NaNoPrep: Character Development

Hello Everyone!

NaNo is less than two days away!

As a part of my NaNoPrep posts, I told I didn’t go for overly detailed character arcs.

I just can’t imagine knowing a person through a number of cold descriptions like an item on display.

A character is a person, not a merchandise picked up from a production line.

I am however someone for new adventures, and learning.

I also want, like most of us, to find the best way to create a 3D character for my books.

So I ventured on a quest for a method that would help me get to know enough about my character to bring it to life, but not too much it’ll become a mold of a person instead of a real one.

As luck would have it, I met such a way.

Author Chuck Wendig has a great article that gives some interesting advice on creating great characters.

This guide, for me, brings the two ends together: On one hand, there are no silly most favorite food, and favorite color questionnaires. On the other, we dig deep in what motivates our character and puts them into action. Most of all it goes well with my preliminary story arc 🙂

At the end, each of us has what works for them and I like to try new things each NaNo until I find what works for me.

What about you? How do you go about breathing life into your story hero(ine)s??

(All photos are courtesy of Google Images)