This information taken from a character development course.
How I develop my characters:
Step 1 - Ask these four questions of your character.
Step 2 - Decide Traits and Hobbies
Step 3 - Fill out personality
Step 4 - Decorate
Other Important Advice/Tips:
That's about it! :D Process is pretty simple and can go quick. Let me know if you have questions!
How I develop my characters:
Step 1 - Ask these four questions of your character.
- What makes you, you? (What do others identify as your main personality trait when you're brought up in conversation. "Oh Finley, the nerd? Yeah I know him." Try to keep it to no more than 4 things. You can include physical items or themes, do not use purely personality traits)
- What do you want to contribute? (What are some goals your character has? What do they work for or are dedicated to? You could also think about the character's purpose here.)
- What skills do you have? (What is your SD good at? What skills come along with being good at that thing?)
- What traits are important to you? (This is NOT purely what traits your character has. Consider the kind of characters your SD would admire and what traits they have.)
Step 2 - Decide Traits and Hobbies
- Based off the four questions you've just answered generate a list of the traits your character has and what hobbies they enjoy.
- IMPORTANT!! Include a list of mannerisms these traits and hobbies create in a person. If they enjoy dancing they probably stand taller/appear more graceful than others. Think specifically about non-verbal communication. Developing these traits, while may not go on paper or be shared will aid in making the character appear real in your vision.
- Also include a list of negative traits. Every personality trait has a dark side (or dark personality traits have a light side). This is key to developing a balanced character.
Step 3 - Fill out personality
- This is where you can develop your list of likes and dislikes. Base it off the information that you've developed. KEY NOTE: Developing a character based off a like or a dislike is doing things backwards. While possible, it is much more difficult to develop a full character by saying "I want a SD that likes books" and going from there.
- How do they spend their time day-to-day? Are they employed? They may have hobbies but that doesn't mean they spend every single day working on that one or two hobby.
- I'm also going to include contributions here since it's related to "time spent" above. How has or does your drag contribute to society?
Step 4 - Decorate
- This is the fun step where you really get to see your character come to life! :D Adding in ideas about how they dress, relationships, and any other quirks you can think of.
Other Important Advice/Tips:
- You cannot develop relationships with other drags until you know how your drag is in relation to itself. Just like dating/making friends in real life, you can't have a successful relationship until you know yourself.
- Background/History. These stories often come from Step 1 but may also form in Step 3. While history may be connected to step two your character will feel a bit flat if you develop it based off their traits and hobbies.
- I would suggest considering your character's goals for the future. As people we change and have room to grow and while we don't want our dragons changing too much on us we want to create the illusion of change by leaving our characters "room to grow".
That's about it! :D Process is pretty simple and can go quick. Let me know if you have questions!