The Art of Character Development: A Guide for Beginners

Regardless of the genre or medium, every story begins with a character. Whether it’s a principal character or a supporting role, the reader needs to relate to them on a human level and care about their journey throughout your story. When developing a character it can seem daunting at first. The idea of creating an entire personality can feel like a mountain to climb, but there are approaches and tips that can help every writer conquer the most difficult hurdle, the blank page. This guide is here to walk you through the basics and set you on your own path of great character development.

The first thing a writer needs to establish is what role your character is going to play in your story. Are they a protagonist or antagonist and is this character’s presence going to drive your story forward. In other words, what level of importance or value do they have in your story?

Crafting Characters: A Writer's Guide to Storytelling

Your protagonists are the main characters and their goals and conflicts are central to the story. They need to be relatable and personable with nuances and vulnerabilities that will resonate with the reader. Explore your protagonist's strengths and weaknesses, and always allow room for growth.

The antagonists of your story largely exist to create conflict with your protagonist. They provide opposition which should both challenge and highlight the very reason we are rooting for our protagonist.  Creating a “bad-guy” does not necessarily mean a pure evil or the polar opposite to the protagonist. The antagonist must also possess qualities that make them believable. Their motivation is true to them and they must provide a compelling reason to do what they do.

A story will usually include some supporting characters but a writer needs to remember to treat the development of these characters with the same level of depth and nuance as the main characters. There may be personality traits that are not fully explored in the story, but a backstory or deep knowledge of their behaviour will always add credibility to the characters. 

Create a Character Profile

A character profile is a detailed document that outlines everything about a character, from their physical appearance to their hopes and dreams and deepest fears and desires.

Begin with the basics:

• Name: Choose a name that fits the character’s social and cultural origin.
• Age: Consider how their age fits with the story as well as how they look, dress and speak.
• Appearance: Describe their physical appearance, including any notable features. The appearance can also reflect life experiences including tattoos, hairstyle and body type.
• Background: Outline their nationality, family, education, and key life events.

Then, delve deeper:

The character’s personality will encompass much of their behaviour but when outlining their personality, begin with the most dominant traits including whether or not they are shy, are they an optimist or a pessimist. Using these traits will then reveal how they will respond to certain situations or what sort of choices they would make. Your characters will also have flaws and fears which is a good way to explore what scares them and what they are likely to avoid. The same applies to skills and strengths. These could come in handy in moments of crisis or they may give an insight into the character as a person. For example, a character who speaks many languages is likely to be well travelled or a person with a black belt in karate will understand the value of discipline. Overall, it is your character's motivation that will drive the story and will define who they are. A writer will know what it is that their character wants and needs and how far they are willing to go to get it.

The number one rule of good writing is to show, don’t tell. It is your character's actions, their choices and their personality that will reveal what we need to know about them. Rather than telling the reader, the writer must describe how your character behaves or reacts in a moment of drama or crisis. This way the reader is feeling what the character feels rather than being told. If they are nervous, perhaps they giggle or fidget? If they are angry they may lash out or raise their voice. Whatever it is, avoid the adjective

Conflict is where a character will reveal their true self and conflict is usually the pivoting point of a story. Put your character in a situation where they need to make decisions. They will reveal who they are by the choices they make and how they make them. The protagonist's story will involve growth and development and it is through conflict that this will happen. While a writer will have a deep knowledge and understanding of their characters, they must allow for character growth. The character arc is what makes a story interesting and if you want a reader to care about your characters, you need to allow them to evolve either by achieving a goal or overcoming an obstacle. Your characters should not be the same people at the end of the story as they were at the beginning.

Crafting Dialogue for Authentic Characters

As your characters go on their journey through your story, they will need to communicate with one another. Dialogue can reveal so much about a person. How they speak, the words they use, how they talk to people and how they express themselves. Their style of speaking and their choice of words will tell the reader about the characters background, their personality and how they relate to other people. Choose your dialogue carefully and imagine the words spoken out loud. What we read and how we speak are not the same so be mindful of how it reads on paper.

In general writers are thieves and much of what they write is borrowed from observing the world around them. When creating your characters, look around you. Observe how people speak and how they move. Note how much people communicate without words and learn how much we reveal about ourselves through our actions. Real, believable authentic characters are born from observation. It is also a great way to collect little nuggets of dialogue. What’s overheard on a train or in a cafe can be gold when it comes to writing characters.

It takes time to create characters and can sometimes feel like a mammoth task, but people are fascinating and a well developed character will eventually take on a personality of their own. The characters a writer creates can eventually feel like a friend or a family member and it is here that the magic lies. When approaching a new writing project, take the time to really flesh out your characters and build their world. When you have characters that feel real, in many ways, they will write the story for you.

If the idea of building worlds and populating them with weird and wonderful characters has piqued your curiosity, then creative writing is probably for you. At the Creative Writing Academy we have courses for all levels of writers. Whether you’re a novice who likes to scribble short stories, or you are an accomplished novelist or copywriter, there is a course to suit you.

Enrol now and see where your characters will take you?