Character Development

This post will focus a little more on RolePlay than solely literary projects. As always, though, it can certainly be applied to writing normal fiction.

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When playing your character, the desire is always there to have them grow. This is entirely understandable and something that should happen. How can let your characters develop in a way that is both realistic and pertinent to the story? Let’s find out!

Events Are Key

All events that take place in the story will, in some way, affect your character. Whether it’s finding their love/parent/sibling/best friend dead or injured, or hearing a conversation between two others. You need to decide how these events will change your character and in what way.

Will the death of a loved one send your character into an endless rage? Make them depressed? Let them see life from a new perspective? Only you can decide that, as the character is your own. What’s important is that you remember to ask yourself the question, “How will this event change my character?”

Consistency

No matter what developmental changes you go for, you must be consistent. If ‘Event A’ (let’s say the death of your character’s father) leads itself to seeing your character a more thoughtful, life-respecting person, you wouldn’t see him/her then go on a killing spree. However, suppose ‘Event B’ is your character’s spouse being murdered. Would your character then want to exact revenge on the world? Probably not. Progression and development is often a linear path that builds from past experiences. So, being a life-respecting person for however long between the two events, your character’s reaction to their spouse’s murder will be reflective of that. Possibly.

You need also to be consistent with the profile you wrote when creating the character. If your character is a kind hearted, loving and jovial ladies’ man who enjoys rap music, chances are that the first few events to happen to him won’t change a lot of that. Unless they’re massive events, of course. He’ll still like rap music, still enjoy flirting with the ladies and probably (even if hidden) still be kind hearted even if your story starts out with his family being taken hostage.

Development Doesn’t Always Mean Improvement

In RolePlay, it’s far too tempting to have a character that is omnipotent, all-knowing and admired by any that meet him/her. Regardless of the position your character starts with, remember that everything that happens will have an effect. These effects could very well result in your character improving, say, a skill, or growing in influence.

Sometimes, though, to keep realism, your character might seem to regress. Go backwards. Perhaps forgetting how to do something, or being rendered incapable. Maybe a political twist means that your character loses the influence they had over the king/queen. This is actually perfectly fine and doesn’t reflect badly on you as a roleplayer.

In Conclusion

With every event, simply consider how it would realistically affect your character. Then apply that to your character’s development. If you do this, you will find yourself watching and writing out a person who is believable and you will be trusted as a roleplayer and writer.

Penny For Your Thoughts

What do you like to do when looking at character development? What do you like to see? Whether in terms of roleplay or general fiction, your thoughts are valued.