to understand their life story, even if it never directly shows up in the writing itself - even if the readers are never given enough clues to put it together.

Here's why.

At least when I was first learning how to create a character, I would pick out a mental picture of what they looked like, slapped a few goals, dreams, and morals on them, figured out two formative events and set them loose in the wild. And they were flat. Uniformly.

(Reasons why, other benefits to understanding your character's life stories, and a simple way to develop them all below the cut)

There were several reasons for my character's general wimpyness:

I didn't really know who they were, except for their surface level persona, which meant I had a really hard time understanding what made them choose the things they did.

If I don't know what their life was like, most of their choices are going to stem from like three events - that means there's not a lot of subconscious factors to work with, meaning they're going to be predictable in a bad way.

Whenever I did try to add some depth, there was nothing behind it, so that depth was lost to inconsistencies that weren't glaringly obvious but were enough that it felt unrealistic.

Beyond that, by fleshing out your character's backstories more fully, you'll also end up with insights into:

Worldbuilding - you don't necessarily need to flesh it out in full detail, but for characters to exist, they need somewhere to be, and that can help you understand parts of your world that aren't necessarily the main focus - it adds flavor, which will come through in your writing.

Timing - kinda like how if you have a map of the building your characters are in, it's easier to keep track of it and you don't have weird hallways that lead to nowhere or a room that's simultaneously in three different places. If you understand what was going on generally throughout your character's life, you can better tie their age to what happened and understand the effect the event might have had, or track when people could have met, or all sorts of things that, again, will help them seem more real.

Arcs - character creation is less about starting off with a character, and it's more about crafting an arc. If you just plop a flawed character into the book, it may work, but often the seeds for that arc will appear much earlier, and they may have even started on part of their arc (especially if they're a side character) - understanding what progress they've made or lost can keep them dynamic.

Relationships - if the characters have already met each other, it's useful to know what perceptions they had, what relationships they've built (or set fires to), and what headspace they were in while doing that compared to now.

So that's great and all, but how to... do all that?

1) What's the groundwork?

How old is your character now? This is important because you have that many years of life story. You don't have to figure out every year, but there is a difference between working with a 40something and a teenager.

What global events would have affected everyone (if any), and when did those happen? These will help with scaffolding, since you're going to want to address them.

What point are you trying to work toward? If your character has developed certain mannerisms, views on the world, etc, you may want to figure out sources for them.

2) Set up your timelines.

I find it's best to work with your main cast all at the same time on a common timeline. That way I can see how threads might interact with each other, and make sure that I'm not messing up the years or anything. It also means that when I set up global events, they all line up so I won't have issues with chronology.

Sticky notes and an open workspace are excellent for this. (set up each character going from left to right, and then across the top, set out the years). You can also do it pretty effectively with a spreadsheet, but I find working with things physically to be a nice change of pace.

3) Drop in all of your major life-changing events

You have your timelines set up. If you already know something happened to change any of your character's lives, drop them in. These are probably the most important bits, and you want to make sure they're accounted for.

Birth date (at least to the year)

Major changes in living arrangements

Moments that you already know rocked their world

Etc

A benefit to this is that you'll also see what time periods you have more worked out for which characters compared to others.

Also make sure that you drop in times when characters first meet. Since these are places where timelines converge, you want them to be consistant. If there are important exchanges or interactions after that, those go in too.

If they are not already accounted for, also put in their reaction to any global events you've set out. This is important because it's going to be some kind of common ground for all of your characters later (whether or not you use it), and it will be useful for comparing where everyone was at during a certain point in time.

4) Put in the other important stuff

In the beginning of this process, you figured out what kind of characters you were working toward having at the start of the book. Figure out what events would probably need to happen to make that work, and drop them into the timeline, if they're not already there.

5) Fill in the holes

So at this point, you've got all your important stuff in, but it's highly likely there are still pretty large gaps. My rule of thumb is that you want to have a general understanding of what they were doing at least once of every three years of their life. This will help flesh out their upbringing, or what they were doing in places that are less story-specific

These are the kinds of thins that aren't going to affect the story directly, but are going to influence what they reference, as well as give you a deeper insight into their psyche and experiences. It'll also help make sure that your understanding of who they are isn't bunched up at one point in their life but is more comprehensive.

What Makes a Good Villain? Pt. 1

What’s better than a villain that’s just plain evil? One that has good reasoning behind what he’s doing! There are too many plain-Jane villains that just want to destroy the world because they can— but their reasoning is never explained. This can be flat, boring and unconvincing.   Your main villain should not exist for the sole purpose of making your protagonist a hero. Your villain should feel like a living character too, one with emotions, conflictions and goals himself. 

Tips on making your villains more dynamic:

   1) Treat your villain like a person. Give him goals, fears, regrets and flaws. He doesn’t wake up out of bed and exist just to counter your protagonist. No. Perhaps he wakes up out of bed and makes breakfast for himself and an empty seat— an omelet, his daughters favorite morning meal— but she has been dead for many years now. He’s an evil dirtbag on the outside, but shit… now he has suddenly become more human.

2) Make them relatable to the reader. They weren’t always the bad guy, right? Something happened to them that made them peruse this pathway of evil. Some of the best villain’s are those that the audience can relate to, that they can see bits and pieces of themselves within. 

3) They believe what they’re doing is right. Thanos anyone?

4) Play with Redemption. So, now you have dangled a relatable villain in front of the readers, made us feel for him and understand his reasoning. Now we want them to be redeemed, to make the right choice in the end. Does he break our hearts and do the wrong thing— or does he change his ways? Pt. 2 — Coming Soon! 

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What Makes a Good Villain? Pt. 2

Here are some more qualities you could add to your villain to spice them up. Not all will apply to your villain, but some could— or at least get your gears turning. Take a few of these points and apply them to your villain, or take none at all! Let’s get into it:

     1) Obsession. Is your villain obsessed with something or someone? What is he willing to do to obtain this thing? If something were to hurt or break what he wants, how would he react? Does he want this thing because he absolutely hates it and wants to destroy it, or is he in love with it and wants to protect it at all costs? Is the protagonist a threat to his obsession, directly or indirectly? Or is the protagonist his obsession?

     2) What’s his secret? What’s he hiding—a weakness, a strength, a wound, an insecurity, something physical? Is this a secret to the audience as well, or are we fully aware and are begging for the protagonist to find out? What happens when it’s revealed? What lengths will he go to to conceal this secret? Or, perhaps he is the secret. Introduce your villain into the story with a fog of mystery surrounding them and the reader might grow anxious wanting to learn about him. Where’d he get that scar? Why does he limp? The way he talks sounds so proper, where is he from?

     3) A range of emotions! Some villains are just evil, act evil, and do evil things. But what about a villain who has his rock bottoms and his highs? What if the touch from the right person softens him, or a certain smell causes him pain because of a hard memory? Could this range of emotion put him in a weakened state against the protagonist? Could it cause the protagonist to falter, to want to help the villain instead of defeat them?

     4) Make him eerily similar to the protagonist. This one is a bit spicy. What if your villain used to be like your protagonist, but one wrong path or choice led him down a spiraling road to corruption? This is interesting because it shows the audience what the protagonist could have become or still can become if they didn’t have their own core beliefs that make them the protagonist. 

Pt. 3 — Coming Soon!

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📖 ☕ Official Blog: www.zmwrites.com