Developing dynamic (and more interesting) characters

Because even heroes need flaws

Photo credit: Suzanne D. Williams; Unsplash

Whenever you begin a story, you typically have at least an idea of who your main protagonist is. You probably have an idea of who/what your antagonist is also, but at least at the very beginning — to qualify as a true, solid, burgeoning book idea, you need a protagonist. That is a writing Truth in my humble-unpublished-author opinion.

I’ve read many books. Watched many shows. Read/seen well-thought out, and well-developed characters with interesting details, idiosyncrasies, and character arcs. I’ve also seen the opposite — characters with such potential, that ultimately fall flat of reader/viewer expectations. Sometimes this is the fault of the plot itself, but oftentimes…it’s just the character’s own personal growth that is what’s truly lacking.

Not every character is meant to be dynamic of course. Static characters (characters who don’t grow) are necessary. These are usually your villains, or people who just flat out refuse to change or adapt (think Filch or the Dursleys from Harry Potter). They are the toads-in-the-roads. You need these hard-headed types of characters to keep your story interesting, and make things tougher on your protag. (Protagonist is so long — for this article I will be shortening to protag.)

As I started developing my main characters (my story has two protags) I knew I wanted them to be very rich characters. Lots of detail, but also lots of personal growth. So in the beginning, I’m fully expecting that not everyone will necessarily like at least one of my main protags.

To keep track of my ideas for these and other main/dynamic characters that were evolving, I made two things:

1. An all-encompassing Character Notes doc that is highly organized and super detailed.
2. Researched and made my own version of a Character Prompt list, to assist in ensuring each dynamic character I create now and in the future, has the same level of depth and well-roundedness, attributed to them.

I can’t show you my Character Notes doc (obviously — spoilers) but I can share my Character Prompt List so you can have a small taste of the level of depth you can expect from my main characters in my debut novel. I hope you enjoy.

Without further ado, here is said list (subject to change — I constantly add things):

• Why Character is Important to Story:
• Name origin/Etymology:
• Nickname/Preferred Name:
• DOB & Place of Birth:
• Ethnic Background:
• Physical description:
• Other people’s first impressions:
• Athletic affinity (if any):
• Eating Habits:
• Languages Spoken: (edited — added on 11/14/19)
• Biggest Insecurity:
• Biggest Fear/Driver:
• Residence:
• Occupation:
• Personality traits:
• Nervous ticks/tells (if any): (edit — added 12/8/19)
• Religion/Spirituality:
• Key/Core relationships with others:
• Desired Character Development/Arc:
• Relevant backstory/background info:
• Future info (if need to know before writing future scenes):

For other authors or other aspiring-authors like myself, I hope this is somewhat helpful, and am curious what other people’s character-development processes are like. Or if you like my list, or think of something else I should add to this list. If it looks like I’m missing something glaringly obvious that a main protag would need — please let me know. I’m still in early-stages of drafting my novel. Appreciate any and all advice!

Thanks, as always, for reading.

Kim