Character’s Development | Tips and Tricks |

hey guys! today I’ll gonna teach you how to do your character’s personalities and development. And I also moved this thread from the episode forum to this forum.

I see a lot of people struggling with this… and it’s kinda hard to realize you are…

I’m going to start with the classic LI.

almost always flirty, bullies and other girls have crushes on him. but stop ‘playing’ with girls until he meets the protagonist.

it’s totally fine if you want a bad boy LI but make him interesting!

Don’t make his traits just ‘in love with MC’…

Does he read books? if so what kind?

How open is he to new people?

What other interests do he have outside school?

Inside person or outside person?

and what does he like in a person? and etc…

this really goes with all characters.

next type of characters —> the mean girl aka the bully

Don’t make all the bullies look like Regina George and her squad, make them look unique and why do they bully the other characters?

are they self-conscious ?

Do they need to take their feelings out on someone ?

or do they like the character and that’s how their parents towards each other

is it verbal or physical?

continue bullying?

or will they ignore the character?

they can attempt to redeem themselves? if so why?

Try to make them friends over time because not all bullies have 2 friends

and the character doesn’t always have to forgive the bullies

the next type of character → MC’s BFF

they usually are party animal and sometimes the first friend that MC makes

and inform you of other characters

usually ships the MC’s LI.

the BFF doesn’t Always have to be a girl and doesn’t always have to be a party animal.

and they don’t have to fall in love, give them a personality and other friends.

the next type of characters → the nerd
the nerds are always getting bullied (for being smart?) but for why?

not all the nerds are shy

not all the nerds are letting people bully them

not all the nerds want to become a social Butterfly

try not to make them get a makeover because it giving the readers a bad impression like “nobody is gonna like you until you Don’t get a makeover”

now let’s talk about negative and positive traits.

a lot of the time they don’t have negative traits… (sometimes the only “negative” traits is nerdy or shy even tho it not really a negative trait)

try to make them have at least one bad quality, it’s more interesting if they have good traits and then they can be bad at times.

for example, Eliana is kind but she easily looks past when people are mean.

anyways, I hope I helped some of you guys. and these are all just suggestions.

13 Likes

I like this idea!

A lot of new authors make the mistake of only developing one layer of a character’s personality. For example, ‘he’s the bad boy with a tragic backstory’. But… is that all there is to him? What does he like to do in his free time? Does he play an instrument? Is he secretly a gamer but ashamed to admit it because that video game isn’t ‘cool’ among his peers?

And is the mean girl just a rich, spoiled daddy’s girl? Does she have a soft spot for anyone? Does she sometimes wish she had friends that like her for her personality, not because she gives them expensive gifts or invites them to the coolest parties? What if she hates parties? What if she doesn’t care about the LI at all, and is mean to the MC for another reason… not because she’s poor or because they like the same guy?

5 Likes

Bump!!

Here’s another character archetype - the jock.

Does anyone have any tips for rounding out this character?

1 Like

I had a friend in high school that was on the football team, but he was also in orchestra.

1 Like

Closed due to inactivity (pleading_face)