A few years back I had a fellow author messaging back and forth with me discussing the process on character development. They were very new to the craft at the time and were looking for ways to grow their characters into beings with greater depth. I felt that this conversation produced some discussions that might be helpful for some of you out there trying to figure out how to create more fleshed out characters for your own projects. This conversation in particular revolved around the natural balance of finding the cracks within your characters.
Please note that in regards to concepts of psychology a lot of what I state here are fairly broad generalizations and should never be used to try and “diagnose” a person.
What is something you found useful when choosing your characters faults and vices? Did your ever feel like you’re tipping the line on too much or too little?
I began with what you call the “why” of the story. Even stories written just for fun will always have some core purpose to them, some “lesson” being taught or “question” being asked. The why’s in stories help to propel a *lot* of its direction and the formation of your characters.
When I began book 1, I honestly had no idea *what* the world was that my titular character Iris was in! It took the second and third edits to better grasp that, better understand the kind of world around her. For me, and please note this could very well be just my personal preference – not a 100% “this is how to do it” model – world building honestly becomes secondary to character development. I feel like you can swallow insane worlds, magics, and creatures if and only if the human side of your characters are relatable; *feel* real.
I looked into my interactions with people in the real world and then used what I knew of basic human psychology to develop them.
(I was raised in a family of psychologists so there was a bit of a leg up in understanding the “why” of people there)
For instance, with my character Kyle I knew I wanted him to be cocky and snarky.
But I also know in real life, that those who are overly cocky and proud of themselves in front of others can often be *incredibly* insecure internally.
Something usually happened in their past where they felt they *had* to be the only one they relied on. And their “cockiness” was actually due to some serious trust issues.
With those trust issues they tend to put them in more opportunities for harm than necessary. And are unable to admit to their failings because that is a pathway to vulnerability. To these types of people, vulnerable is synonymous with getting hurt and they *refuse* to ever be hurt again.
So, with someone who has that kind of mentality what can you expect?
Looots of deflecting.
They will rarely, if ever, give you a straight answer. They keep the more serious parts of their hearts and minds to themselves. They will cover other strong emotions, doing what they can to deflect – Kyle’s go to being humor. Sometimes for others it may be anger. They might have a need to prove themselves, and usually not in healthy ways – i.e. unnecessary risk-takers.
If you want to know what your characters’ faults and vices are, figure out their upbringings.
What were their families like? Did they *have* families? Did they feel accepted? Rejected? Were they abandoned? Ignored?
Did they have to be the “perfect one” all the time, never getting a chance to feel like they were allowed to fail?
Were they coddled? Everything handed to them on a silver platter? Were they promised the world, but then later tragically betrayed?
Where did the betrayal come from? From family? Meaning they don’t trust intimate relationships? From authority figures? Meaning they don’t trust people with power? From people of faith? Meaning they renounce the power of a deity?
Even if in your story you *never* touch on the character’s upbringing or background, *you* knowing it will help you better know who they are and what they would be more naturally prone to do in a given situation.
Faults and vices are a natural part of the human condition. If you know what spurred those on in the first place then you will better know how many there would be.
If your character is more tenacious or stubborn then they are less likely to have a litany of vices in particular. But also more likely to stay stuck longer in something unless another can stand up to them. If your character is a bit more weak-spirited they are more likely to be easily influenced and can fall into many pits.
At this point the conversation shifted into some of the more technical points about self publishing. But I would like to expand a bit on this topic here and say that it is unlikely you will have your character entirely figured out before you start writing. At lot of these personality deep dives didn’t really piece together for me until after I had spent some more time letting these characters interact with each other and the world around them. There is something to be said for allowing your characters to reveal themselves to you as a story progresses.
I also want to state that one of your greatest ways to find out about your characters is by asking a lot of questions. Try some out of the box methods even like if you were to sit down and interview them, how might they respond to certain questions? Or say you caught them on a date, how might they react in different scenarios?
One book I have that I really enjoyed using to help me ask questions I wouldn’t normally have thought to is Janeen Ippolito’s Weird Writing Prompts. It’s honestly a fantastic tool for sparking discovery of who your characters really are.