# Character Development



## michaelschaap (Apr 4, 2012)

I am trying to develop characters for my story.  I really thought it was going to be easier then this (HA!).... I did find this that I thought to share with you guys.

anneolwin.com/images/design/free stuff/Character Development Worksheet.pdf

It's pretty detailed.  I am still at a loss to what exact build makes a very masculine man or a feminine woman.... dimension wise I mean....  I find that I am looking through books to see how people are described.... doing everything but going up to a woman to ask how tall she is (RMAO).  Does anyone know any website that lists different characteristics of people?

Michael Schaap


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## michaelschaap (Apr 4, 2012)

When I say characteristics what I mean is .... like weight, height, physical dimensions.... for example.... is 250 pounds right for a man who is very muscular and 6 foot 5?


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## Kyle R (Apr 4, 2012)

That's a pretty detailed worksheet. It would definately help you get to know your character. For me that goes a little farther than I wish to pursue, but everyone is different in how much or how little they want to plan.

What I work with is some general points:
*
Name:

Age:

Gender:

Unique Characteristic: A skill, hobby, or ability that makes this character different from others

Strongest Personality Trait: 

Secondary Personality Trait:

Demon of the Past: Some past incident that affects the character

Inner Conflict: What mental processes get in the character's way that he or she must overcome

Outer Conflict: What happens outside the character that he or she must overcome

Most Important People in Character's Life:

*
As an example, I'll use Katniss from the Hunger Games:


*Name: Katniss Everdeen

Age: Sixteen

Gender: Female

Unique Characteristic: Skiller Archer and Hunter

Strongest Personality Trait: Determination

Secondary Personality Trait: Compassion

Demon of the Past: Death of her father

Inner Conflict: Distrust, Suspicion

Outer Conflict: Protecting Prim, Surviving the Hunger Games

Most Important People in Character's Life: Prim, Gale, her Mother*


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## Kyle R (Apr 4, 2012)

michaelschaap said:


> When I say characteristics what I mean is .... like weight, height, physical dimensions.... for example.... is 250 pounds right for a man who is very muscular and 6 foot 5?



Maybe this would help (body mass index calculator): Calculate Your BMI - Standard BMI Calculator


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## michaelschaap (Apr 4, 2012)

KyleColorado said:


> Maybe this would help (body mass index calculator): Calculate Your BMI - Standard BMI Calculator



Boy do I need to loose weight.... HA!  Yeah that was very helpful!


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## Gamer_2k4 (Apr 4, 2012)

KyleColorado said:


> Maybe this would help (body mass index calculator): Calculate Your BMI - Standard BMI Calculator



It won't; those are horribly inaccurate, because they don't take into account muscle mass.  The only way you can get a truly accurate reading is with skinfold measurements.

For example, I'm 6'2", and I weigh 240 pounds.  According to that site, I have a BMI of 30.8; in other words, I'm obese.  This is what I look like:







I would honestly think that an "extremely muscular" person at 6'5" could easily weigh close to 300 pounds.  Brock Lesnar, a WWE and UFC icon, probably weighed 295 at his peak, and he was only 6'3".  Shaq is 7'1" and 325 pounds.

An extremely fit woman is obviously another matter.  I have a female friend who does track and gymnastics, and she's very toned.  She probably weighs 140 pounds at 5'4".  A small, thin girl might be 5'0" and 100 pounds.  Also, remember that the bustier you are, the heavier you are, though I'm not about to Google "how much do breasts weigh" at work right now.


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## michaelschaap (Apr 4, 2012)

You know you can spend years reading this stuff without putting a single word on the paper..... just goes on and on the stuff thats out there.... oy.....


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## michaelschaap (Apr 4, 2012)

Thank you Gamer that is exactly what I am confused about!  Your post was very helpful!


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## michaelschaap (Apr 4, 2012)

Some of the links don't work but here is another site that looks very helpful.

Building Fictional Characters


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## Gamer_2k4 (Apr 4, 2012)

Another thing to consider is that all of these worksheets are for YOU, not for the reader.  You'll probably never write, "He was nearly seven feet and at least 300 pounds."  Instead, more vague descriptions like muscular, lanky, heavyset, etc. should probably be used.  Does a character tower over another character? Good.  Say that.  There's no need for "At 6'3", Bob looked very tall standing next to Steve, who was barely pushing five feet."  Heck, I only mention one character's eye color throughout my entire novel, and it's in passing.  She has green eyes.  Woo.

I think the most important thing to remember when making realistic characters is to draw inspiration from real life.  When you put your character into a situation, don't think, "How did that guy in that movie handle things?" Think, "How would I handle this if I were this character? If my dad just threw me out of the house and I had a sour personality, how would I respond to someone trying to help me out?" Nothing is set in stone; everything is dynamic.  The way a character responds to something at the start of your book probably shouldn't be how he responds to the same thing at the end.

The point of worksheets and archetypes and the rest are to make you think about what makes characters complex and realistic.  Beyond that, there's no formula to making good characters.  If they could exist in the real world, that's all you need.  I base my characters' personalities on the personalities of people in my life.  That way, I know they'll come across as realistic.

Use the websites as much as you like, but remember that they're simply guidelines.  Actually making characters real is up to you.


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## michaelschaap (Apr 4, 2012)

The genre I am working on now is Romance..... would there just be two main characters and the rest would be minor?


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## Kyle R (Apr 4, 2012)

Gamer_2k4 said:


> It won't; those are horribly inaccurate, because they don't take into account muscle mass.  The only way you can get a truly accurate reading is with skinfold measurements.
> 
> For example, I'm 6'2", and I weigh 240 pounds.  According to that site, I have a BMI of 30.8; in other words, I'm obese.  This is what I look like:
> 
> ...



That's a good point gamer. You look to be in good shape, so the BMI reading clearly isn't accurate for your body type. Imagine a bodybuilder with 8% body fat checking his BMI and being told he is obese. Lol. "Jim, I'm obese! Give me more diuretics!"

I think the BMI actually seems to differentiate between Ectomorphs and Endomorphs, but it doesn't seem to apply well to Mesomorphs, who may be muscular or even have dense bone structure. (Your Body Type - Ectomorph, Mesomorph or Endomorph? | Muscle & Strength)

Oh, and I googled "how much do breasts weigh?" and found this entertaining answer:


> I just weighed mine on my electronic kitchen scales (!) in the name of scientific research!
> I'm a 32D and mine weigh about 1.4 or 1.5 KG (pretty darn hard to weigh them but this was the best estimate I could get!) which is just over 3 lbs together or about 1.5 pounds each! So maybe yours are more like 2 lbs each?
> *sigh*, things I do for this forum



*imagines what that process looked like* :thumbr:


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## JosephB (Apr 4, 2012)

Characters seem to just pop into my head fully-realized and it's like they make an impression that stays with me. I seem to know all about them. I can't really relate to assigning traits or motivations or background based on a list, or needing one to keep track of things.


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## Newman (Apr 4, 2012)

Nobody has really talked about archetypes and function, which is what character development is all about.


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## Kyle R (Apr 5, 2012)

Newman said:


> Nobody has really talked about archetypes and function, which is what character development is all about.



I try not to overwhelm others with my fiction writing nerdiness, but you've tempted me here 

I use the Unity of Opposites approach when creating characters that fulfill archetype functions:

Hero -- Villain

Protector -- Deflector

Believer -- Doubter

Feeler -- Thinker

..is that what you were referring to?

I think you'll find not many people discuss this because it's not common knowledge (outside of dramatic writing circles). I didn't discover the concept until recently myself (just a few months ago). But I do find it helpful when identifying supporting character functions (and it also has the neat effect of suggesting what kind of dialogue they will provide at any given moment, as well!)


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## michaelschaap (Apr 5, 2012)

Newman said:


> Nobody has really talked about archetypes and function, which is what character development is all about.



Just wanted to tell you that when you said this I did look it up..... After reading five sites on it I thought nobody mentioned it for one reason or another... probably to keep it simpler for me   Looks pretty deep...


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## trixiewrites (Apr 5, 2012)

I am an amateur writer, also, and have started many stories but finally started sinking in to one of my stories. I have been working on the character development for three days, so I can empathize with your struggles. I have a vague idea of my characters, how they will look, speak, and act. I am working on their backgrounds, quite possibly too much. When I am stuck, I imagine how the character would look on television or film. If there is an actor that I have in mind, it might help me figure out how my character might appear. When I need further details or help with images, I look through imdb.com or seek the help of the ever-resourseful google! Now that I am really stuck, I have come to this forum to be able to bounce ideas off of other, objective writers. And as soon as I get the clearance to make a post, I will seek information from other writers like you. Good luck!


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## trixiewrites (Apr 5, 2012)

This was very funny, and makes me wish I had a kitchen scale to do similar research. You know, for curiosity's sake...


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## trixiewrites (Apr 5, 2012)

KyleColorado said:


> That's a good point gamer. You look to be in good shape, so the BMI reading clearly isn't accurate for your body type. Imagine a bodybuilder with 8% body fat checking his BMI and being told he is obese. Lol. "Jim, I'm obese! Give me more diuretics!"
> 
> I think the BMI actually seems to differentiate between Ectomorphs and Endomorphs, but it doesn't seem to apply well to Mesomorphs, who may be muscular or even have dense bone structure. (Your Body Type - Ectomorph, Mesomorph or Endomorph? | Muscle & Strength)
> 
> ...




This was very funny, and makes me wish I had a kitchen scale to do similar research. You know, for curiosity's sake...


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## Gamer_2k4 (Apr 5, 2012)

trixiewrites said:


> I am an amateur writer, also, and have started many stories but finally started sinking in to one of my stories. I have been working on the character development for three days, so I can empathize with your struggles. I have a vague idea of my characters, how they will look, speak, and act. I am working on their backgrounds, quite possibly too much.



I don't think there's such a thing as "too much" when it comes to that sort of thing, and if there is, it's certainly not at the three day mark.  I've been growing and developing my own characters for years.  Even now, 180,000 words into my story, they're still surprising me.



trixiewrites said:


> This was very funny, and makes me wish I had a kitchen scale to do similar research. You know, for curiosity's sake...



For science!


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## Notquitexena (Apr 9, 2012)

When I read the subject "character development" I thought the question would be about how to have a character learn and grow during the story, not how to come up with one. I like to see my characters do more than grow older and gain scars during a story arc.


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## Syn (Apr 10, 2012)

I recently found a fun character development method, write a poem (Or lyrics) From the characters mind. So basically write a poem your character would have written, and then go back and analyze it, figure out what pieces of their writing style say what about them. Figure out what certain lines mean to them on a deeper level. This really helps you get into the mindset of your character, and when your in their mind (or their in yours, not really sure which one) then they practically write theselves.


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