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I’ve been thinking about my characters a lot lately because a friend of mine is writing a story including her own characters plus some of mine and of other friends in our group. I’m very excited to see her progress and it got me thinking about my own stuff. I don’t write much of anything these days, let alone any books or huge projects, but I’m still a creative and I enjoy a good story (I daydream a lot about fictional stuff lol), so these characters are still very near and dear to me.
I’ve made a lot of characters over the years who have personalities and lots of story potential, but because I don’t write a lot a good handful of them don’t have a story, a setting or even a world attached to them; they’re just by themselves, concepts floating around in a void I guess haha. I would have gotten to them a lot sooner but I tend to spend a lot more mental energy daydreaming about fan-stories for existing worlds. 😛
Hazel, my character I’m planning to add in the character castle, is one of my examples of someone with a personality but no setting attached. She’s actually inspired by a dinosaur I control in a dinosaur game, of all things. I took my dinosaur and made a human version in a sense haha. So now I need to figure out a backstory and a world and stuff that fits with the human version.
All this to say, how does one develop characters? And define the surroundings and moments and people that help shape who they are? General and specific advice are both welcome; this is just my situation but maybe you guys have different situations and problems related to this and so your advice could help anyone and everyone; it would be cool to see everyone’s perspectives and opinions 😀 Thanks in advance!
You can pronounce it however you want.
This is something I definitely need a lot of help with too! I usually start with worlds and then do characters xD so Ig we’re kind of opposites. I would say – from what I’ve read – that personality quizzes and stuff can help you figure out how your character generally reacts to stuff, and then you can expand on that.
And define the surroundings and moments and people that help shape who they are?
Hmm this is kind of backward for me too 😂, I usually think about the circumstances and reflect on how that would change the person? Ig if there’s a trait you want to use, like distrustful, fearful, naive or kind/loving, try to come up with things that would create those feelings. Like maybe they felt betrayed by someone, and that made them not want to trust anyone else. Or (I can’t think of an example, but this one’s used pretty often) they don’t want to get close to other people in case they were to lost them, because they lost someone they loved once. Growing up in a sheltered community/family could make them sweet, kind, and a little naive, or they could have other issues too like doubting themself because someone made them feel they weren’t good enough.
There are tons of books and articles on character arcs and personalities 😉 So maybe you should look into that.
I hope this helped!! (Sorry if it wasn’t really what you needed, if you want to tell me more about your characters, I could try to help you brainstorm.)
Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. ~ C.S. Lewis
@hybridlore Haha, like I said, because I don’t have any books or stories the process is backwards for me lol. Thanks for the input! 😀
You can pronounce it however you want.
That’s a great question! And the answer differs with every author. Everybody develops their characters differently. There is no certain blueprint and if you follow it you’ll get a perfectly developed character. In my experience, I’ve developed my characters the most in three ways:
1. Character questionnaires. Even those these won’t have every single thing you need to know about your character, I still find them helpful. You can look them up, or even create your own (which I recommend and prefer) based off of other templates. I recently downloaded one from Story Embers that I think will be super helpful for developing my characters. (I’m pretty sure it’s called either Character Questionnaire or The Ultimate Character Checklist. Something like that XD) Questionnaires and template sheets are really helpful, especially if you’re just in the beginning of developing a character. (Or even in the middle of it, like me, lol.)
2. Roleplaying. Putting my characters in different role plays here on KP has helped my character development immensely. Because it’s in a different world or place, I get to experiment with their personality and see how they react in situations outside of their story. For example, putting my two MCs in a RP helped me understand how different they act when they are angry at someone. One of them becomes passive aggressive and the other gives the silent treatment. To be honest, I never would have really thought of that before. So putting them in different situations outside their story will help a lot.
3. Write them. I know this may not be applicable to you right now, but the best way that helps me flesh out my charries, is my simply writing them. I get to know them more as the go through the story. Sometimes they even change the story. And the great thing is, you don’t have to be consistent with how they act right away. There’s a reason why we writersÂ
haveneed multiple drafts. 😉Now, concerning building a world and story around one character… I’m not entirely sure. I build everything at the same time, charries, plot, world, etc. 😂 So let’s see here…
I definitely agree with @hybridlore that you should take one of their traits, and think about how someone or something could’ve instilled that into them. Some personality traits come naturally and not necessarily by a situation or person, and some traits come genetically. So that’s something to think about.
Putting a story to a character might be hard, but here’s an idea.
Start with a character arc. Figure out your characters flaws, negative traits, strengths, and positive traits. Then, see how you can test one of those, or build a character arc from them. For example, if one character always stands up for what’s right, but also has a terrible temper and says whatever comes to mind, this may get him into a lot of trouble. Then he has to learn to control his temper and stand up for what’s right without full on lashing out. Another example: there’s a character who struggles with worry and anxiety. Force her into a situation where she has to learn to trust God and not worry so much. (Those two examples were based off of some of my charries, so it may not be as easy as I’m making it sound. 😅) When you have a character arc, it will be easier to build a story around it.
That’s all I can think of for now. I hope it was helpful!! If I come up with anything else, I’ll definitely let ya know! 🙂
Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende
Well said xD Have you written any articles on here? Thanks for clearing up everything I forgot 😂
Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. ~ C.S. Lewis
I struggle with similar things often, so I think I get it. I have a lot of characters that have less of a plot line or world and more of just a general aesthetic.
One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever read for developing plot lines/ character arcs was this: First, find out what your character wants more than anything. Give them a goal. It could be good, or bad, or good but their methods if getting it are bad, or whatever. Then, you try to do whatever you can to keep your character from reaching their goal. And now suddenly you have (at least the beginning of) a character arc/plot line.
Another thing you can do is look at the traits your character already has and think about what in the world around them caused them to have that trait. For example, if you have a very responsible character, maybe they are an oldest child. Or if your character is young and is really good at fighting, their country might be at war or maybe they grew up in a very rough neighborhood.
Hope that was helpful! I’m not really the best person to give advice since I often have the same problem. Excited to see Hazel on the character castle!
🎵It takes a long time to wait 🌻
Oh this is interesting!
I work in a different way, the story comes with the character. I think you should consider what topics you feel passionate about writing, and then try to tie it into her story. In almost all of my character arcs there’s a piece of myself, and because of that, I think my writing is more lively than otherwise. If I have a character that needs an arc, I try to come up with a fear, and then a way to force them to confront the fear head on. For example, my oc who is afraid of the unknown might be presented with a choice to explore an unknown area. If we’re going with the hero’s journey plot structure roughly, he’d probably turn down the opportunity until forced to (Then we as mean authors would find a way to force him lol, maybe dangle something he really wants in the next couple pages) nobody has to follow a plot structure, but it’s a good place to get interesting ideas for how a character might change.
Hope that helps somewhat!
"And so I left this world just as I had entered it. Confused."
No, lol, I haven’t written any articles on KP yet. 😂 I’m considering writing one, I just don’t know what on, because a majority of what I’ve learned about writing has been through KP, so I’d probably end up copying a few articles. 😅
Write what should not be forgotten. — Isabel Allende
This has all been very insightful, thanks y’all
You can pronounce it however you want.
I would have to say my character-creating process is actually very similar to @mineralizedwritings . I realized recently while looking through the myriad of stories and poems I have written that I leave a piece of me in everything I write. Something of my personality, desires, dreams, and/or expectations manages to wiggle its way into what I pen, which is one of the best things about writing!! Crafting characters is even more fun bc in that sense you get to take a piece of your personality and weave it into a whole new person that goes on all the imaginary adventures you’ve always wanted to have 🤪.
I might either start by picking a trait of my own that I understand well enough to write about orrrr I will pick a theme that I want to be portrayed in the story and use that to create my character arc. For example, in one WIP I wanted to highlight the theme of fear and how to overcome it. As a result, I created a character who struggles with the fear of letting down those counting on him and constantly beats himself up for being afraid all the time. The message is that it’s okay to be frightened in frightening circumstances, but what really counts is how you respond to your fear, if you face it with courage or back down and let it overwhelm you. So in that case, I started with the message and worked to coordinate my character with that.
All that to say, my advice to you is this: explore the angles! Do you want a character who’s sassy? Tell me, is she sassy 24/7, is she an underhanded kind of sarcastic, does she only become saucy around a certain person who she’s nervous around/trying to impress? Why? There are dozens of different ways to portray personalities, sometimes you just gotta explore and see which one works best for you 😉
I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.
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