The ins and outs of character development

We all know that the key to selling a story is the

characters. You can have the best plot in the world and the good intentions that come with it. Yet if you don't have believable characters your dead in the water. You story will seem bland and your audience will get bored. If your audience gets bored they lose interest and stop reading. Below you will find some keys to making characters and how to make them relatable and readable.

What is the characters role in the story?

This is the first question you have to ask yourself. Is this going to be the protagonist, antagonist, supporting character, or just a filler character. Once you assign a role to your character. Then you can decide how much you want to develop this particular character. If this is a main character in your story you want them well developed. This will help your story because it will give you filler as well as help you draw your audience deeper into your tale.

What drives your Protagonist/Antagonist?

You have to sell this part. What is their drive to do what they are doing. Is their drive to be a hero or are they a victim of circumstance and an unlikely hero. What gives them the strength to do so. If they are the villain then what drove them to be so. Is it for kicks or do they have an agenda behind it. Again this adds filler and substance to your story. The more you invest in your main characters. The more your audience has to latch on to and it breathes life in your story.

What is the characters back story?

Just like every person in real life, every character needs one. There has to be events that led your character to this point. If you want to make your story about a warrior. Show them how they became a warrior. Describe the training they went through. What skills they picked up along the way. You cant just start your story out with a warrior that has a sword and hes really good with it. You can say it all you want. You have to make the reader believe you. If they listen to you describe how the character went through rigid training from childbirth. How they learned swordplay and battle tactics from a master. Then when you describe them with a sword its more believable.

Give your characters real problems.

A good thing to make characters more believable is real problems. Maybe your character is scared of snakes. Maybe they have drugs or alcohol problems. Maybe they are heartbroken at the loss of a loved one. Real world problems make characters more believable. It also gives the reader something to latch on to. Maybe they have had the same problem. This makes your characters more human.

Character development is one of the harder parts of story telling. So think back on these pointers when making your character. Everyone loves a good hero or villain. Yet developing these qualities to make your characters believable is the key to a memorable character.