Characters

[kyomiscarlett87]

So with characters in development how do you determine what your character should be like in your writing? For example in my Grandhill series I have a few characters who live in the present time within the modern world which is Earth and what's going on now and characters that are from like the medieval Time fantasy world like elves, dwarfs, gnomes, halflings, and so on. Each character has their own personality on traits and has some sort of purpose with the main characters making them useful at all times. How do you make side characters or villains to interact with your main characters?

 

[Prince of Spires]

In general for main characters I begin with a rough idea of what the character is like, and then I just write them and let them develop their character through their actions. And then when editing, I go through the whole thing and make their traits more specific and stand out more.

For side characters, I don't give them a lot of thought up front. I just let them walk onto the stage and see what they're like.

 

[Lorn Ashby]

Same as Prince of Spires - I used to think you had to map out a lot of character backstory before beginning. But I've found that something happens when I finally get into a writing habit and have some pages with these people under my belt.

For the POV, to start I really just needed to pick someone they reminded me of so that I could get them started. Along with what they really wanted and what they were afraid of/hiding. From there, they just developed. Its not always a smooth path of course.

For side characters, just one trait and one motivation. Preferably something that puts them in conflict with the POV somehow. I try to remember that dialogue is conflict; otherwise, it's not very interesting. What are they hiding or not saying? What do they see differently than the POV did? Every character has to want something.

Then, with writing, they become individuals, and it was easy to go back and make a handful of small changes to the early pages to get them on character.

 

[pmmg]

Yeah, as PoS has said. I have a general idea up front, but they develop as I write them. After a while, I have a good feel for them, and they become easier. In the rewrite, I may go back and adjust things to show more who they are.

In my current story, I wrote a child character who is not coming across as a child well. I am putting it aside for the rewrite, which at the rate the editing and cover artist go...could be four years from now....

Most characters start to come alive as I write them. I don't really keep character sheets on them.