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A Character Development Writing Exercise
Wanderlust
Transplant your character into an entirely new location. It could be a new country, city, or continent. How do they react to the new surroundings?
Respond to this exercise
Feel inspired? Share your story below.
Similar exercises
Get your creative juices flowing with these similar writing prompts.
The Gatsby Method
Establishing how your character is perceived by others is a great way to give them greater context. It can provide the author with expectations to subvert for the reader and add an interesting mystique to the character. To give the Gatsby Method a go, write a scene in which your character is only present through the candid descriptions of him/her by others.
Stranger Comes Knocking
There's a saying: "Everyone is the hero of his or her own story." For a 10-minute writing exercise, enter your book from another character's eyes. Think about how differently that character would experience your plot and capture that in a short story.
A Whole Week
Describe each day of the week as if it were a person. Give each one personality traits, a job, and a goal. Write a short story about them.
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Jekyll and Hyde
Describe the same character twice. Once as the hero of a story and once as the antagonist.
Do The Unexpected
Humans are highly resistant to change - for a character to believably undergo a personal journey that substantially alters them, something HUGE and specific must happen to them. This event doesn't have to happen in your story, but once you can identify your character's limits, you can determine what is required to create a potential change in their fundamental nature.For this exercise, determine what this catalyst for change might be by considering situations or attributes that feel counterintuitive. For instance, if your character is a Good Samaritan, it is unlikely they would commit a crime. What would have to be at stake for this unlikely situation to happen - and for a core part of your character to change?
