If you’ve ever received feedback that the reader doesn’t understand the character’s motivation, or that they’ve done something that doesn’t seem plausible…you need to work on your character development. Feedback that your characters are clichéd? Unlikable? Too-stupid-to-live? The plot doesn’t make sense? Look hard at your character development.
Story is about character. Character is story!
Short and sweet, because there are a quadrillion articles out there, your character MUST have a really good reason for changing who they are and bothering with the story plot. Hint: It’s all about their emotional baggage.
Change is hard. Really hard. Simply put, story is about a character changing from who they are at the beginning of the story in order to deal with whatever happened in the inciting incident. They decide to change – learn – grow, and the end of the story shows them in their “new world”. Or, they don’t change and the reader mourns their inability to change. If, at any time, your character can decide to ignore the conflict and it doesn’t change the outcome of their life…you need to rethink your character and story.
If your beta reader is confused why your character did something unexpected – that means you haven’t created a three-dimensional character that they can understand. I see this often when a writer is so excited about writing that next scene that they come up with an implausible reason to put their character there. They’re moving the plot forward, but leaving the character behind. That doesn’t work.
Why would your character want to do something hard? Check out their emotional baggage. If you’re a pantser, you’ll discover this as you write. If you’re a plotter, it’s where I start! If I want to write a story about a kidnapping, I’m going to look at what person would that be the WORST possible thing to happen to. Sure, they could’ve been kidnapped in the past, but that makes it a bit clichéd. What if they discovered that their father had a second family, and left them behind? They had to grow up fast, they had to deal with the betrayal and feeling like they weren’t enough or good enough to be loved. Now, what if the kidnapping is done by a trusted friend. It’s hitting that betrayal all over again. Every big scene needs to hammer their emotional baggage. And however they’ve chosen to respond to the issues needs to remain consistent until they outwardly make a choice to do something different. Want some practice? Try out our Story Magic cards. Choose a stock character (which is who they portray themselves as to the world), and then add some baggage to determine WHY they portray themselves as that stock character. Snag a conflict and think about how that would affect them, what reaction would they have. It should be specific to your character and their baggage. And then apply what you’ve learned to your own work in progress. You can also check out the links there to see how Sheila and I approach story differently, but it’s still all about character.
You don’t have to dump the whole backstory of why they are the way they are, but definitely give hints about it. If your character, a police detective, falls in love at first slight with a serial murderer…I’m going to have a hard time believing it unless you’ve really set up your character that it’s the only choice they can make. And yes, I’ve read that published book.
Your villains need to be fully fleshed-out as well. Even psychopaths aren’t a monolith. There’s a reason they are choosing to commit a specific crime or conflict in a specific way, and it’s going to go back to their emotional baggage. AND, don’t forget, they are the hero of their own story.
And, if you realize your character is clichéd, give them a reason to present to the world that way, but show their other side as well. Most of us have different friend groups that sometimes overlap. But think about how you act with your family versus close friends versus work associates. Nobody is one-note, so you characters need to be multi-faceted as well. You’ve got to be your character’s psychologist and understand how they’ll react to conflicts, and it’s related to their emotional baggage. Side note, I choose one baggage per character per book. And if you’re character surprises you, give the reader a logical and plausible reason for their reaction. Need help with baggage? Check out https://onestopforwriters.com/wounds
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