Character development

Character development is what happens when a character learns something after going through an experience of some sort. I take it you want to know what goes into character creation, but that depends almost entirely on the plot. Essentially, whatever happens in the plot, you want your character to be specifically unprepared for it, and forced to use their other skills to improvise and grow enough to overcome their challenges anyway. Take Star Wars (the old one so no spoilers) for instance. Luke grew up on a moisture farm, so had no clue about space battles or the Force. He had to sort of wing it and be rescued a few times before he found his footing, got some real training, and became a powerful Jedi.

That's generally speaking, of course, but it's the bread and butter of what makes a character dynamic and relatable.

EDIT: I just realized this only applies to protagonists. Background characters can be quite a lot more basic than that, and even unchanging. But they should generally complement the main character while being believable otherwise.

 

Cute characters! Really like the designs!

Typically, what I do to develop characters is I figure out who they are first, get a basic setup of backstory, etc.. Sometimes this comes slow, but it's a process so it can't happen rapid fire. Once I know who they are, I put myself in their shoes. I throw a situation at them, then I essentially role play as them in my head. I think "Okay, if I were (character), what would I do?". That's when the character starts going on their mental journey. They basically explore their own self through the situations they face.

If you want a tense situation with their character to pull out some of their backstory or maybe change them a bit, throw them in a circumstance where a major aspect of who they are is put to the test. Like a morality conflict.

If you want a little push on where to look on their backstory or something, here's a good tool. Click the button and it will randomly ask you a question about your character. You can use that to kinda get your mind flowing with ideas on how that character will behave/where they came from/several other things.

 

I see I'm not the only one who does this then.

For character development it's important not to have some sort of complete flip in personality with no build up. Say you have a guy called Fred, he's introverted,shy and likes to read. You can't just randomly have him change to an extroverted, outgoing person who hates books. Unless you're going for the whole "it was the aliens!" thing. But if you want a sudden change like this, the other characters should react to it somehow.

First off, establish your character. Are they stubborn? What was their upbringing like? How do they view the world? ect.

Usually when we think of character development, we think about either flaws/phobias or a character taking on a new role. What difficulties will they face? How can they overcome this? It should be noted that changes to a character can be negative too, like a hero descending into madness and becoming a villain out of jealousy.

Think of them as a real person for a moment, a person with strengths as well as flaws. You should aim at giving them a realistic personality based on who they are in the story. Factors like childhood, the area they grew up/live in, and the people they know may be good factors to work on with overall character of the person in question.

Er, hope this made sense and helped in some way. I tried. :/

 

No problem.