This is not a new thing, but it\u2019s something I\u2019ve found while looking for stuff to talk about at my writing club.<\/p>\n
(There\u2019s a link to the video I saw down there \u2193\u2193\u2193)<\/p>\n
The girl in the video (her name is Shaelin) is talking about exercises to develop characters that go beyond filling out a character sheet! (Though I do still think knowing facts about characters is important.)<\/p>\n
One of the things she said was to \u201cbasically write fan fiction for your story\u201d meaning to take your characters and put them in different situations that can be handled in a bunch of ways.<\/p>\n
This makes complete sense if you think about it. In real life you don\u2019t get to know people by memorizing a list of facts about them, you hang out with them, spend time with them.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s an example that I did for my main character:<\/p>\n
Stuck in Conversation:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This is likely to happen since he\u2019s so social. He would not work too hard about not showing (through facial expressions) his boredom\/discomfort with the conversation and would escape at the first chance he gets (even if it\u2019s a little rude) and go talk to somebody else.<\/em><\/p>\n You can write an actual short story about it or do like I did and write a short description of what would happen.<\/p>\n Something I discovered in doing this, is that I got to know my character better in situations he\u2019s not likely to end up in better than in the situations that he\u2019s definitely going to get in.<\/p>\n I already knew that he was social, so I\u2019ve already thought about how he would be in social situations (but I did learn that he can be a tad rude from this) but I feel like I found out more about him in this situation:<\/p>\n Sent to Camp:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>It\u2019s not likely that he\u2019d be at <\/em>camp of his own free will, he\u2019s not an outdoorsy person. He wouldn\u2019t like it if his parents sent him, but he\u2019d make friends with the people in his cabin (which might be harder to do if they’re super excited about camp) so he\u2019d have someone to talk to. Yet he would find someone who also isn\u2019t happy about camp and end up being good friends with them.<\/em><\/p>\n Here I learned he wasn\u2019t outdoorsy and that he has a little go-with-the-flow in his attitude.<\/p>\n I think it\u2019s important to put them in both kinds of situations because you can learn more about them with every situation you see them in. Here are some more examples of situations that I came up with to get you started:<\/p>\n Note: The situation doesn’t have to be realistic for the character. If the character lives in a fantasy world, has some handicap, is a certain age, or something else that would eliminate all possibilities of certain situations, you can still put them in those situations! The point is taking their personalities and asking: what if…?<\/i><\/p>\n That\u2019s all I have to write about today. I hope you got something out of this post and that you don\u2019t feel like you wasted your time reading it (and if that\u2019s the case why are you still here?)<\/p>\n You can put some examples of doing this exercise for your own characters in the comments (as well as how many times you think I said \u201cSituations\u201d in this post.)<\/p>\n Bye! RRAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWRRRRRR!!!!!!!<\/p>\n Oh yah, here\u2019s a link to that video: Hi! My name is Link! Click me! (please?)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is not a new thing, but it\u2019s something I\u2019ve found while looking for stuff to talk about at my writing club. (There\u2019s a link to the video I saw down there \u2193\u2193\u2193) The girl in the video (her name is Shaelin) is talking about exercises to develop characters that go beyond filling out a … Continue reading I’ve Discovered My New Way To Develop Characters!<\/span> \n