Cockle Doodle DOOOOO!!! Good Morning readers! Let's talk turkey, oh wait I meant chicken! Today I wanted to go over something very crucial to writing. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.
Outside of a great story plot, this is probably one of the most important pieces to the writing process. A character should grow as your story unfolds. everyone loves to see your creation become stronger and overcome the plot, but they also love to see that they have overcome some of their own flaws. Let's say you have a female character that is full of self doubt and has to face a number of challenging issues that are within the plot of your story. Does she, by the end of the story overcome some of those doubts or does she fall further into them? If she hasn't grown out of some of those personal doubts about herself, go back and re think how can you make her become a better stronger person. You want your character to not only defeat the bad guys, but defeat the inner demons that they start out with.
The same goes for male characters, often we put a strong male character out there as a tough bad ass that is fearless. To develop his character we need to bring out his kindness, and break him of being the rough and tumble just a bit, show the world that there is another side to him.
I read reviews and the biggest hit that a writer can take is "there wasn't enough character development, but the story was great!" To write a great and lovable character you should make them as close to real as possible. We as people all have flaws and when faced with challenges that one would not normally be comfortable in , we adapt and change to over come those fears, or we wither and die. The same goes for your characters. Each character should have some sort of internal flaw, and through out your story, that character should be developing and working on overcoming what is being thrown at them.
Examples, a battered wife, should grow to overcome her pain and fear, and do what is necessary to get herself worth back.
A male character who is a tough hardened man with no love or caring, should by the end of the story find some of his self worth as well. Let him keep is bravado, however open him up to some vulnerability.
With that being said, there are characters who are already developed in all manners; tough and rugged, but passionate and loving, fearless but can feel the fear, and overcome it.
My main point is this, take a good hard look at your characters, you know them best! You created them, look deep into their souls and see where you can get them to grow! This will make for a better story line, and get you a lot more attention from your fans as well as publishers and agents.
Well this was just my thought for the day. I hope you take my advice and expand those characters into someone we just can't live with out!
By the way it is OK to get them to be a bit cheeky too!!
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