Character Development Tips
One thing creating a good story always requires is good characterization! If you have boring characters then you have a boring story! In life, people are diverse, so a story must reflect this! A wide variety of characters from different backgrounds and settings will make all the difference in the novel-writing process!
As I stated in a previous blog, Character Development is my favorite part of the novel writing process! Nothing is cooler than shaping a character of your very own and watching as he/she struggles against all the odds you throw at them! They can be outgoing, loud, and full of sunshine or they can be gloomy, cynical, and distrustful of others, but one thing is certain, your character has to be someone people can relate to. A character has to be well-rounded. They have to have a likeable quality that stands out from others, but at the same time, they should have bad qualities.
Never have a perfect character! This is what we in the literary world call a Mary Sue. I would rather see a childish character who learns and grows throughout the story/stories (like Harry Potter) than to see someone who's always right or who everyone seems to love. Good examples of Mary Sue's include Cinderella, Snow White, Bella Swan, or anyone similar. Basically girls who everyone likes for no damn reason and who gets everything she wants without even trying.
A character's personality should be shaped by his or her environment or home life. When a child has a good homelife, typically he or she grows up happy, healthy, and friendly. When someone grows up in a dysfunctional family, they will be cynical, moody, and pessimistic. You also have some characters who have been abandoned by a parent, in which case they will be very paranoid with relationships and may have commitment issues themselves.
Whatever the case, your character will always need some kind of struggle to face, whether it's inner or outer. Personally, I like to give my characters both. It adds to the conflict of the story to have inner demons for your character to face on top of what's going on in the world outside of their mind. You also see your character grow more when you throw everything you have at them.
That's another thing, torture your characters! Before you say, "But that's insane you sadist," read why. What shapes a story the most? No, it isn't characters. They're essential, of course, but what good are characters if they don't have a conflict to face? You have a bunch of random people who are just sitting in your pages wondering, "What am I supposed to do?"
The conflict must keep readers interested and should always stay fresh with interesting twists. I'm not saying go M. Night Shyamalan on your stories (Lord knows we don't need another one), but always throw in a little something about your characters your audience didn't expect. For instance, what if you had a hero who always idolized his father whom he never had the chance to grow up with just to find out that his father was in fact a dangerous criminal. That itself is a conflict for the character because now his whole perspective has changed!
Give your characters something to fight for. This doesn't necessarily have to be literally either. Your character could be a modern day businessman trying to get a promotion he's been striving for. What kind of obstacles would he face? Maybe he has a rival coworker who wants the same job? Maybe his boss is a stingy, greedy man who makes your character brown nose him in order to get the promotion? In fantasy, your typical goals include anything from simple quests to saving the world! Whatever it is, do not, I repeat, DO NOT give your characters an easy time on it. The various hardships a character endures in a story will shape him/her for the better.
Your characters will also have to make sacrifices. Good stories aren't going to be sugar-coated like Disney portrays them. Okay, so some Disney movies are good, but if you take a look at movies like Cinderella or Snow White, you see that the main characters do NOTHING and get everything they want practically handed to them. Cinderella's little mice friends do all the work and she gets rewarded with a (not so) handsome prince and a rich life. And she had a woman appear out of nowhere and for no damn reason gave her EVERYTHING she needed for the ball. A good example of stories with sacrifice is Harry Potter. So many characters die to protect Hogwarts in the last battle! Even <spoiler>Fred, which made us ALL cry</spoiler> and <spoiler>Snape never has his chance with Lily, but protects her son despite his hatred for James. He even loses his life in the process</spoiler>.
You may even have to kill characters you love! I once read online about the video game (YES I am a gamer C:) Final Fantasy VII about why Aerith, one of the main characters and a love interest to the hero, was killed off. The story writers started with the hero, Cloud, Aerith, and Barret (a big black guy with a gun for an arm). The creators knew right away that they wanted someone to die, but Barret and Cloud were the most obvious choices, so they picked Aerith. Aerith, you see, was a flower girl from the slums in a big city called Midgar and everyone knew her best for her bright smile and cheerful demeanor. Surely no one who deserved to die, right? Regardless, at the end of the first disc you watch tearfully as the antagonist, Sephiroth, drives his sword straight through Aerith and mercilessly ends her life. When the game reached the public, cries of outrage erupted from fans over Aerith's tragic death. However, believe it or not, the game creators were HAPPY. This meant, as they said, that Aerith was a successful character!
If there is one thing I have learned, if you are sad to let your character die, then others will be too! Go with your gut! This can also include ending a relationship that you wanted to last forever! Others may love your couple and be heartbroken to see them split, but this means that they were well-connected and successful! Take disappointment as a complement! (In this sense, anyway.)
As I stated in a previous blog, Character Development is my favorite part of the novel writing process! Nothing is cooler than shaping a character of your very own and watching as he/she struggles against all the odds you throw at them! They can be outgoing, loud, and full of sunshine or they can be gloomy, cynical, and distrustful of others, but one thing is certain, your character has to be someone people can relate to. A character has to be well-rounded. They have to have a likeable quality that stands out from others, but at the same time, they should have bad qualities.
Never have a perfect character! This is what we in the literary world call a Mary Sue. I would rather see a childish character who learns and grows throughout the story/stories (like Harry Potter) than to see someone who's always right or who everyone seems to love. Good examples of Mary Sue's include Cinderella, Snow White, Bella Swan, or anyone similar. Basically girls who everyone likes for no damn reason and who gets everything she wants without even trying.
A character's personality should be shaped by his or her environment or home life. When a child has a good homelife, typically he or she grows up happy, healthy, and friendly. When someone grows up in a dysfunctional family, they will be cynical, moody, and pessimistic. You also have some characters who have been abandoned by a parent, in which case they will be very paranoid with relationships and may have commitment issues themselves.
Whatever the case, your character will always need some kind of struggle to face, whether it's inner or outer. Personally, I like to give my characters both. It adds to the conflict of the story to have inner demons for your character to face on top of what's going on in the world outside of their mind. You also see your character grow more when you throw everything you have at them.
That's another thing, torture your characters! Before you say, "But that's insane you sadist," read why. What shapes a story the most? No, it isn't characters. They're essential, of course, but what good are characters if they don't have a conflict to face? You have a bunch of random people who are just sitting in your pages wondering, "What am I supposed to do?"
The conflict must keep readers interested and should always stay fresh with interesting twists. I'm not saying go M. Night Shyamalan on your stories (Lord knows we don't need another one), but always throw in a little something about your characters your audience didn't expect. For instance, what if you had a hero who always idolized his father whom he never had the chance to grow up with just to find out that his father was in fact a dangerous criminal. That itself is a conflict for the character because now his whole perspective has changed!
Give your characters something to fight for. This doesn't necessarily have to be literally either. Your character could be a modern day businessman trying to get a promotion he's been striving for. What kind of obstacles would he face? Maybe he has a rival coworker who wants the same job? Maybe his boss is a stingy, greedy man who makes your character brown nose him in order to get the promotion? In fantasy, your typical goals include anything from simple quests to saving the world! Whatever it is, do not, I repeat, DO NOT give your characters an easy time on it. The various hardships a character endures in a story will shape him/her for the better.
Your characters will also have to make sacrifices. Good stories aren't going to be sugar-coated like Disney portrays them. Okay, so some Disney movies are good, but if you take a look at movies like Cinderella or Snow White, you see that the main characters do NOTHING and get everything they want practically handed to them. Cinderella's little mice friends do all the work and she gets rewarded with a (not so) handsome prince and a rich life. And she had a woman appear out of nowhere and for no damn reason gave her EVERYTHING she needed for the ball. A good example of stories with sacrifice is Harry Potter. So many characters die to protect Hogwarts in the last battle! Even <spoiler>Fred, which made us ALL cry</spoiler> and <spoiler>Snape never has his chance with Lily, but protects her son despite his hatred for James. He even loses his life in the process</spoiler>.
You may even have to kill characters you love! I once read online about the video game (YES I am a gamer C:) Final Fantasy VII about why Aerith, one of the main characters and a love interest to the hero, was killed off. The story writers started with the hero, Cloud, Aerith, and Barret (a big black guy with a gun for an arm). The creators knew right away that they wanted someone to die, but Barret and Cloud were the most obvious choices, so they picked Aerith. Aerith, you see, was a flower girl from the slums in a big city called Midgar and everyone knew her best for her bright smile and cheerful demeanor. Surely no one who deserved to die, right? Regardless, at the end of the first disc you watch tearfully as the antagonist, Sephiroth, drives his sword straight through Aerith and mercilessly ends her life. When the game reached the public, cries of outrage erupted from fans over Aerith's tragic death. However, believe it or not, the game creators were HAPPY. This meant, as they said, that Aerith was a successful character!
If there is one thing I have learned, if you are sad to let your character die, then others will be too! Go with your gut! This can also include ending a relationship that you wanted to last forever! Others may love your couple and be heartbroken to see them split, but this means that they were well-connected and successful! Take disappointment as a complement! (In this sense, anyway.)
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