how do you develop characters?

[KarlaErikaCal]

How do you make them "real"? i've been struggling with this and I feel that my characters in my WIP don't change over time and aren't really considered 3D characters.

Help please?

[KTC]

I know everything about them. When I'm not writing about them, I'm stretching my knowledge through the exploration of their pasts and their futures. I just live inside their heads and keep building on what I know about them. If I see someone in the line at Canadian Tire scratching their ear and then sniffing their finger...I think, "eew. Gross. I bet Ms. Halverton would do that." I take the ticks and tocks of everyday people and I give them to my characters. I write diary entries AS my characters. I go to before the story begins and after the story ends and think "WHAT WOULD THIS CHARACTER BE DOING AT THAT POINT IN TIME?" I just try to gain a thorough knowledge of not just the time they spend in my novel but the time they spend outside it. I allow them to haunt me. And I create exercises that make it easier for them to do so.

[arodriguez]

buy "Characters and Viewpoint" by Orson Scott Card. It will tell you everything you need to know.

[seun]

I treat mine as real people. Sounds odd, I know, but I think it works.

[Wraith]

KTC's ideas are awesome, definitely worth trying out. To that I can only add: be your character. No matter how different from you he/she is, get inside their heads, until you understand them completely and you feel what they feel, until every bad thing they do hurts you and every good thing elates you.

Also, give them flaws (and good qualities to villains) to make them human. Make them understandable, logical in their action, but also interesting. (Which means you can write about illogical people as long as you understand them and make that understanding come across to the reader.)

Another important thing to make secondary chars seem real: every character thinks he's the hero in his own story. Don't put every minor character's goal and backstory into the book (you'd end up with a thousand subplots), but know them. That will show in your writing. Every character wants something and has his own life and plot. Don't rely on archetypes - when you use them, give them a story, and the archetype will turn human. And don't rely on a quirk or a single trait to define your character - explore them, make them complex.

Change is more difficult though. I had that problem too. It should be inherent to your plot; the story is about characters changing, at least in a character-driven story. Maybe yours is plot-driven? Anyway, an idea would be just to let the characters react. When something happens, don't make them do things, but try to listen to them and see what they'd really do. Put yourself in their shoes and see how those situations would change you. The plot should be reflected in the characters' inner evolution. It's hard to tell when I know nothing of your story, but getting to know your characters and their motives should help.

Of course, you might have already done half the things I said, but there you go. :)

[AllieB]

I think character charts help - I used to use them more, when I first started writing...not so much now, but I think they can help you think about elements and details of that person you might not have considered. And try astrology charts. I have a published writer friend who swears by them. Figure out what sign your character is (or what sign you want him/her to be), and read the charts. They give you a whole lot of personality traits, including who they get along with and who they don't

Good luck!

[Shadow_Ferret]

Why would I develop them?

They spring fully developed into the story.

[Danthia]

Getting deep into their POV helps as well. Even if they're not the POV characterin the scene, thinking about how they feel about events and what they'd do or think gives you insights into how to write them. If they're uncomfortable, they might cross their arms for example. Tiny stuff, but if you know what makes them react emotionally, then you know what areas they can grow in.

Also consider what their flaws are, their hangups, their weaknesses. Take a page from Dnonald Maass's workbook and ask what three things your character would never ever do. Then think about situations where they would do those things. How would that affect them and why? Easy exercises, but they get you thinking about the why behind a character's action and not just the what. Plot tends to dictate what :) Character dictates why.

[BlueDolphin]

I ask them lots of questions.

[Rhea L]

I write the story. And whenever something about the character comes up, be it through dialog, their reaction, or something they thought/referred to, I ask why and dig as deep as it takes to find the answer.

The characters ARE the story, as far as I'm concerned.

[KarlaErikaCal]

These are all very helpful. Thank you guys so much. I'll definitely try to understand my characters more and put myself in their shoes. I think it'll be really interesting.

=]

-Karla

[Doodlebug]

One time I heard someone suggest that if you know what your character carries in his pocket (or, I guess, her purse), you had a pretty good grip on him/her. I sometimes do this when I'm running stuck.

[nessam]

I try to see them as the other characters do. If I don't like the way they are being seen through others eyes I change them. When I do like what I see I elaborate on those characteristics. After a while they take on a personality of their own.

[AlleyNV]

Everyone has great ideas! I am learning so much from AW.

[BlueDolphin]

One time I heard someone suggest that if you know what your character carries in his pocket (or, I guess, her purse), you had a pretty good grip on him/her. I sometimes do this when I'm running stuck.
That works for me. I know exactly what my MC carries in her pocket cuz I put it there! Yay, I officially know my character!

[Madison]

My English teacher once debated how Emily Bronte could write so passionate a love story in Wuthering Heights when she had never fallen in love. But that's a writer's trick! Experiencing emotions you've never felt because you become your characters, breathe the air your characters breathe. You are so in tune to his/her situation, so involved in his/her life that you feel what he/she feels (sorry - I'm a stickler for pronoun/antecedent agreement). And that's how Emily Bronte wrote WH, which, by the way, is possibly the best book I've ever read.