#characters 101

[mythcreantsblog]

How Much Character Development Is Enough?

Put work into your characters for the right reasons.

Writers are under a lot of pressure to develop our characters well. Sometimes we’re under too much pressure. Back in 2014, I wrote the article Five Signs Your Character Is Fully Developed, but when I look at that article today, I worry I was reinforcing unhealthy attitudes about writing. Yes, we want to write great characters, and it’s wonderful when we feel a connection to them. But it’s also easy to forget what we’re doing it for.

The purpose of developing a character is to give you and your readers a good experience, not to meet some glorified ideal. We don’t have to engage in extensive character development to look good in front of our peers or to validate ourselves as serious writers. Regardless of what we do, there will always be people who scoff at us. But those people shouldn’t dictate how we create our characters.

[mythcreantsblog]

The Why & How of Character Motivation

Your characters and your plot all depend on the right motivations.

Kurt Vonnegut famously said, “Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.” This rule holds up surprisingly well. When a character lacks motivation, storytellers run into a variety of plotting and characterization problems. Let’s look at the ways motivation supports the story, how to pick a motivation, and strategies for communicating it to readers.