Helloooo! Do you have a particular method or tips for when creating and developing a character?
Sorry this took me some time, but there is so much I could talk about here. So I try to go with some basics.
How to create a character
some examples for what I usually try to find out about my characters, regardless which genre Iām writing in
name, age, place of birth, where they live, nationality, ethnicity, education, occupation, religious affiliation, financial status, gender identity, sexual orientation
eye, hair and skin colour
distinguishing features (tattoos, birthmarks, scars, visible disabilities,...)
height and weight (proportions!)
walk (slow, fast, skipping,...)
tics and mannerisms (touching their face, blinking, grinding their teeth,...)
speech patterns and communication style
talk (slow, fast, slurred etc.)
using slang, sounding educated, trying to hide a dialect/accent etc.
do they talk with their whole body? (gestures?)
extra question for speech and physical appearance: can people tell where the character is coming from and what influences they have from their heritage?
past trauma or important turning points that still influence their life
social and political ideology
expectations from themself and from outside
for longer stories itās even more important to understand your characters relationships to each other
two different approaches:
1. proper list of family, friends, love interests,Ā āenemiesā, everyone else
who is still alive and where do they live?
who did they grow up with?
what was and what is their relationship?
how long do they know each other?
would they trust them with a secret?
what is their relationship status?
what do they like about them?
if they are not together why not?
how do they know each other?
what do they not like about each other?
did they always hate each other?
can their relationship become better?
2. love, like, hate categories
make a list of people your character loves (use the different forms of love: romantic, familial, friendly,...)
make a list of acquaintances
make a list of people they dislike and people who dislike them
you could even try to draw their relationships with each other
make sure you include if the relationship changes throughout your story
Those are just some basic things I could think of that I usually like to write down about my characters. Depending on the story there are some variations of this and more information about specific topics.
Pro tip for developing your characters:Ā write short stories or little sequences with your characters that donāt neccessarily have anything to do with your story. I think of it as fanfiction of your own work. Put your characters with their intended roles and relationships in different situations and just write and let it play out. This is a good tool to find out if and how the characters work together. And it can even give you new ideas for their relationships to each other and new skills or habits for your characters. Itās basically a test run for your cast before you go into your bigger story.
And one last important thing: donāt get too stuck on an idea. Characters can sometimes develop a life of their own. You donāt always have aĀ conscious control over them. So donāt be afraid to change it if something is not working out or you find something else that is working even better.
This took me such a long time and I hope it makes sense and helps you with your writing. Good luck!
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