001. Character Development
As I've been working on this project, I've come to appreciate the tricky and intricate process of breathing life into fictional beings. I want to share my personal approach to character development, using the insights I have gained from crafting complex individuals like Fritha, a key figure in my story. When I begin creating a character, I start by establishing a solid foundation. This involves more than just assigning a name and age; it's about laying the groundwork for a living, breathing entity within my fictional world. Enjoy!
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Creating a Basic Profile
I always try and start with the essentials: name, age, and background. For Fritha, I chose the full name Felicyta but gave her the nickname Fritha to add a layer of intimacy and history. I decided she would be 19, straddling the line between adolescence and adulthood - a liminal space that’s ripe for internal conflict. Her background as an orphan and refugee immediately set the stage for a character shaped by loss and displacement.
Defining Key Personality Traits
Next, I tried to establish the core attributes that define my characters. Again, with Fritha, I envisioned her as a "slightly manic introvert." This juxtaposition of manic energy and introversion creates an interesting tension within her personality, hinting at the complexity of her inner world.
Establishing Charatcer Roles
For me, the hardest part is considering how each character fits into the broader narrative. Are they a protagonist, an antagonist, or a supporting character? I guess I just knew Fritha would be a "key character," playing a pivotal role in story. Her enigmatic nature makes her intriguing to me, and I saw her as potentially driving much of the story's emotional and thematic content
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Crafting a Character’s Backstory
A rich backstory provides depth and authenticity to any characters, informing their actions and decisions throughout the narrative. And this takes a fair amount of imagination, note-taking and pondering.
Developing Formative Experiences
I’ve tried to identify pivotal moments that could have shaped my characters lives. For Fritha, I decided that the loss of her family in the Praga district flood would be a defining tragedy. This event not only orphaned her but also profoundly impacted her psychological state, causing her to withdraw into herself.
Creating a Personal History
It’s all about timelines! I build a timeline of my character's life leading up to the story's beginning. I think about their upbringing, education, relationships, and significant life events. For Fritha, I imagined her history as a "devoted member of her church congregation as a little girl," which contrasts sharply with what I envisage is her current state, highlighting the magnitude of her loss and transformation.
Balancing Reveal & Mystery
While it’s important to have a detailed backstory, I'm trying to be strategic about how much I reveal to the reader. With Fritha, I created an obsession with past images, which I saw as an intriguing mystery that I could gradually unravel throughout the story, maintaining reader engagement.
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I suppose truly compelling characters possess rich inner lives that drive their actions and reactions, right? I’d call that “depth”, and establishing this is very much a moving feast. I’m sure actual authors have a structure or routine for this kind of thing but in each case I am just kind of winging it!
Desires & Motivations.
What makes my characters tick? What brings them to life? With Fritha, I focused on her fear of further loss and her desire to reconnect with her past self as powerful motivators. Her struggle to "rediscover her true self and value to the community" presented a clear internal conflict that I could use to drive her arc.
Internal Conflicts.
I might personally be the least confrontational person I know, but I understand that identifying internal struggles add complexity to my characters is really helpful. With Fritha, I created a conflict between her idealised past self and her traumatised present self, which gives me a rich psychological landscape to explore.
Emotional Landscapes
I’m attempting to allow my characters to experience a range of emotions, sometimes conflicting ones. Fritha's manic behaviour juxtaposed with her introversion suggests a tumultuous emotional state, which I find equally ripe for exploration in the overall narrative.
While internal aspects are crucial, I’m also paying close attention to how a character presents to the outside world. To the reader.
Developing Unique Physical Attributes and Mannerisms.
I’m giving each of my characters distinctive features or habits that hopefully make them memorable. For Fritha, I envisioned her in an oversized coat with glasses, visually representing her vulnerability and disconnection from the world.
Creating a Distinctive Voice.
I definitely believe each character should have a unique way of expressing themselves. I’ve gone down rabbit holes researching dialect, vocabulary, and speech patterns. Not easy when you consider most of the characters are Polish or Ukrainian! For Fritha, I decided her withdrawn nature would manifest in hesitant speech or long silences punctuated by bursts of intense communication, that feels like how I would imagine her.
Designing Visual Elements.
A character's appearance and possessions can speak volumes about their personality and history for sure. In constructing visual artefacts, I used found images and AI to create images of the locations and the characters that matched the visions I had “in my mind’s eye”.
Throughout, I’ve found the visual element the most exciting and creatively buzzing. If I take Fritha, I also generated a series of images of her past that helped inform the Fritha in the story. This collection of past images serves as both a physical manifestation of her internal struggle and also a handy plot device.
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Character Arc and Growth.
Maintaining character relevance, longevity and growth is clearly important. I’m trying to always ensure my characters evolve over the course of the story, facing challenges that test their beliefs and change them in meaningful ways. And that, in turn, inform the narrative.
Planning the Character's Journey.
So... I map out how I think each character will grow and change throughout the narrative. For Fritha, I envisioned her journey as gradually reconnecting with the world and finding new purpose in the resistance against the occupation. A relatively simple arc, right?
Establishing Challenges and Obstacles.
Then I’m also attempting to create situations that force my characters to confront their fears and overcome their limitations. I knew Fritha's withdrawal from reality would be challenged by the urgent needs of her community and the resistance movement. Which goes full circle back into her own story arc, and informs the look and feel of her design.
Balancing Change and Consistency.
While I do want my characters to grow, I’m conscious of needing to ensure their core essence remains recognisable. So, Fritha's empathy, which I established as a key trait, becomes her bridge back to engagement with the world, even as she works through her trauma. Are you with me?
Naturally, all the characters need to be defined not just by who they are, but by how they relate to others. As in life, I guess.
Developing Character Relationships.
I’ve created a (pretty complicated, honestly) network of relationships that reveal different facets of each character. For example, Fritha's interaction with Diana, the Ukrainian journalist who narrates "The Syren Protocols," presents an opportunity for her to slowly open up and reconnect with others.
Using Interactions to Reveal Character.
I’m currently trying to figure out how I can incorporate dialogue and interactions as additional tools for “showing” rather than just “telling”. Fritha's reactions to other survivors and her reluctance to engage should help demonstrate her internal struggle more effectively than mere exposition.
Creating Dynamics that Drive the Plot.
I really want these relationships to serve the larger narrative. In that way, Fritha's gradual trust in Diana becomes a key element in uncovering the nature of the Entity and in rallying the resistance. Is that story development too? I hope so.
Ideally my characters will embody larger themes and ideas within the story. Making them larger than life, if you will. I’m using symbols to deepen my characters' significance. Fritha's obsession with images from the past helps to symbolise the broader theme of a society grappling with drastic change and loss.
Aligning Characters with Broader Themes.
Another issue I have come across is charting my character's journey, and how this reflects the larger themes of the story. Fritha's struggle to find her place in a shattered world mirrors the broader societal challenges in post-apocalyptic Warsaw.
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Exploring Deeper Ideas.
Delving into more complex / abstract concepts is something I often try to do. It’s not always easy or the best plan, believe me it sometimes ties me up in knots! With Fritha, the idea of "No graven images" is explored through her fixation on photographs of herself, which helps me have the narrative comment on the dangers of idealising the past in a world that demands adaptation.
Revision and Refinement.
Here’s the thing, character development is definitely an ongoing process. One that continues throughout the writing and editing of my story. It’s difficult to know when to stop.
I’m trying to regularly review my characters' actions and dialogue to ensure they align with their established traits and growth arc. I've created a character bible as part of the codex to track key aspects of their personality’s and history’s.
While I’m striving for depth, I’m trying hard to ensure my characters remain accessible to readers. Take Fritha, I need to balance hercomplex psychological state with relatable emotions and clear motivations to maintain that reader connection.
So it’s true, character development is a nuanced and ongoing process that lies at the heart of compelling storytelling. You need to carefully craft each character's core, backstory, psychological depth, and growth arc, and strive to create individuals who resonate deeply with readers. A discipline I am not naturally given toward.
Characters like Fritha serve not only to drive the plot but also to explore themes of resilience, identity, and human connection in the face of overwhelming adversity. I’m learning that the most memorable characters are those who feel authentically human – flawed, complex, and capable of growth.
As I continue to develop all my characters, I’m trying to imbue them with rich inner lives and multifaceted personalities that will make them leap off the page and linger in readers' minds long after the story ends. Through careful attention to these elements of character development, I’m aiming to create a cast of individuals who breathe life into my world, engage readers and carry my themes forward with power and authenticity.