I was wondering if anyone could possible tell me how I could breath life into my characters. Since my characters come to me with their own personalities, I'm having trouble showing them as they are. So does anyone have any ideas on how I can do this?

thanks guys!!

What I tend to do when I think my characters are going towards losing who they are a little bit is imagine them in different situations. It could be normal everyday situations,  or the kind that are completely out of the ordinary. You can write this down if you want to, but I generally have fun imagining this, and then making more notes on my characters personality traits. Does this make sense to anyone but me? lol

Yes it made sense  Thank you very much!

No problem. Hope it helps!

That's a pretty decent one. Otherwise, try to explore their internalized reactions on their own, once you're used to putting them in different situations. A lot of how characters act is based on how they think. Once you've got that, you can probably power everything on that thought alone. Or, at least, I can.

As an alternate bit, just go through their past actions asking 'why?', and poke, prod and jiggle the bits that make no sense until they do or are gone. This pruning can work wonders not just for a character, but for a story at whole.

There's actually a book on this.

Here's some ideas I've scrounged up:

• Show your character doing things that describe their personality, don't just describe it for the reader. For example, if your character is cheap show them being disgusted at a marked down item (that's cheap to everyone else) or something? Maybe they take home ALL leftovers, even if it's just a spoonful of spaghetti?
• Depending on the person you're using, you can add in how they feel, or use clues to show it - such as their speech or actions. Don't TELL the reader the character is horrified, show it by telling how the character is reacting. "Kelly was horrified" isnt the way to do it, "Kelly froze in her tracks, her mouth wide and her eyes bulging at the realisation" is better.
• Know your characters history, you don't need to tell the reader, but know where they're coming from, maybe reveal a little of it to the reader IF they need to know. Hell, hinting at it is more fun and makes people read on, so if you MUST reveal it, build up to it and try to push it further back.
  
• Write down their traits. This means physical and otherwise. And then write down where/how they got that trait. Draw a picture of them. The more real they are to you the easier it will be to show a reader.
• Make your character stand out some way. Even those stories about "loners" have stand out awesome characters. There's just this one trait that makes them special. It could be their name, their fiery red hair, their ability to distinguish the type of gum attached to the table by scent alone. Heck, could be their unique thought processes or outlook on life (You Don't Know Me comes to mind).
• Conflict. The ultimate goal of a story is to resolve (or not) a conflict and leave readers satisfied. You have to throw one problem after the other at your character that branches off the main problem. Let's say they're on the run for murder. What problems can come from that? Has to leave family, loved ones, maybe he was framed and has to find out who and why, he has to find food and shelter, he has to convince his pregnant wife he didnt do it, he has to stay out of the view of police, has to find a disguise.... etc
• Show your character as a bad guy. Yes, show his negative emotions. Show his good emotions. Show everything, good and bad regardless of his true association (be he a good or bad person ultimately). Flaws in characters make them believable and relatable.

I'll write something more on it later .

Hey there. I have a writing series on FB and I just wrote about character development. Here is what I wrote (hope it helps!):

Character Development
You've heard the phrase many times, but how do you develop your characters so that they're living, breathing people? Ask yourself questions about your characters. Interview them. Go with the obvious things that a reader will know, like where they come from or how they'll react in certain situations, but as the author, you get the opportunity to know them more intimately. What's their favorite color? How did they get the scar on their knee? And so on. Go on a date with your characters and really get to know them. You'll find that they tell you a lot.

Bunny's thing seems to be more focused on the story than the characters themselves, but I suppose that makes sense, as they are integral.

Starchild's ideas are good, but they tend to lead to an issue of character sheeting. The problem with the character question sheets is that if you're not used to 'em, you start wanting to make use of everything in there. Most readers don't care what your character's favorite color is, but sometimes, the temptation can be too great.

I made that mistake before.

Andre Vienne (06:44pm Sat, Jul 18, 2009)

Bunny's thing seems to be more focused on the story than the characters themselves, but I suppose that makes sense, as they are integral.

Uhh, your characters are part of the story. Readers find out about characters from the story .

Quote

Starchild's ideas are good, but they tend to lead to an issue of character sheeting.

I have BOOKS of my characters traits. Not so much for "use" but to "remind" me so I know who my character is if I ever lose track or if I need to know what to throw at them!

They have places for sketches, but I havent found a good model.

Yes, they are integral, as I said. But this was more about a central problem, not just things that are also-important but on the periphery.

And, eeshk. Books? I wouldn't be able to do that. I'd start deliberately forgetting things.

Thank you for sharing your own pitfalls, Andre, as they are definitely a helpful series of suggestions in their own rights. It's always important to recognize the pitfalls of methodologies, and now writers who may be considering our suggestions can go into it with eyes open. For example, a writer who may be interested in using my methods will be aware that they might want to use everything that they put on those sheets, but cannot. Still, they might find merit in my post and a trait unused in one character may be cultivated in yet another. I would be interested in hearing more of what you found difficult with writing as they would benefit not only new writers, but experienced writers as well. We all fall into patterns and writing issues at one time or another.

Still, it all depends on what kind of writer you are. Sometimes, an interview with your characters can unlock plot points that you might not have explored or give you insight into how a character may act in response to certain stimuli. Bunny's suggestions may enable an writer to develop characters by focusing on plot and since plot and character are intertwined, this may offer wonderful developments on both accounts, especially since characters do not operate in a vacuum. These are all suggestions and every writer is different and we are all offering various ways that worked for us. That's the wonderfully unifying force of being a writer and I'm betting Ellie and other writers are using your suggestions as they are using ours.

Oh. Thanks for reminding me, starchild! You totally reminded me of a pretty awesome resource I started using for characters.

Speaking of pitfalls, I haven't seen anyone who couldn't use this one before, save for the fact that sometimes, the time-consumption can be a bit much. But still! Come in Character is a blog atmosphere for introducing your character to new and weird things, most notably, other peoples' characters. Each day of the week, there's a question to respond to or group activity bit. Just replying to the questions alone can help you find bits and pieces of your character, but the interesting part is when other folks offer a bit of interesting things that maybe hadn't occurred to you just yet.

Already, it's helped me flesh out the main character in my novel to absurd lengths. Things I hadn't even considered worked amazingly well. I totally forgot this until you reminded me, so thanks again.

My pleasure, Andre. That Come In Character item looks fascinating. I can see what you're saying about fleshing out to a wide degree. I'll have to explore that further. Thanks for offering that!

Andre Vienne (07:07pm Sat, Jul 18, 2009)

Yes, they are integral, as I said. But this was more about a central problem, not just things that are also-important but on the periphery.

Well...She was asking how to breathe life into her characters because she was having trouble showing them, not knowing them, so I figured it would be helpful?

I mean, she's saying if we were to read the story we wouldnt know these characters the way she wants.

Andre Vienne (07:07pm Sat, Jul 18, 2009)

And, eeshk. Books? I wouldn't be able to do that. I'd start deliberately forgetting things.

Well they have pages and pages of memories, flashbacks, ideas for story scenes (all of these marked on a list so I know where they are). For example my main character C1 (his ID should I ever change his name I can do it at the end by find/replacing C1 instead of his real name) has lost all of his memory. Throughout the book he remembers it in sort of creepy ways. He's trapped in an unknown (and empty) world, and some of his memories come to him like voices - sorta teasing him. He doesnt even KNOW his own name.

I think their profiles extend 5 pages each, because they're extensive. I have places where I expand on the benefits and complications of each trait, so I know that C3's ability to sense any presence near her can be drastically reduced from fear, distraction, or lack of sleep, which is something she'll need to use to save her life - and her ability WILL fail, but how will she escape? (I know how, lol)