Developing a Character

I like to plan ahead with my characters, but not too much that there isn't any room for character developement. I usually pick a couple of traits and build a character and his/her personality around it. I already kind of imagine what kind of conflict there will be in the story when creating characters, especially the main character. With that conflict, I try to create a rough sketch of what the character will be like after that event.

I try not to base my characters off of anyone I know, unless I specifically ask someone if they want to be a character in my story. Most of the time, my characters all have one or more traits in common with me, either intentionally or subconsciously, since it's just a lot easier to write what you know. I try to not make them pure self-inserts, though.

 

I used to build characters either around myself or loosely around people I know, because that's a convenient shortcut to finding a logical progression of events with consistent motivation. Instead of worrying about sculpting an entire ecosystem of imaginary people's minds interacting, you just say "What would friend 2 and friend 5 do if they got in a fight over this topic?"

Lately, however, I've been making them more from scratch, even staying away from using my own psyche as a template. Logical progression is logical progression, and it can usually be deduced without a direct real-life person simulation. That plus some moderate straying from logic based on personality traits (we're all a little illogical sometimes) can make a pretty reasonable flow of events with pretty organic characters. Not only do I think that identifying likely paths of social interaction can signify a person being a good writer, but also an empathetic human, who can identify how people feel.

 

I honestly build characters by starting with a one word personality. For example, I start with two characters, one who is "funny" and one who is "logical." That kinda acts as a base.

Then I ask myself, "how is the character funny? How is this character logical?" I keep asking questions until I have a more varied layer of ideas for the characters. Then I ask questions about how they interact, how their experiences have and will affect their actions. The more questions you ask, the more traits you get, until you have a pretty fleshed out character.

Then I think of a random situation. Could be everyday, could be an extreme circumstance. I put my characters in the situation and think up how they'd get out of it or how they'd react. Through that I get a better idea of how the personality I built works in action. I can change details that sounded good but I don't actually like in practice, and it builds them as almost a real person in my mind. I like to do this a lot before and sometimes during writing.

Then when I go to write a story, its almost like talking with the character about something they've done. It's a lot of work and time, but I like to think it makes the characters I write much more enjoyable and realistic.

 

Generally when I create characters, I imbue them with various aspects or forms of my personality and thought processes, so that it is easy for me to transition into their mindset, and easily act how they would act. Creating a character that is utterly foreign to my mind in terms of agenda and values is usually a bad idea, since I tend to get frustrated with both the character and myself for acting in ways I would not find acceptable or predictable.

Nowadays I have adopted a new practice of character creation. I give the characters virtually no information whatsoever, noting or telling only that which is necessary for the story to progress. I like to make 'everyman' protagonists so that readers and viewers alike will be able to identify much more easily with the character, since they don't hold to any particular creed, and thus readers will not tend to disagree with those characters.

Of course, that in itself is simply an experiment. I'm not sure if that is a wise idea at all, but it is a practice I have chosen to follow, for the time being.