A Character Development Writing Exercise

Go The Other Way

Choose a random occupation, a random personality trait, and the trait's opposite. Now, outline a train of events that explains how a person of your chosen occupation changes from having the random trait to having its opposite. Let's take, for example: "martial arts teacher," "shy," and "confident." What would make a shy martial arts teacher change into a confident one?Care for a double challenge? Try plotting the opposite path, too: a confident martial arts teacher turns into a shy person. What would cause that? Experiment with unusual occupations and traits to challenge yourself. Find a collection of traits for download at the end of this article.

A Day in the Life

Write about the hero of your story going on the most mundane errand you can think of. Rely solely on the character to make the story interesting.

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

Undisclosed Desires

What does your character want most? Now consider what he needs most. Is what he wants preventing him from gaining what he needs? Or will he have to find what he wants before he can achieve what he needs?

Jekyll and Hyde

Describe the same character twice. Once as the hero of a story and once as the antagonist.