As a writer, it is important to have a strong understanding of your characters to accurately portray them and their actions in your story. We often spend a long time developing our characters, from their physical appearance to their personality traits and backstory. But, sometimes our characters can still feel one-dimensional or lacking in depth. This is where alternative ways of understanding our characters can be helpful. By exploring different methods of character development, you can gain a deeper understanding of your characters and bring them to life on the page! This article will explore some nontraditional ways to better understand your characters and how they can enhance your writing. Get ready!
Make a Playlist
Music can be a great tool to further get to know your characters. By creating playlists with unique songs that reflect your characters' personalities and experiences, you can gain a deeper understanding of who they are. When you add songs you think they would enjoy to their playlists, you can gain a better knowledge of their likes, dislikes, and motivations. For example, if your character is an introvert, you might include songs that are more mellow and introspective. Or if your character is an electric guitarist, they will probably have a lot of guitar-led songs. Plus, choosing music that reflects the cultural influences of your characters can add depth and authenticity. Overall making playlists for your characters is a valuable (and fun!) exercise that can enhance your understanding of your characters and their stories. It allows you to explore their traits, build their world, and develop their relationships with one another. So next time you are trying to get to know your characters, consider creating a playlist for them and see how it can enrich your writing process.
Brainstorm Their Memories
Brainstorming random memories from a character's past can be a useful tool for you when trying to get to know your characters. Memories are a significant part of identity and they can reveal important information about a character's personality, motivations, and experiences. By exploring different memories from a character's past, you gain a more in-depth understanding of who your characters are and how they might react in different situations. Also, you can discover and uncover details about a character's family, childhood, and past experiences that may have shaped their beliefs and behaviors. This can help writers create more well-rounded and realistic characters. Plus, exploring and crafting memories will help you avoid clichés and stereotypes. Instead of relying on common tropes, you can use specific memories to develop your character's distinct personalities and avoid creating one-dimensional characters. This was immensely helpful when I created my characters. Overall, brainstorming memories from a character's past will help you develop more complex, relatable, and authentic characters.
Act Them Out For a Day
Acting out one of your characters for a day isn't just a great way to understand your character, but it can also be super fun! Acting out your characters for a day can help you discover new aspects of their personalities that you may not have thought of before. It allows you to explore different scenarios and see how your characters would react, which can give you new insights into them and how they would handle certain situations in your story. For example, if you go to a coffee shop, consider what drinks or baked goods they might order. If you need to get to a certain location, think about whether they might bike, job, or drive. Overall, when you get into the mindset of your characters, you may develop a stronger emotional connection with them. This can help you to write more believable and relatable characters because you'll have a better understanding of their thoughts and feelings. Ultimately, acting out your characters for a day is a powerful tool for you to fully immerse yourself in your story and its characters. So, if you want to create dynamic and engaging characters, taking the time to act them out for a day may be a crucial step in your writing process.
Interview Them
One of the main reasons for interviewing your characters is to make them more three-dimensional. You may have a general idea of your characters, but it's through the interview process that you can really discover their quirks, fears, and desires. This then adds complexity to their personalities, making them more believable and interesting!
To interview your characters, "ask" them questions. You can do this by thinking of a question and then saying or writing down what the character's response would be. Interviewing your characters is a great tool and it can help you identify any inconsistencies or plot holes in your story. As you delve into your character's lives and stories, you might find details that you had not considered before. By conducting interviews, you get to know your characters and their perspectives in ways you haven't thought of before. Listed below are some questions you may consider "asking" your characters.
How close are you to your family?
What is your occupation?
Who are your friends? Do you have a best friend?
What is your greatest strength?
What three words best describe you?
Take a Personality Test
Lastly, a great method to better understand your characters is by taking personality tests. Taking a personality quiz as your characters can be a helpful tool in getting to know them better. Just like real people, characters have their own unique personalities that make them who they are. By answering questions and going through the quiz as your character, you can gain insight into their thoughts, feelings, and motivations. This can be especially useful if you are struggling to fully understand your characters and their actions.
Creating strong characters that readers connect with is key to any great, well-written story. It can be difficult to craft unique and three-dimensional characters, but, thankfully the tips above are guaranteed to help. Interviewing your characters, making playlists, and brainstorming their memories will all help you write top-selling characters.