There Is No Right or Wrong Way to Develop Your Characters

When I first started writing, I created a character sketch for every character in my story. I had templates with all my character information filling up multiple 3.5” disks (yes, 3.5” disks…don’t judge). When I completed my Masters's in English & Creative Writing, I had more in-depth questions that I never even thought to ask.

Here's the funny thing: after creating all these character sketches and filling out all of the templates, I never looked at them again. They sat on those floppy disks collecting proverbial dust.

Well, I might’ve looked at them once or twice to giggle at what I originally thought my characters would be like. It turns out that my characters have developed on their own, with a few of them being completely different than what I originally intended. For example, my novel Beyond the Steps of Stone has already had a character get a sex change, starting out as a female with the final version of the character male.

Why?

Characters and stories change.

As you work on novels and stories, you find an ebb and flow with your characters. When you step away from your project and come back to it weeks, months, years later, the first thing you do is reread it. This refreshes your memory of what you were writing, and it helps you regain perspective on what you want to do with your story. Plus, you may find that your characters have a surprise in store for you. A secondary character might suddenly become your bad guy. Or your hero.

As I mentioned above, my current work in progress has seen one character get a sex change and I am completely writing out one of the romantic relationships in the book. I’ve also changed the names of a few of the characters. After rereading the manuscript, I realized that the characters no longer resonated with me the same way they did when I first wrote the book 15 years ago. The base story hasn’t changed. Just some of the character details.

Character templates are a useful tool.

Nowadays, I’ll use a character template to flesh out basic things about my characters. These are typically the things that come to me during the first brainstorming session of a new story. They are the little details that I want to remember that is important. From there, I let my characters develop on their own. During the editing process, I make sure everything lines up properly. The last thing I want is for my hero to start out blonde and halfway through the story suddenly become a brunette.

Unless I indicate he dyed his hair. You get the idea.

However, if you like the process of fleshing out your characters using a template, there are plenty on the Internet to choose from. I’ve collected several of them over the years and put them all together into my own format. If you want to try using a bio sheet to flesh out your characters, you can download it here. Let me know what you think about it and how it worked for you.

Writing programs can be handy too.

You can even purchase writing programs specifically designed to help you with the process. I’ve used a couple and they’re not too bad. I like Final Draft for screenwriting. I had to use that during my degree classes. If you want a word processor that does more than just Microsoft Word, Papyrus Author is another good tool. It has a pretty in-depth character creation tool. It has a free version and a paid version so make sure you research which one will work best for you.

How you create characters is entirely up to you.

There is no right or wrong way to flesh out your characters. It is as individual as the writer. They even tell you that during coursework for degrees like mine. Play around with character sheets and see if you like them, but at the same time, don’t be afraid to just let your characters tell you what they are like as they develop in your head.

How do you create your characters? I'd love to hear your method. Drop a note in the comments below.

And happy writing!