Two Kinds of Character Development

Character development: The most fun and grueling part of writing. Our characters are our little guys--we love to give them names, cool outfits, and plenty of trauma. Characters give both authors and readers a chance to roleplay as someone brave, powerful, and important. We all want to be the main character.

However, characters often give writers big headaches. First-draft characters can be like soda: They go flat quickly. It's not enough to have an awesome name and be an awesome person--Sir Flamelight Ironhammer III must also be human (even if he's an elf or dragon), relatable, flawed, and most importantly, changed by the end of the story. This calls for character development.

But what is character development? One of the problems with the term is that it's used consistently (or rather, inconsistently) to mean two things. In one sense, characters develop like a Polaroid picture as the reader gets to know who they are and what they would do in certain situations. On the other hand, characters develop like business professionals, gaining new skills and growing as an individuals--becoming someone different and hopefully better. Let's call the Polaroid-type development "character revelation" and the business-type development "character growth," and I'll give a brief overview of the characteristics of each and some techniques for development.

Character revelation occurs constantly in good stories. Everything the MC does reveals something about who they are as a person, both in general and in the moment. In general, characters reveal a voice and personality that remain consistent throughout the story--the character is "in character," so to speak. In the moment, character revelation manifests in three ways.

1. The "characteristic moment" in the opening scenes. In this scene, the character often makes a small but interesting decision that illustrates who they are. This moment introduces their overarching personality, but also traits specific to the first half of the story, such as their flaws and the Lie they believe.
2. The character's struggles. As the character faces conflict and the failure of their old habits, struggle scenes show their reactions, revealing new facets and deeper layers of personality. Often the character is more self-aware in struggle scenes, which deepens the reader's understanding of who they really are. Gradual backstory reveal often contributes to struggle scenes.
3. The "new self" at the story's end. This scene may mirror the opening characteristic moment or reflect back to an important event or choice earlier in the story. The character demonstrates a new, improved personality, revealing their changed self to the reader.

Hold up! Isn't this overlapping with character growth? Of course it is--the whole point of stories is that the characters grow. Anything to do with the character will connect to character growth on a basic level. However, the key difference between character revelation and character growth is that revelation is all about showing the reader who the character is and who they're becoming. The keyword is reaction. Character revelation asks questions about how the character would act in x situation, given that y has occurred and z is on their mind. Character reactions to the plot make up the bulk of character revelation.

Character growth, on the other hand, focuses on what it takes to make the character change. Character growth has to do with causes, and revelation with effects. This is the character arc writers slave over before they begin writing. What Lie does the character believe, what flaws must they overcome, and how will such a stubborn, lazy character ever change? Here are three quick tips for brainstorming character growth.

1. Make a list. Figure out your character's fear, flaw, and desire. What are their positive traits? What are their negative traits? (Hint: Almost every positive trait has a negative flipside, and vice versa. It's like Aristotle's Golden Mean, with something bad on either end. Confidence is good--cockiness is bad. The two can coexist in one character.) This list will help you far more than your character's eye color or favorite food ever will.
2. Find a template. I use a character arc template based off of the 3 Act Structure, which is heavily character-centered. Find a character arc template that works for you--KM Weiland has some great ones, and there are so many internet sources for writers that have great free content for character growth! Don't make things hard for yourself by trying to reinvent the wheel. Find a template you like and modify it as needed.
3. Do whatever it takes. As I mentioned above, characters are lazy and stubborn--after all, they're human. (Or at least, relatable for humans.) Characters do not want to change. Change is painful and it's a lot of work, and characters will do anything to avoid it. They'll rationalize bad behavior, make cowardly decisions, and live in utter denial before they decide to make a change. So, you need to push your characters to their breaking point--physically, emotionally, and morally. What is one thing they will never, ever do? Okay, great. Now what will it take to make them do it? What is your character's one weakness, their sore spot, their line in the sand? Think like a supervillain--you know you want to. Will they change if it's the only way to save their friends and family? Will they give up their misguided want if it means getting the girl? Focus on character motivation. Give them a reason to change, and make it a darn good one.

Character revelation and character growth go hand in hand to shape your character into someone great. Take advantage of both techniques to craft a character your readers will follow all the way to The End.