Good morning, friends, and welcome to Character Development 102! If you haven’t read “The Perfect Name” (Character Development 101) yet, check this out first. I had a lot of fun writing it, and I think you’ll like it, too.

Derived from James Patterson’s system of creating characters, my process, beyond naming, goes a little something like this…

Me: Okay, Character. Tell me about yourself.

Character: This is a long story.

Me: I have time.

Character: You won’t like it.

Me: I’m just the messenger. And I will like it.

Character: *spills guts*

Me: Oh. My. God. *brain cell fries*

Top 20 Traits

One of the most rewarding lessons that I learned in James’s MasterClass (which I highly recommend to aspiring writers, especially those interested in creating thrillers) was the system of writing down 20 traits for each of my new characters. These may be physical attributes, backgrounds, narrative voices, fears, dreams… anything that makes up human beings. As I demonstrated above, I hear a character out, gather up those top 20 traits… and then ax 17 of them.

I’m left with the three traits that, with a few branches, make for a complex character.

Once those three traits are firmly associated with the character in my mind, I take another look at the other 17. Most of these traits still appear in the character’s arc, but they’re never as predominant as my three finalists.

When creating characters, my ultimate goal is always, always to make them believable. As I’ve mentioned on this blog before, I never consider my character outlines complete until I can see my people from the inside out. If I can’t do that, then they aren’t ready to be introduced to you. Not until they’re ready to be someone’s angel.

Side note: I was once in the middle of a character outline, writing down her top 20 traits, when I stopped being able to hear her story. Confused, I got myself some hot chocolate and tried again. As I reviewed the half-finished list of character traits, I realized that I hadn’t been listening to one person or even two—I had three people trying to be heard at the same time. Convenient, right? Not so much. But I’m excited for you to meet them all.

In the end, there’s no right or wrong way to get to know your characters. All you have to know for sure is that they’re inside of you, eagerly awaiting your permission to introduce themselves (or for you to be tired so they can keep you up. Mine seem to think that’s freaking hilarious.).

Coming soon: “Character Development: Story”