A Character Development Writing Exercise

A Tall, Dark Stranger

Write a scene where your character is speaking to a complete stranger. Immediately after, write a scene where your character is speaking to a loved one. Notice how their behavior changes.

But Why?

Keep asking your characters why. Here's an example:

• Why are you grumpy? I have a hangover.
• Why do you have a hangover? My friend was in a bad accident and I thought he might die?
• Why did you think he might die? His girlfriend lied to me about how serious the accident was.
• Why did she lie about that? She's jealous of our relationship.
• Why? I think she's insecure and has trust issues.

Break The Ice

Further chip away at your character and establish how they present themselves to others by imagining how they would briefly describe themselves in the following situations:

1. In a job interview
2. On a first date
3. Catching up with an old friend
4. Flirting with someone at a party
5. In their twitter bio
6. At the border between the US and Mexico

Put Yourself In Someone Else's Shoes

Choose a character and think of ways they'd react to things that happened during your (the writer's) day. Use your experiences, think how you reacted, and then how your character would have reacted. Possible events: cut off in traffic, caught in the rain, missed an important meeting, lost a valuable item.

Reputations

Have each primary character free-write what they think about the other characters in the story. This will also deepen the secondary characters.