I am currently putting the completion of the Serpent’s Seed on hold because I have come up with a story that I just have to get down. (By the way I do not recommend doing this). In this next story I am taking a much more professional approach and plotting everything out before I write it. So far I have the beginning and ending and am working on the in between.
What I want to talk about today is character development. In many stories I read, there is no feeling for who the character is and I strive in my own writing to focus much more emphasis on the who so the reader can feel like they know the protagonist. To me that is the way a story should be.
In creating this character (his name is Landon but don’t tell anyone) I began with a general premise of who he is. My inspiration for this was a fusion of the personalities of people I know and even my own experiences. Once I did that I could fill in the fictional details which grew on themselves as I listed them all out.
When writing, whether it be a short story or novel, you should always know who your character is on a deep level. This gives you understanding on how he or she would react to the situations presented in the story even as you are coming up with the scenario.
Start out simple with this idea. Even if you are not writing out a story come up with a character type for yourself. Write down all the traits that you thing makes you who you are. Then show it to a close friend as see if that person agrees with what you wrote down. They then can shine some light on things you missed or important attributes.
