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Dec 2023

I feel like the characters I'm writing don't have as much depth as they could but I'm not sure how to naturally infuse them with more of it, like the plot naturally fits together in a way that doesn't quite lend itself to characters being further developed than they are right now.

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    Dec '23
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    Dec '23
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Throw them in a situation they've never dealt with before, one that isn't in your plot, maybe. Test their strengths/weaknesses, push their limits.
BREAK THEM.
See how they react given their current developments. Do they succeed or fail your tests? What can be developed so that they endure the trials better? (or, if they fail, can that weakness be explored more, to highlight their strengths?)

I'd recommend experimentation, if possible. Be an evil god/mad scientist on your characters. Something new is bound to crop up in their personalities, it just may take some pressure and outside experimenting to achieve.

(For me, I like to ad-lib some events/situations in my story to see how my chars navigate them. It's not always perfect character development, sometimes they lose something, or gain nothing from the experience. I'm not a pro storyteller, but I know my story's enjoyable to make, and perhaps your readers would enjoy reading yours too, if you allow yourself to open up your limits a bit, and test, test, test!)

Put your character in a situation of your choosing.

Ask "what would they do if this happened?" or "how would they react to that?" and build your character from whatever answers you come up with.

I like to break development down into acts like a story.
First act; establish character and what they want.
E.g. Luke Skywalker is an orphan who didn't know his father.
Learns his Dad was a Jedi and decides to train to become one too, hoping to be like him.

Second act; most of the stuff happens.
Make sure it's advancing the character in some way.
- Learns to use force powers
- Helps encourage Han Solo to redeem himself.
- Learns Jedi philosophy and the nature of the Darkside.

Then just before the final act he learns his Dad is an evil cyborg samurai (as you do).

Third Act; everything comes together,
- Luke now has a variety of Force powers.
- His mission becomes to redeem his Dad just like he did Han Solo
- Luke himself is tempted to the Darkside.

Make sure everything happening to this character is working towards the end goal, or have them help someone else in their arc.

Try it!
Tell me your characters inciting incident that started the story and where you want them to end up.
Then you can start filling in everything that will move them towards that goal.

Sometimes development won't become apparent until the end of the story. There's nothing wrong with playing the long game, so don't get bummed out if the character isn't progressing that fast.

If your character's aren't changed/don't grow over the coarse of a story there is a major issue with the plot (depending on genre, in Seinfeld it's kind of the point.).

In general, if the character(s) don't undergo some sort of transformation due to the plot, the reader isn't going to care because there's nothing to get attached to. The character's are stagnant and nothing effects them in any meaningful way. There's no emotional weight therefore no matter how dramatic the plot is, none of it will land.

Similar issues arise if the main character(s) are "unlikable" or those that have more negative traits than positive ones. I'd leave those personality types to writers with a better grasp on what makes an unlikable person endearing. (It's not something that there's a guide for, you really of have to experience that person or read it a bunch).

You need to ask yourself: What is the point of the story? What is the moral? Why is it impactful to the charters and how? How do they express that they're effected by it and when do they chose to show that/hide it?

There is no short cut to good story telling. No amount of advise will fix a fundamentally flawed piece. That doesn't mean it's not worth writing. If it's fun to write that's all that mattes. At the end of the day though you need to write something you'd want to read.

Read more. Read as often as you can. Research story telling; the hero's journey is the most basic plot set up and it works. Western media eats that plot type up.