How to Develop Your Characters When Writing a Fiction Novel

I've just started writing my first novel and I'm surprised at how smoothly it is going. For ten years, I agonized about how to write my first novel, even though I had read tons of novel writing and fiction writing books. It just didn't click with me. Then, it hit me within the past few weeks. I had to write the novel in my own way, otherwise, it wouldn't be written in my true voice.

Yes, fiction writing does have a certain formula to it. But what is that formula in reality? The formula is just certain elements that need to be there to make it a full story. One of those important elements are the characters. This is an extremely important element in fiction writing, whether it's a short story, a novella, or a full-length novel. Your characters are the life-force of your story. They are the ones who act, speak, and think your story into existence. They are the ones who breathe life into your plot to help draw readers in.

Without the characters, you do not have a story because you wouldn't have anyone to tell your story. Then, this leads to how to develop your characters to tell your story. Believe it or not, I found this element of fiction writing quite easy to do. Below are a few tips on what I did directly from own notes on my characters. I hope you find these tips helpful.

Tip #1: Names. I created names for my characters before I started to develop them into living, breathing beings. One of the things I did to help me with coming up with a good character is that I went through some of my past published short stories to see if there were any characters I'd like to develop and expand on in a novel format. I came across one character that I absolutely loved writing about in a short story. In previous years, I had entertained the thought of expanding her character and giving her more of a story to tell. So, I started with her. And then, I decided she should have a boyfriend, a best friend, and a conflict. And there you have it. I had an entire cast of characters just waiting to tell their story.