5 Character Development No-no’s

In fiction writing, one of the most daunting tasks is creating compelling characters. Each character in a book enriches the plot, the setting, and the story as a whole. You want your readers to be touched by their experiences and feel that they can relate to your characters, emotionally. To help guide you through that process, this blog post highlights five things to avoid when writing and developing your characters.

1. Flat Emotions

A reader’s first impression of your characters is often the inner workings of each character’s mind, including the emotions they experience. In order to guarantee that your audience will feel connected to your characters, be honest about what they feel, negative and positive. Don’t be afraid to give your characters emotions that may seem unordinary, uncommon, or downright unnerving. The human experience is one wrought with highs and lows, so it’s key to embrace every part of your character in the conflicts they face. If you want a character who at first seems to be cheery and naive, make sure to include their not-so-sunny feelings and thoughts. If you want a character who comes across as brooding and mysterious, divulge the reader to their hopeful musings. Be authentic to how you imagine them to react internally and externally. Often what we show others is just the tip of the iceberg into what we’re experiencing inside.

2. Copycat Characters

When you have a large cast of characters, it can be easy to fall into the habit of taking one character’s personality and only lightly altering it to create a new person. However, you want to avoid the trap of cookie-cutter characters, who, at a glance, may be different, but ultimately are imitations of one another. To prevent this, make sure that you take a step back from your writing and evaluate how you would perceive these characters if you were in a room with them. Incorporate pieces of your own personality into each of them, include thoughts, actions, and quirks that are unique to you or people you’re close with. Give your villains qualities that are somewhat redeemable, give your heroes traits that make you question their motives. Every character is as unique and individual as real-life humans. Be sure to emphasize the duality of every character in their own way.

3. Blank Room Syndrome

A frequently overlooked mistake that writers make is not having their characters interact with the space around them. Think of yourself when you enter a new room, what do you observe? Perhaps you fiddle with a crumpled tissue as you have a tough conversation, or you may find yourself looking for the television remote only to find you’ve been sitting on it. It is good to describe the setting through visuals, but to fully immerse your reader into this carefully crafted world, be sure to include the other senses of touch, taste, smell, and sound. If there was a clock mentioned earlier in the passage, remind your readers that it’s still there by having a character get startled from it chiming; or if there is an unusual smell, have your character make a comment about it. To better include the five senses in your writing, we recommend you keep a running list of how you yourself interact with the space around you. Try to be present in your body as you engage with your settings, and it will become more natural in your storytelling.

4. Dead Dialogue

What’s worse than confusing dialogue? Dead dialogue. While you can have filler conversations, it’s best to ensure that 80-90% of the dialogue included in your manuscript is moving the plot forward. When writing conversations between two or more characters, it may be helpful to ask yourself how would this contribute to the story timeline? Authenticity to your characters is vital, so if you have a character whose main trait is that they are all about their career, or one whose main focus is on their appearance, make sure to tap into how those traits can further the story along. When your characters interact, make sure that every piece of knowledge given is necessary to the book. Minor details to flesh out the characters is more than fine, but be sure that your readers don’t get lost in the lore.

5. Too Physical

Do you ever find yourself writing about your character’s dreamy blue eyes? Or perhaps you indulge into an elaboration on how flowy and lush their hair looks in the wind? While it is necessary to describe your characters’ appearances, it is easy to get caught up on the small physical details. It’s exciting to create a whole person from scratch– you can decide what their skin, hair, eyes, and more all look like. However, you don’t want to over-describe their physical appearance. Many writers often remind the readers that Person A has gorgeous gray eyes, or silky blond hair, or maybe even sparkly skin, so much so that the readers may skip over those descriptions. This leads back to tip number 2 with the copycat characters. If you spend too much time focusing on the physical traits of all of your characters, you may lose their sense of personality and individualism. To avoid this, be sure that you include physical descriptions and personality traits, with a ratio of 1:2—for every one time that you describe the appearance, try to include two more moments that incorporate that character’s personality.

In conclusion, there are many opportunities while writing your manuscript in which you can truly enrich your characters. It is important to be mindful of how your audience will interpret what you write, but also to be present in your body. Our imagination can carry us out of what is happening in our current moment. Check in with yourself every now and then, remind yourself of your five senses, maintain a list of how you interact in the real world and with those around you. Soon enough, your characters will be as vibrant and memorable as you are!

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