adding characterization to a story you've already written
These are the questions to take with you when going through a draft to add characterization.
Your character will already be doing and saying things in a set situation. You got the most arduous part of writing down-- the story is there.
So now you're going to take that and ask WHAT? or HOW? with certain details. An interrogation of the story to dig more out when a scene might feel empty or the characterization feels off.
Let's say you want a scene where the character cries in a car.
But only YOUR character is going to cry in the parking lot of their old high school, so angry about their '96 Toyota's heater being broken that they slam their fist against the vents.
HOW? is about defining present behavior.
Take the situation your character is put in.
How do they react, how do they make decisions, how do they set and complete goals, how do they approach emerging emotions, how do they think about or observe the situation?
How do they deal with something like this based on personality, values, and their current life?
All of these things are informed by larger, earlier forces but "how?" is about the state of things that fluctuate.
With the car, present behavior is their anger at the broken heater and the decision to physically lash out. The fluctuation of personality, values, and current life converge in a way that is unique to this moment and this reaction.
WHAT? is about specificity with already-established reality.
Look at every variable in the scene, like the car or the location. They are established. The character had the car before the passage began. This was their old high school before the passage began. Making these variables specific tells us about the character's world outside this scene. What car? What significance of the location? Those are exclusive to the character and existed before the scene. At this point, they are out of the control of the character and therefore do not fluctuate.
An old Toyota with a broken heater and the parking lot of their former high school give us background information.
The main idea of this technique is to push yourself as a writer. Specificity, definition, and characterization enrich the narrative and add authentic complexity to your world.
As always, take what you found useful and forget the rest! Happy writing.
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