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Since this seems to be something the authors in the group want to discuss, I'm starting a new thread!

This is a thread for how you come up with and flesh out your characters.

Oh! I'm the first here am I?
I find my characters tend to come up with themselves. I get the idea for a story and the characters come out to play.
Fleshing them out is more of a problem, though. They want to be perfect. Who doesn't? So I have to persuade them to show their flaws. Some are easier than others.
Take Carthinal, my MC in my fantasy series, The Wolves of Vimar. He is quite a flawed character, although he does have a great charisma. He is very handsome and women throw themselves at him, and he finds it hard to resist them. Let's face it, he doesn't really try. He has a very quick temper that he struggles to control, and he is ambitious to the point of it being a flaw. He wants to advance in magic above all else and this causes him to consider whether to betray his friends and his country in the pursuit of magic. (This is in book 2).

My characters also often just come to me. Sometimes I need to write for a few pages before I figure out who they are, and sometimes they like to hide their wounds and weaknesses because they know I'm going to capitalize on that, but that's why editing exists, too.
I feel it's really important to show a fully-realized character, so in the editing phase I really try to go deep with the character on their journey, to show who they are, both the good and the bad of them, and to let the surrounding side-characters shine so they feel like real people too, even if they don't get a PoV. I try, anyway!

I normally form up my main characters even before I start writing my story, as they literally are the backbone of my books. I first define (for my own benefit) their physical and mental attributes (sex, ethnicity, IQ, physique, general attitude, knowledge, skills), then gradually let the readers discover my MCs via their actions and thinking as the story goes. It is very important to me that my MCs be and stay in character and don't swing from good to bad on a whim.

Writing a good character has a lot more to do with history and experience than flaws and weaknesses. That is one of the primary misunderstandings of character development. A writer may decide to amplify or shine a light on a character's personality flaws mistakenly thinking that this is what creates depth and believability. While it is a part of it, it is only a small part.

When creating a character one must take into account many things. Where did this character grow up? Who were their parents? Who were their friends? Basically all the things that make you a person are the same things that make your character real to the reader.

It's the little things. The twitch of an eye. The way a character plays absently with an old scar. Their favorite food. The memories a scent or color calls forth. The way certain personalities are either pleasing or perhaps rub them the wrong way. The reaction to situations and how they deal with the aftermath.

Simply giving a character a list of strengths and weaknesses will leave them flat and unbelievable. The chief question you must ask yourself is what makes you real, what gives you your individuality? Then apply that formula to fiction.

Brian wrote: "Writing a good character has a lot more to do with history and experience than flaws and weaknesses. That is one of the primary misunderstandings of character development. A writer may decide to am..."

I absolutely agree. You did a great job expounding on this. It's very important to show that for the character, life does not begin on page one of the novel. It's definitely one of the ways to make your character more believable and add depth. I mentioned weaknesses because that main character wound can drive the internal conflict of the story and therefore it's important.

Not much to say about my process - I start with a rough idea of the story and let it guide me. During drafting, I go and try to work on improving everything, which includes the characters.

Most of the backstory for my characters was created when thinking about various plot points between drafts (often when walking through the hills, and the worse the weather, the more ideas I got).

I've often said that I get my characters by ripping out random hunks of my soul and throwing them on the page. I write the story by poking them once in a while and then seeing what they do. Most of my storytelling is done through their eyes, including the plot and the setting. I personally have no internal monologue, so neither do they. All the narrative work is done through their own perceptions of where they are and what they think is going on. I occasionally have plot points as mile markers, but how they get there is quite variable, and often turns the meaning of those markers upside-down by the time they get to them.

Mine usually pop into existence fairly well fleshed. I generally write from the movie unrolling inside my head, but the characters are then formed by what happens, and what has happened previously.

Sometimes I have what I would describe as either 'the shower epiphany' or 'the coffee epiphany.' ie. the places where the sudden realisation of 'something,' occurs.

Leonie wrote: "Mine usually pop into existence fairly well fleshed. I generally write from the movie unrolling inside my head, but the characters are then formed by what happens, and what has happened previously...."

Finally, someone else with an internal movie player :D I've tried explaining it to so many friends throughout the years but never found anyone who describes it that exact way.

Aino wrote: "Leonie wrote: "Mine usually pop into existence fairly well fleshed. I generally write from the movie unrolling inside my head, but the characters are then formed by what happens, and what has happe..."

Nice to meet a fellow internal player of movies 😊😊😊

"It's the little things. The twitch of an eye. The way a character plays absently with an old scar. Their favourite food."


Ummm.... No? For me, character would be the protagonist noticing these things in others to portray them as observant. But having the protagonist or any other character do these things doesn't add anything of value to a story. The braid pulling in The Wheel of Time immediately comes to mind. An exploration or explanation of why they do them might be interesting but it's not the sort of thing that can be done in a sentence or two.

I think of character as the motivations of actions, not the actions themselves.

In my local writers group, in January 2021, we're starting this writing craft book on characters:

The Art of Character: Creating Memorable Characters for Fiction, Film, and TV

It's a mystical process. Plenty of what's been written here backs up the notion of this experience. Were I to spreadsheet some sort of plan for a character development, they would be unlikely to heed the roadmap and end up doing whatever the hell they wanted regardless.

I was going to say I don't know but I think I do. I'm a perpetual daydreamer. I run little stories in my head all the time just to amuse myself. So after a lifetime of make-believe, new characters just kind of pop into my head on demand.

I've always thought that play and daydreaming are an essential part of any creative person's life. So, take the time and let your mind wander.

... plus I watched a lot of TV as a kid. :S

When I create a character I usually make their appearance first. I find someone that attracts me on the streetz. I go up to them and ask them about their different personality traits then I go off of that. One time this guy was like I do drugs and spend my money on lotto tickets. I then was able to create a emotionally struggling story based of of this inspirational man. I have never shown this story to the world, but one day maybe I will. I think that character driven stories are easiest to connect too. We may not be on drugs but there are people out there that are and learning makes the brain mass larger. I hope everyone learned from this.

For me the MC is always born in the instant I have the main plot idea for a story. There will always be some quirk or feature of the MC which meshes with the plot fundamentals. Aspects of other characters will also fit into the plot framework.

Believable, memorable characters tend to be contradictory and more than the sum of their parts and writing them seems to be a contradictory process where you start with less and hope / aim to end up with more.

It's an ongoing process. Sometimes its a matter of, "What if they look like that?" or "What if they do this?"

Heather wrote: "It's an ongoing process. Sometimes its a matter of, "What if they look like that?" or "What if they do this?""

Also, what would they most hate to happen right now?

That can be fun.

Adrian wrote: "Heather wrote: "It's an ongoing process. Sometimes its a matter of, "What if they look like that?" or "What if they do this?""

Also, what would they most hate to happen right now?

That can be fun."

Thats a good one.

I also do: how woukd they react to rhis situation right now?

Grocery stores, theme parks, the dmv...