How to Develop a Character

Whether you're getting involved in role play games, or writing fiction, character development can sometimes get stuck. You find yourself staring at a blank page, or character sheet, and realizing that you have no feel for this person. You start playing or writing, and either don't know what the character would do, or can't justify his actions. If you're struggling to develop a character, here are a few ideas to get the creative juices flowing.

Major events in the character's history. It might not ever come up in your fiction or role play, but past history is the foundation on which the character will develop. Did his mother die in childbirth? Did his family win a lottery? Put some time and thought into this.

How did the character's worldview develop? What does he value? Coming up with a few important past events is a good start, but what's important is how these events affect the character's behavior and outlook on life. Let's say you decide that your character survived a major war. You probably don't want to have the character talking about that war all the time-in fact, his history might not be relevant to the role play or story at all. What's important is that being a survivor has made this character jittery and suspicious; or maybe he's developed a 'big-picture' view of the world, and is completly placid most of the time. The character might be bitter and out for revenge, or exceptionally kind. This can all come through, whether or not you give the reason for it. What matters is that, because you have a reason for them, you can tie them all together in a meaningful way.

Even very suspicious people don't question absolutely everyone and everything around them. They get nervous about specific things that strike them as being suspect. If you decide that a character will be "suspicious" in general, though, without coming up with a reason for it, then there may be no common thread among the things that trigger the character, or you may overdo it, resulting in a character that questions absolutely everything. By choosing a specific source for the personality trait, though, you lay a solid foundation for character development.

What are the character's internal conflicts? Everybody has them: a desire to be a well-respected and mature adult that regularly butts heads with a need to touch shiny things; a love of peace that conflicts with a quick temper and longing for revenge. It's best if at least one side of your character's conflict is rooted in past history, but the other can be a random personality quirk the character was "born" with.

How does the character speak? Don't overdo accents-it gets annoying. Subtle things can have surprisingly powerful effects. Does the character use contractions? Passive voice? Slang? Does the character tend to just make a statement and let it stand, or does he develop his ideas and explain his reasoning. Lots of adjectives and descriptions? A tendency to wax poetic? Or does the character rely a lot on grunts and hand motions.

What motivates the character. Most importantly, why is the character here at all? Wherever here is, what's he doing and why?

If you're new to characterization, it can be helpful to make your first few characters a lot like yourself. You'll want to develop new ideas after a while, of course, but making characters who are like yourself can help in a few ways. You know what your own traits are like, for one thing, and you won't struggle with the guilt or difficulty of making "somebody" you control do things you don't approve of. Developing a few versions of yourself lets you stretch out the "character-creating" part of your imagination first, before trying to work with aspects of humanity you might not understand well.

Eventually, though, you should develop a character who's "anti-you." You don't want to fall into the trap of always needing the character to act the way you do.

Most importantly, have fun with your characters!