Developing a Character

[ScipioSmith]

I am a great beleiver that a character will reveal themselves in the writing, and that writing my characters will show me more about them than just trying to write their character profiles. But there's this one who just refuses to develop and I don't know what to do with her.

I think part of my problem is that she is a plot device- Miranda is the protagonists sister and heir to powerful magic which, conveniently, has not yet developed to a point of usefulness. She is kidnapped by the villain, a distant relative who plans to kill her, take her magic and use it to remake the world as it was in his youth. The story follows two threads: her brother's quest to save her and Miranda's own captivity as she explores the world of the antagonists, their motivations, histories and goals. And, while I find many of the villains interesting, I hate writing from Miranda's POV. She's just so flat and nothing has presented itself that will improve her.

Does anyone have any advice on coming up with dimensions for characters who seemingly refuse to expand?

 

[Telcontar]

I always view writing from a POV as an excercise in acting. Put yourself into that characters shoes and use what you do have decided about her personality to help inform your decisions. You say she's flat and boring. If you attempt to express her personality yourself she should become at least a little less flat, as you yourself are in all likelihood a real person.

Another trick to get things started might be to think of some sort of very uncommon, many even kind of zany quirk for her to have so that you have something interesting to write about. Maybe she likes to speak in rhymes whenever she can think of them. Maybe she absolutely detests cats, to the point where she'll scream and cry whenever she can see one. Maybe trees really turn her on. I dunno. Anything that will at least make it less laborious to write about her, so that other things will occur to you and help flesh her out.

 

[Spring-Gem]

I think part of my problem is that she is a plot device- Miranda is the protagonists sister and heir to powerful magic which, conveniently, has not yet developed to a point of usefulness. She is kidnapped by the villain, a distant relative who plans to kill her, take her magic and use it to remake the world as it was in his youth. The story follows two threads: her brother's quest to save her and Miranda's own captivity as she explores the world of the antagonists, their motivations, histories and goals. And, while I find many of the villains interesting, I hate writing from Miranda's POV. She's just so flat and nothing has presented itself that will improve her.

Does anyone have any advice on coming up with dimensions for characters who seemingly refuse to expand?

Stop treating Miranda like a thing that is solely there to report about the antagonists. She should have her own goal that she is actively working toward. If I were in her situation, I'd be constantly trying to find a way to escape or somehow foil the kidnapper's plans. I wouldn't care at all about the kidnapper's history or what he was going to do with my magic unless it contained the key to my escape. Physical survival is the most basic human need of all and when faced with the probability of death most people don't sit around musing about the history and motivations of the one who will take their life.

It might help you to do a character interview. Imagine that you are sitting across from Miranda and ask her some questions that you've typed out ahead of time. Then get inside Miranda's head and answer them as she would. Here are a few questions to get you started. What do you want? How do you feel about this situation? What did you most want before you were kidnapped? What do you want to do when all this is over? How do you feel about the person who kidnapped you? Is there anything you've learned in your life that can help you get out of this situation? What have you learned about your kidnapper that you can use against him? Is there anything else you would like to tell me about yourself or about your situation?

Edited to add: If you want to show the antagonist's side of things you could use the antagonist as a POV character. You can either keep or drop Miranda as a POV character whichever serves the story.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[Jess A]

Perhaps you could pretend to 'sit down with a cup of coffee' with Miranda. 'Meet' your character in your mind. Visualise. I think Spring-Gem's interview idea is a fantastic one.

Alternatively, you could role-play Miranda with someone you enjoy writing with. I always use first person when doing this, but that depends on you. Put your characters into interesting situations and see how they react. Vary the situations. Have some mundane ones, dangerous ones, drama-llama ones and light-hearted ones.

 

[Wormtongue]

Answer these questions.

What does she love?
What does she hate?
What is she afraid of?
What is she drawn to?
What motivates her?
What discourages her?

Answer these and she will be more than a plot device to you.

And as you go...

When she speaks, ask yourself "why is she saying this?"
When she acts, ask yourself "why is she doing this?"

And the answer cannot be "to advance the plot". That's the answer to "why am I writing this?"

 

[Sparkie]

I've never used one, but there are comprehensive character sheets available online. Perhaps filling one of those out in detail can help you get in touch with a character.

 

[Otherlands]

I actually write short stories, each involving a main character. It never has to be decent writing, or even a good plot. They just act as a little bit of back history to the particular character and I find it helps propel them into the main WIP

 

[ScipioSmith]

Thank you to everyone, I took some of your advice and already I have some great ideas. Some of my ideas aren't particularly likeable, but that just gives scope for a charcter arc. Cheers!