I’ve just completed the God knows what number revision of my novel(I lost count a long time ago). While I have to admit it is one-hundred times better than the first draft, it is still not where it needs to be.
I hope this isn’t coming across too negative. To be honest, while I’m not where I want to be, I’m a lot closer than I use to be, and from my way of thinking, I have a cake that needs to be iced. My icing is a mixture of character development and imagery.
I made a comment not too long ago that my characters were just too good. Nobody’s that perfect. So I did some research on character development to find out what I needed to do to rough them up and give them some dimension.
There are actually three dimensions of character development. I’ve used them all at times, but never made a concerted effort to put them all together in one particular character until now. Yeah I seem to do everything the hard way. Comes from inexperience.
So what are the three dimensions I’m working on?
The first dimension is surface traits, quirks and habits.
This one is easy. We all know we’re suppose to describe our characters and help the reader picture them in their mind. Is their hair blonde, red or brown. Do they have blue eyes, green eyes or brown eyes. What about that annoying mole on the chin that makes you think of a witch.
Maybe they have an annoying laugh, or have a nervous habit of tapping their left foot up and down. I play with paper clips when I’m the lead in a group meeting. It calms my nerves.
These are all things you can see, when you look at the person.
The second dimension is backstory and inner demons.
Backstory allows us to see where they came from, and why they act the way they do. We see the scars, the memories, and the dashed dreams that leave them with resentment, fear, and weakness.
We understand where they came from so we can empathize with them and form an emotional attachment.
The third dimension is action, behavior, and world view.
This dimension looks at moral substance or lack thereof. It’s defined not by backstory or inner demons, but by actions and behaviors.
A hero takes a stand, takes risks, and makes decisions.
A villain rationalizes behavior and is insensitive. He refuses to take responsibility.
As a story teller, it is your job to integrate all three realms of character development convincingly and compellingly. Nobody wants to read a story with one dimensional or shallow characters.
What’s your thoughts. Any suggestions or tips that might help me flesh out my characters during this revision.
-Jan R
Writing your first novel-Things you should know 
It’s always interesting to see how different people segment an aspect of writing. It’s also interesting because I feel like I approach it from the other direction. I often regard the quirks and social habits as a by-product of the deeper personality traits and significant life experiences that shaped the character. Then again, one could just as easily start with a quirk or characteristic, and then build a cause/root reason afterwards.
Certainly interesting to think about.
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Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts 🙂
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Thanks for the post! I’ve been really down about my character’s lately, since my novel’s been dragging on for a while. It’s the third one that I believe is the problem with them. Because making back stories and quirks is easy enough, the problem is formulating a character’s approach or reaction to those things. Once again, a good post indeed!
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Hope it helped. My critique partners are always telling me my characters are too good or and need more depth. We’ll see how it goes.
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