When we sit down to write a manuscript we may already know who our characters are or we may be starting with a stranger, figuring out who they are as we go. I am one of the writers that starts out with strangers. They aren't old friends whose story I am telling because it is one I know well thanks to hours of planning and research. They are people I have never met until I sit down to write those first words.
By the end of my manuscripts they are old friends whose inner thoughts, likes, dislikes, and mannerisms I know as well as I know my own. But they had to develop throughout the manuscript. In manuscripts, like real life, that happens through daily life, through trials and sorrows, through joys, through people that enter into our lives for a lifetime or a moment. Those are the things that make us who we are.
A hero that watched his little sister drown when he was five and was powerless to save her might have a fear of water and a strong protective instinct where women and children are concerned. A heroine that grew up in foster care might have a fear of love and shy away from long term relationships.
A person with a deep faith may avoid relationships with people that don't share that faith. Someone that doesn't believe in God may stay far away from those that do. A hero with a serious handicap may see himself as having nothing to offer in a relationship and avoid emotional entanglements. A woman that has been in an abusive relationship may have a hard time opening up to the hero.
And the list goes on. Our characters are developed based on their life events. As are our own lives. We face those days and trials and developments as they come and our characters, both real and fictional, develop along with them.
Some of those things are easy to remember. A left handed character isn't going to use his or her right hand to write a letter. Someone with a fear of water isn't going to be a competitive swimmer. They might live by a lake or the ocean but they aren't going to be going in it. I know someone in real life that will go to a water park and not get so much as the tip of her toes wet. She cannot swim and had a scary experience at a water park once so now stays out of the water.
That is how character development happens in real life. It is also an example of how far fear can carry us in our development.
I eat health food. It is so much a part of me I could not walk into a fast food restaurant and order a meal with the intention of eating it if I wanted to. I am cautious when I shop. I read ingredient lists faithfully.
There are many ingredients I avoid like one would avoid a starving lion intent on eating the first thing that crosses it's path. That is an example of how too much knowledge and caution can effect our personalities and who we are.
There are many ingredients I avoid like one would avoid a starving lion intent on eating the first thing that crosses it's path. That is an example of how too much knowledge and caution can effect our personalities and who we are.
Would I like to be able to walk into any grocery store, pick groceries based on price and taste, and think nothing about what is in them? Yes. Very much so. But I simply can't. How does that work when you pair someone like that with someone that eats anything?
It gives plenty of opportunity for conflict if both aren't real careful. Or maybe...if a heroine had that trait she could be paired with someone that only eats in restaurants. Or grocery shops at convenience stores. You get the idea.
It's all about character development. And a bit of conflict. It makes people both real and fictional who they are. And sometimes it's very hard to work into a story. Because every so often we create a character who we like just the way they are.
How do you develop your characters?
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