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Need a little inspiration to bring your characters to life? Check out this sampling of articles, tools, and video available online to help guide you in character development.
character-development.suite101.com
Suite101: Developing Memorable Characters. We really like the “45 Questions to Create Backstories,” with such thought-provoking suggestions as “In what or whom does this character have the greatest faith?” and “Describe this character’s mother.” There are also guides on choosing character names and adding backstory without an info dump.
www.sfwa.org/2005/01/you-and-your-characters
You and Your Characters by James Patrick Kelly. A fun and insightful article, reprinted on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America website from the book Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy, edited by Gardner Dozois, et. al.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgJ809QKmas
Video: Author Joyce Carol Oates discusses how a writer develops realistic characters, using examples from her 2007 novel The Gravedigger's Daughter.
www.charlottedillon.com/characters.html
Building Fictional Characters by Charlotte Dillon. A compendium of links to a huge number of worksheets and other tools to help put flesh on your characters’ bones.
fictionwriting.about.com/od/crafttechnique/tp/createcharacter.htm
Top 10 Questions for Creating Believable Characters, by Ginny Wiehardt, About.com Guide. A good 10-step “interview” for the people who live in your story.
www.writersdigest.com/article/developing-your-hero-and-heroine/
A Checklist for Developing Your Hero and Heroine from Writer’s Digest. Their tip: “As you answer the questions, look for points of agreement and disagreement between the characters.”
www.underdown.org/mf_characters_dialogue.htm
www.underdown.org/mf-powerful-voice.htm
Two articles by children’s author Margot Finke. In the first, Writing Great Characters and Dialogue, Finke gives detailed examples for enriching dialogue, internal angst, and more. Layering Powerful Voice to Create Memorable Characters is a good how-to on getting to know your characters intimately and subtle self-revelation.
popwatch.ew.com/2010/06/01/100-greatest-characters-of-last-20-years-full-list/
Entertainment Weekly compiled its list of the top 100 characters of the last 20 years. Did your favorites make it?
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