Writing Preparation: Developing a Character

The Basics

The first thing you need to do is figure out the basics of your character: name, age, gender, place of residence and purpose within the story. The latter will be instrumental in determining the other three (for example, if your character is the spouse of your protagonist, they will most likely be a similar age and live in the same location). Choosing a name can often be a fun and exciting part of creating a character but make sure you make an informed choice. If your character was born in the fifties in France, research common first and last names that may fit your character. If you want a sensible female protagonist, calling her by a strange name may be off-putting (but could also be a valuable tool if you want to illustrate a clash between her and her crazy parents). It's important to view your character within the bigger setting of your story and backstory.

A Realistic Character

Creating a realistic character can be a big challenge. There are three main considerations that can help you with this. Firstly, you want to remember to create flaws as well as strengths Everyone has a good and a bad side, everyone has great traits and ones that make other people want to slap them. You may have heard the term 'Mary-Sue', this is a colloquial term for a two-dimensional, 'perfect' character. These characters take away from the plot a great deal because they draw the realism out of the story. If a character is too perfect, they won't be believable for the reader and will hold them back from immersing themselves within your writing. Remember, it's often the weaknesses in a person that we relate to. The best protagonist often has the right balance between weaknesses we relate to and strengths we aspire to.

Secondly, consider is your character's motivation. This is a vital part of any character's role but will be most prominent in the protagonist and antagonist (if you have one). Your character's weaknesses and strengths will often be interlinked with their motivation. For example, in My Sister's Keeper, the mother is motivated by her desire to keep Kate (her daughter with cancer) alive. This is interlinked with her deep-rooted protectiveness and her complete inability to see the big-picture.

The third consideration is relationships, which are important for your plot. Developing a character's relationships (especially with significant people like their parents, partner, children and enemy) is vital to any piece. When you have well-developed relationships, you can create a deeper understanding of the motivations and interactions within the story.

Writing Exercises

Writing exercises are a brilliant way to develop characters with depth. While writing, remember that you don't ever have to put this into the final story so mistakes don't matter. These are just for you and you can write whatever comes to mind. Try to write fluidly, without stopping for too many corrections. You can always rectify points later but writing whatever comes to mind can really get your creative impulses going. Here are some exercises to try:

• Answer surveys/questionnaires as your character. There are a lot of random questionnaires online, just answer them as your character instead of yourself.
• Write a biography for your character. Either do this in the tone of your narrative or do it as the character themselves. Even if they don't narrate your writing, it can often be useful to develop your character's voice because this strengthens your dialogue.
• Write conversations between characters. If you are having trouble working out relationships between two characters, write some dialogue between them. This could be a transcript from a phone call, an instant messenger or just a face to face meeting. The important thing is to only write what they say, nothing outside the quotation marks.
• Write a letter from your character. This is an incredibly powerful writing exercise. It works to develop a character's voice, motivations and their relationships. Write letters to anyone you want (within your story, within your characters BACKSTORY or even someone completely unrelated like God or the president). They don't need to be essays, just think about what they might want to say to these people and why.
• Write drabbles for your story. A drabble is a very short piece of writing (commonly 100 words) that portray a point or a moment in time. Writing drabbles can be fun and effective because it is a way to develop your story without spending lots of time pouring over one specific part.