now i want to preface this by saying i am by no means an expert on writing or character development. however, as someone who finds making characters one of the easiest parts of writing i want to share my process for those who struggle with it! it may not work for everyone but hopefully some of the things i say can be a little bit helpful. without further ado, and it’s pretty long:
HOW TO: NOT KILL YOUR OCS
STEP ONE: THINK IN THREES
When I am coming up with a cast for my wip, I try to come up with 3 characters to start with. This is usually: the protagonist, the antagonist, and a foil. The foil will usually become either a love interest, a sidekick, a rival, or whatever else I need to contrast against the protag. Until I have these down I don’t want to come up with any other characters.
STEP TWO: THE PROTAGONIST
As the protagonist is the most important character of all, I’m going to start with them just as I would when I am writing. When I think of my protagonist I want to know 3 things just like before: their past, their present, and their future. Personally, their present is the least important to me right now because that’s going to be focusing more on the plot of the work itself, so I focus more on their backstory right now. Once I have a rough backstory down, I give them 3 traits that relate to that. The final thing I come up with for them is their biggest desire. For this example I’m going to use my character Callista and how her rough draft would look:
Callista is the only daughter of a rich man. Her mom and brother died when she was young. Because of this, she is very closed off. She grew up in wealth and had everything handed to her. She’s stereotypically materialistic. She faced lots of trauma during her childhood and is now extremely vigilant. All she wants is to find her true self and follow her own path.
STEP THREE: THE ANTAGONIST
For me, the antagonist shouldn’t come from a character’s past. Obviously, the main character can have multiple antagonists, especially for longer series. But personally, I like to have my protagonist meet the biggest antagonist with the reader so the threat seems even bigger. Just like before, there are 3 things I need to know about them: what do they want from the protagonist, what do they have to lose, and how will they be taken down. Now I’m going to sound like a hypocrite by using a person from the past, but this is the least spoilery. I’m going to use Callista’s dad as an example:
Callista’s father wants control of Callista and to use her as a political pawn. If he doesn’t get her under control his reputation as a godly figure will be tarnished, he will face backlash from other politicians, and he will not have an heir for when he dies. He will fall by being [redacted].
Foils are some of my favorite characters to create because they’re so easy. You just need to make them the opposite of the protagonist or the antagonist. But I like to sometimes make them mirrors to one of them as well. Most of the time, though, I make foils by thinking of how different the protagonist would be under different circumstances. For this example, I’m going to use Britta:
Britta is a superhuman [difference #1] and comes from a poor family [d#2] on the lowest level of the city [d#3]. She has a hot temper [similarity #1] and prefers to be in the shadows [d#4]. She doesn’t get along well with others [s#2] and she’s amazing on the battlefield [d#5]. All she wants is to carve her place in the world [d#6] and feel like she belongs somewhere [s#3].
STEP FIVE: TYING THE KNOT
Now that we have the most important characters, it’s time to find out how they’re all connected in their stories. This may seem obvious for some characters (family, friends, lovers, etc) but I mean plot-wise. Where do they meet in the plot? Are they teammates? Are they rivals? How often are they together and how much do their individual plots intertwine. Around here is when I start plotting out the entire work itself but for now, I’m focusing on characters.
When it comes to connecting my characters I like to give them 5-10 important overlapping plot points depending on the length of the work. They can have more, they can have less, but this is what I think is the average for a normal novel. I’m going to use the same characters as an example.
callista and her dad have a fight when she is 14 about how she doesn’t want to inherit anything of his
she is sent off to a reform academy for 4 years and returns with little freedom
c is kidnapped and presumed dead and doesn’t meet him until later in the book, however…
she gets the offer to kill him herself
d imposes strict laws that interfere with her mission
c gets the chance to kill him and is unable to do it due to others stopping her
callista and britta meet when c is kidnapped
neither of them gets along but both push each other to learn more
b becomes her mentor after finding secrets of her own
both have their own things to handle and don’t meet up until later but still trade intel with each other
the climax, things are revealed to both
This is obviously very bare-bones, but knowing when characters interact with each other at their biggest plot points is crucial to all their plots and their development. And as you can tell, characters don’t even need to be in the same room to interact with each other because their individual actions do it for them. Once I have these big points down, I can start plotting how they get to these points. And that’s where the plot really starts developing! Now you have characters who actually do things instead of being moved by the plot itself.
Now that we have plot, however, you have to recognize when and how your character changes. Just because they can now make their own decisions doesn’t mean that they change. A stagnant character will do nothing but bring down all the hard work you just put in. There are a bunch of different ways to do character arcs but my favorites are to do positive/negatives. Basically, a positive is where the character ends better than they were at the beginning and a negative is where they end off worse. This could mean a variety of different things like becoming a hero/villain, being happy/sad, etc.
Your character should be a different person by the end of the book. And if you’re doing a series, they should be different by the end of each. Every important plot point should be a turning point whether they are going up or down. This is one the most important things to remember with your characters because just like real people they are constantly changing even if it seems minor at the time. This is why Chekhov’s Gun is so important in story telling, because it can used on your character’s personality as well.
Making my character’s voices is one of my favorite things! It gives them an extra layer of personality and makes them seem much more realistic. I’m going to keep the same characters for this this example as they’re both POV characters.
When it comes to setting up their voices I keep a few things in mind, which helps me with show/tell. What’s the first thing they notice when they step into a room? The smell, the colors, the size? Or is it the furniture choice and layout? When they’re talking to someone do they wander around or do they stay in place? What do they note the most about others and themselves? I like to practice this by just planting each of my characters in the same room and situation and noting what they go for first.
For example in their POVS, Callista focuses a lot more on wealth, looks, fashion, emotions, voice tones and is much more prejudiced. whereas Britta focuses on weather, psychical traits, weapons, hiding places and escape routes and important information. In conversations, Callista is a compulsive liar, hides her body language, and is always on edge. Britta keeps things short and simple, focusing only on what’s needed and never makes small talk. Callista is also much more eloquent and soft-spoken whereas Britta says whatever comes out first and has a rough accent. These are all tiny things that make them stand out against each other.
STEP EIGHT: EVERYTHING ELSE
These have been the most important things I do when I’m coming up with characters for my wips. You don’t need to know every little detail about your character when you’re making them- in fact, you shouldn’t even focus on those things until you’ve sat down and gotten to know them after a long time because things like their MBTI or blood type don’t matter in your novel. They’re fun details to throw out there when posting about them on your blog or comparing to other characters, but they’re not the biggest factor about them.
That’s it. Just write them. At this point you have everything set up at ready to go, you know where they’re going and how to get there. Just write them! You can practice their voices and personalities in small excerpts like writing them in short AUS or doing prompts to get used to how they are in different scenarios. Or you can just dive in and get to know them as you go.
I hope this guide helped at least a little bit and wasn’t too confusing! If you have any questions or need any more help I’m always glad to answer if I can 💜
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