Character building

Reading through an older crit of the story I'm revising, this caught my eye: "It's just that the characters seemed to get things too easily, and they didn't really seem very complicated." That's when it hit me that I know absolutely nothing about the secondary character at all. Only that he was determined to avenge his sister's honor, and that he's normally cheerful and garrulous. I didn't really know his true age, what his occupation is, if he has a girlfriend, what he wants to do with his life, what his ambition is, if his family is still alive or not. Well duh! No wonder he comes across as a little two dimensional.

In trying to remedy this, I was just thinking, wondering about the character, but hadn't really come to any kind of conclusion. I thought, "Self, you ought to write it out." But then I answered, "Self, I don't know what to say." Then I told Self to shut up and put my fingers to keyboard, and lo and behold, in one short paragraph and maybe 2-3 minutes, I have my background basics. Why do I always forget that the words don't have to spring to mind before you start to write, sometimes they come almost automatically when you start to work (Not always!).

Now the character feels much more alive to me, more human. Hopefully that will translate rather easily in the text with a few additions here and there.

I'm off to the coast this weekend. I'll be catching up here either late Sunday or Monday sometime. Have a good weekend yourself!