Part Three: Let Your Characters Live

Character development for fiction is an essential step in the writing process and can mean the difference between a work that is welcomed by a publisher and one that is stuffed in the rejection pile. The time you invest in developing three-dimensional characters before you begin writing will reward you with more productive writing time and a stronger story. Just as you would frame up your story with an outline, you need to properly build the characters that bring life to your work.

In the third installment of this four-part series on story character development, we’re taking the fundamental traits, behaviors, and backstories you’ve developed to this point and helping you to push the limits of your characters.

In the previous two articles, we looked at the first four steps in this seven-step process:

1. Label their desire essences

2. Label their fear essences

3. Get specific with your backstory and

4. Describe their current behavior.

Now, we’re ready to step out of the structural mode of novel character development and let these creations stretch their limits and contribute to an exciting story.

5. Raise the stakes: Emotions are extreme

Play in the realm of this extreme when dealing with the fears and ambitions of your characters. These essences are all encompassing; meaning that we spend our lifetimes with them. Don’t cheat your characters by being afraid to raise the stakes as high as you can. Needing to find a precious stone to sell to an art dealer by midnight to raise the financing to save your character’s mother’s house before the bank takes it away from her tomorrow is exciting!

Look back at your own life and think of how seriously you take your essences. When your essences are threatened, will you fight to extremes to defend them? Just as when they are fulfilled, do you enjoy some of your greatest moments in life? Play in the realm of the extreme. Raise the stakes. Your essences are life and death to you

Part Four: Getting Down to Work

If you’ve read the first three articles in this series, you know that the time investment in fiction character development pays a hefty dividend into the writing process, the quality of your story, and the likelihood of getting accepted. Let’s continue!

So far, we’ve worked through the seven-step process to create convincing, intriguing, and believable characters:

1. Label the Desire Essences of each of your main characters.

2. Label the Fear Essences of each of your main characters.

3. Get specific with your backstory.

4. Describe their current behavior.

5. Raise the stakes.

6. Don’t meddle.

7. Let your characters play.

Now that you’ve got the framework for effective story character development, let’s put this knowledge to work!

Problem

Let’s begin with an underdeveloped couple of characters – a man and a woman in the romantic drama genre. We’ll put these two in a used book shop for their initial meeting and write without developing them:

Rachel entered the bookshop looking around. She needed a book for a dear friend and though she had passed this book shop a million times, she had never been inside. She browsed around for awhile, and then pulled a few books off the shelf trying to find a suitable gift. “Is there anything I can help you with?” said a voice from behind her. She turned to see an attractive young man in his twenties. “Are you looking for anything specific?” he asked. “No,” was her reply. “You’re very pretty,” said the man. “Thank you,” she said blushing.

Solution

Now, after putting these two characters through the story development process of labeling their essences, getting specific and raising the stakes, this is where we stop meddling and we let them truly play:

Rachel entered the bookshop, making a quick visual sweep of the interior. She browsed awhile, scanning the shelves and trying to avoid the other patrons (her desire to hide). Coming around a corner, she caught her reflection in a mirror and surveyed herself for just a moment. She was noting how her baggy jeans and sweatshirt hid her features well, when the classic literature section lured her like a magical door (her desire to live in a different reality). Gently, Rachel pulled a copy of “Leaves of Grass,” from the shelf (her desire to be appreciated for her intellect) and held it gingerly in her hands.

“A woman who enjoys Whitman is hard to find,” said a deep voice from behind her (his desire for connection). Startled, Rachel stumbled back into the shelf (her fear of the opposite sex) before she felt a hand on her arm trying to steady her. She looked up and saw a tall man with a thick crop of curly brown hair and rich, dark eyes looking at her with a mix of concern and amusement.

“I’m sorry if I scared you,” said the stranger, whose warmth only slightly melted her discomfort. “My mother and I used to read Whitman together,” he continued. Rachel stood there, still silent and feeling awkward. “I think that’s where I got my love of reading. How about you?” he asked her. His powerful gaze was penetrating (his high stakes).

“There is little else that I believe in,” she mumbled (her desire to connect). Her eyes never left the floor (her desire to hide is strong).

He nodded. “I love getting so lost in a story that the rest of the world fades away.”

Rachel drew her eyes slowly up from the floor, catching his only briefly before flicking back to the book in her hand. The jitters in her stomach were dancing so wildly that she was amazed her body wasn’t jerking. Although she would normally have shuffled away and avoided any interchange, she found her feet were somehow cemented in this spot, unable to pull away from his presence.

“Would you like to take a walk over to the pub (his need of a drink)?” he asked.

She raised her head (her strong desire for connection vs. fear of the opposite sex and desire to avoid alcohol). “I have to go now (her fear wins).” She darted from the store, the book still in her hand. She peeked back as she ran and saw the young man pull some cash out of his wallet, hand it to the cashier and then begin chasing after her (his need to connect outweighs his fear of rejection).

In this example, you have emotions, behavior, and history driving each subtle action and reaction. Every person is a complex network that should continue to unravel before the eyes of the reader in such a way that each page is compelling them to read on. In depth character development is the key to unlocking this kind of writing! Try to experiment with this novel character development process yourself and see if you too can bring your characters to life on the page!

In the meantime writers, keep your rear in the chair, your fingers on the keys, and your writing reaching for the stars.