How to Develop a Character in a Fiction Novel

Fiction writers always face difficulties and one of them is developing a character. It could be a main character or a supporting character. A few ideas can help jump start the brain.

Do you have a character in your novel that is flat? Do you have any exercises that you walk your characters through? I do and I am happy to share them with you.

First, take one of your characters that you are having trouble bringing to life and put them in a situation. For example: Let's say your character is standing in line at a grocery store. Instead of using a cart, they are holding a few items they need as they wait for the people in front of them to check out. Then a bomb goes off in the rear of the store and kills 20 people. Chaos ensues and your character does what?

That's where you come in. What kind of qualities can you give your character to get your character to react in that situation? Do they get scared and drop everything and run? Did they keep all items in their arms after the jolt? Did they run to the back of the store to help the injured people?

You can come up with several situations and place those characters in them to bring out the life of your character.

Another example is having your character witness a woman beat her child in the middle of a shopping mall. The child is not being punished as much as it is being abused. How would you character react?

I would create a few situations and place each of your characters in the middle of them and see what defining characteristics come out.

This type of writing exercise can help you get those characters developed.