What is Character Development?
Developing a plot is only half the battle. Character Development isn’t just the art of naming and describing a character, but dives deeper. The overall design of a character physically, mentally, and emotionally goes a long way to aid our readers and how immersive our story becomes. Proper development should show reaction, change, and growth in more than one way. At the same time, a character is expected to be consistent, but not always predictable. Development shouldn't stop with the main character or characters, but extend into secondary and tertiary characters. A cast of well-developed characters can help a writer move their plot as well as make their story more immersive by pulling the reader into the plot in a more intimate manner.
Characters
No one can develop anything without first making a character. Each writer has a different methodology for creating them but in the end we all usually can answer the following questions about our main character and some secondary characters:
- What’s their name? (First name only, nickname, full name, aliases, etc.)
- What do they look like? (Hair, eyes, ethnicity, scars, tattoos, outfit, weaponry, etc.)
- How old are they? (Ancient, Old, young, a certain age, etc.)
- Their placement in the world? (Princess, Servant, Farmer, low-class, upper-class, etc.)
- Personal goals and dreams? (Save the world, Save the girl/guy, get rich, run away, etc.)
Even after answering these you may still look at your character and feel they are plain or lacking in depth. It is very common for a character to be referred to as "flat" if this is the sensation they leave the readers with. Proper character development needs more than these five core questions in order to create a "round" character. You should never feel like you have completely described a main or secondary character with just these five elements from above. Instead, I would like for you to add five more questions to your arsenal:
- What consistent behaviors do they have? (Catch phrase, rubs jaw, cracks knuckles, sighing, etc.)
- Dislikes? (Another Character, pet, activity, item, food, working, procrastination, etc.)
- Loves? (Another Character, pet, activity, item, food, working, procrastination, etc.)
- Personality traits? (Introverted, extroverted, outgoing, shy, short-tempered, etc.)
- Flaws & Achievements? (Judgmental, Awards, poor fighter, emotionally scarred, etc.)
We create characters because they help us make our stories and plot more tangible to write and read. For instance, a Romance story without two or more lovers to play out the roller-coaster ride may not have what is needed to express that there is a love story happening. When you are asked to describe yourself, you don’t start with how you look, but more or less what you like and dislike, you label your personality as “creative” or “bashful”, and a lot of times share achievements and dreams. These are the other side of the fence that is often lacking in a character within a novel or comic in order to create strong character development. That is where the terms “flat” or “round” come into play when developing a character.
Flat
If someone is calling a character flat, they are saying “hey, this guy feels like a paper cut out.” It seems like a scary statement, and it should be for any writer, but this means your character lacks personality, individuality, depth, and tangible substance! Often we see flat characters for the secondary and tertiary characters in the form of the cookie-cutter servant, merchant, mysterious stranger in a cave with a wooden sword for a small elf boy, the mother giving up her child, and so on. From book-to-book these characters may seem like the same fill-in, and as writers, we can do better! Do your best to make a richer cast of characters but keeping the amount of flat characters as low or non-existent as possible. It's hard to do this, so don't overwhelm or discourage yourself. Start with the main characters and venture out from there.
Round
Well-developed characters are referred to as round. A round character has life and depth to them, ambitions, likes and dislikes, habits good and bad, goals and motives, and more importantly flesh. Readers will often fall in love with round characters even if they are nothing but the servant or a silly merchant the main character meets once. These characters have memorable presence and that makes the reader fall into the world further and makes it far easier for you to illustrate the plot on a more intimate level. Think of Maid Mirriam's quirky assistant and even Robin Hood's pal, Little John who was far from little. Even in modern novels, we are seeing more of these characters come forward such as Dobby in the Harry Potter Series and in George RR Martin, fleshed out background characters always have a potential to convert into a main character role at any turn or twist in plot. Don't underestimate the power these characters have on plot and reader immersion.
Next Friday I'll post more on this topic ^_~ - Let me know what you think and I'll keep them going!