CHARACTER, KNOW THYSELF: THE ESSENTIALS OF CHARACTER AWARENESS
Early drafts are an exercise in getting to know your character and her story—you are, in essence, telling the story to yourself first so that you can figure out what to add or omit when fine-tuning the story for readers. I encourage you to pen more pages starring your protagonist than you will ever use, test-driving your protagonist in different scenarios with different characters to discover how he behaves in a variety of situations. From these pages, you can cull organic representations of your characters and reveal them fully through demonstrated words and actions.
The challenge to good character development is in seeing your characters as fully realized human beings, not just figments of your imagination. The best characters are so vivid that readers refuse to accept they don’t exist outside of the book.
AVOIDING MISSTEPS IN CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
Let’s look at some common pitfalls you should avoid when writing your character and strategies for avoiding them.
Steer Clear of Overt Self-Awareness at the Beginning
Strong characters should change throughout your story. This change should result from events and consequences they encounter at major turning points in your plot. Your protagonist should not be the same at the end as she was at the beginning, and her change must be earned and believable. While readers want to follow a character they like and respect, you must allow room for her to grow. A
