This is the final blog in a short series about developing a character arc. The first blog defined the character arc and its importance. The second discussed how to begin developing that arc. This final blog offers concrete steps to take to create a fully developed character:
Writing a character is like giving birth to a fully grown person. You are in charge of making them from how they look, walk, speak, act and everything else that comprises a person. Here are some tips to bring them to life:
Make your first appearance count.
First impressions count even on the page. Your character has just a few seconds, sentences or paragraphs to appeal to your reader. How he introduces himself matters. Is he abrasive or kind? Does she speak formally or colloquially? How does he dress? Walk? Move? What is her attitude? Does she get in people’s faces or is she meek and reserved? What does your character look like? What does she wear? Is his hair clean? Long? What’s on her feet? If she’s wearing Louboutin the reader will feel differently about her than if she’s wearing dusty cowboy boots. Use your introduction to establish the type of person your character is and what the reader should expect. It’s fine to play against those expectations later, but your reader needs to have a clear idea of who your character is from the first meeting. They need to care.
Develop your character’s personality.
Characters need unique personalities. You don’t want them to all be the same, unless you are trying to make a point by having one who is not like the others (think Stepford Wives). Use your character’s dialogue (internal and external) to show personality. You also can establish this though setting. How does your character feel about where he or she is? If she describes a beautiful room with negative traits, we learn something about her from that. Imagine if your character feels warmly about a space most would not. Take every opportunity to reveal character through setting, dialogue, action and situation. When possible, include how your character sounds—the tone of their voice and cadence. Show how they respond and react to their situation and others. The more details, the more fully realized your character will be.
Create a whole person.
It’s easy to sketch in a person who is flat, lacking the flaws and foibles of living people. That’s how we end up with characters who are all evil or all good. No one can live up to that. Everyone has redeeming qualities and those that are not. Even serial killers can have a good quality. Charles Manson was musical and even wrote a song that was recorded by the Beach Boys. The point is to write full characters who go deeper than a superficial description or stereotype. Take the time to create a whole person instead of a two-dimensional version.
Tap into your own experiences.
Imagination is a writer’s best friend, but so is experience. We carry memories within us that can help inform our writing. If you can tap into your past, you’ll create stronger characters. Use similar experiences to figure out how your character might feel about a situation. This doesn’t mean you have to write characters just like you, but it does help to use sense memory to create a more realistic scene. This blog on bringing characters to life might help, if using sense memory is foreign to you.
Add in fears and driving desires.
Fears, motivations and driving desires will help drive your character have a richer inner life. Show what she wants and worries about. This will help define her responses to obstacles and difficult situations. Everyone has fears and flaws that affect how we live and what we do. Be sure not to write a “Mary Sue” who is perfect in every way. They are boring to read and not at all realistic. Embrace those quirks that make people unique.
Pile on the obstacles.
If nothing happens, there is no story to tell. Don’t be afraid to heap problems on your character. The more hurdles in her way, the harder it will be to succeed. This keeps the reader hooked and is key to effecting change in your character. Don’t be nice to them. That is the kiss of death in writing.
Allow for change.
Build in places for your character to learn and grow—to change. This is a necessary element of a character arc. If you are too focused on getting from point A to point B, you may miss opportunities for your character to develop. Build in growth points. Don’t be afraid to have your characters learn the wrong lessons. Not all change is positive. Sometimes people make missteps and have to try again. This is a great way to maintain tension. The character thinks she is solving an issue only to find she is wrong. Like us, characters learn best from mistakes. Don’t be afraid to let them fail along the way.
Know their backstory.
Backstory is one of those things that is essential to writing a full person, but difficult to use properly. The best approach is to get to know your character completely. Know their childhood, past experiences, wardrobe, key moments in their life, aspirations, failures, successes. Figure out how they would likely respond to different scenarios. Think about who they are and what made them that way. Know the times in their life they changed and why. Then use that information to inform their decisions, attitude, personality and speech. Don’t use the information to drown your reader in things that don’t pertain to the story before them. It’s like meeting someone the first time. Sure, you want to know where they’re from and some basic facts. You do not want to listen to their entire history thus far. Their past helped form them, but you do not need to hear about the time they fell on their face in third grade.
Add other perspectives.
Get out of your character’s head sometimes. Use other characters to reveal information about your protagonist. How others speak to them and interact with them helps create a more complete picture of who your character is. Use other characters to reveal traits the reader wouldn’t learn otherwise. We humans are often blithely unaware of our foibles. Others are quick to point them out. Use that aspect of human nature to your benefit.
Be aware of the arc.
While you write, keep your character’s arc in mind. This will help you figure out where they are on their path from the beginning to the end, where they need to grow and fail. Keeping an eye on your character’s development will help you eliminate unnecessary scenes. The idea is to keep your character moving forward. If the arc is static too long, you will lose your reader. Go back to the advice that each scene should reveal something new about your character. If your character arc has fallen flat, it’s likely because you have been too focused on action and not on character.
Do your research.
There is little that breaks the magic of a story for a reader more than finding a factual mistake. Research is key, especially if your character knows something you do not. Research everything. Fact check your work. Learning before you write also can help you develop your character more. For example, if your character is an epidemiologist in the Amazon, you could watch documentaries about people who do that job; contact organizations who do that kind of work and talk to an expert; read biographies (or better: autobiographies) about that specific kind of work in that specific place. Ask librarians for help. Call places who know the information you need. Research is always a good idea for writing stronger stories and characters. If you are not sure how to do effective research, check out these blogs: Researching Tips, Planning Your Research and Resources for Effective Research.
Use Beta readers to help identify places that don’t work.
Ask others to read your work and let you know if they ever felt like your character wasn’t acting like herself. Did she ever made a decision they didn’t think made sense? It’s easy to get so close to your character you gloss over their flaws. It’s like loving a friend and forgiving her quirks because of how you feel about her. A fresh set of eyes can help you see problem spots. I often ask Beta readers to let me know where they stop reading. Sometimes it’s a place with an issue.
This concludes this series on Character Arc Development. The next series will cover the three types of character arcs in detail—positive, negative and flat or static.