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Writing a Character Analysis Essay | Step-by-Step Guide

I’m also going to give you a ton of examples.

This post is split into four parts for easy navigation:

  • What is a Character Analysis Essay?
  • What is the best Format to Use?
  • 11 Character Analysis Example Ideas
  • Template, Checklist and Outline for Your own Piece

character analysis essay example

In this post, I’m going to explain to you clearly and in a step-by-step way how to conduct a character analysis.

1. What is a Character Analysis Essay?

Let’s get you started with some really simple details about what a character analysis is:

  • A Quick Definition: A character analysis essay zooms-in on a character in a book, movie or even real life. It provides what we sometimes call a ‘sketch’ of a character.
  • The Purpose of a Character Analysis: The purpose of a character analysis is to reveal interesting details about the character that might contain a broader moral message about the human condition. For example, Atticus Finch is not just a lawyer in To Kill a Mockingbird. Rather, he provides us with a moral message about the importance of doing what you believe is right even though you know you will likely fail.

2. What is the best Character Analysis Essay Format?

Character analysis essays do not have just one format.

However, let me offer some advice that might act as a character analysis essay outline or ‘checklist’ of possible things you could discuss:

1. Start with the Simple Details.

You can start a character analysis by providing a simple, clear description of who your character is. Look at some basic identity traits such as:

  • Race (if relevant)
  • Social class (if relevant)
  • Protagonist or Antagonist? A protagonist is the character who is our central character in the plot; the antagonist is often the protagonist’s opponent or challenger.
  • Major or minor character?

2. What are the character’s distinctive personality features?

Your character might have some really clearly identifiable character traits. It’s best to highlight in your character analysis the exact traits that this character possesses. Some common character traits include:

I recommend you take a moment to write down what you think the top 3 to 5 words are that you’d use to explain your character’s personality traits. These will be important to discuss throughout your character analysis.

Sometimes a character may start out with some personality traits, but change over the course of the text. This is quite common; and one clear example of this is Lady Macbeth she deteriorates from a cutthroat power player to a guilt ridden shell of a person roaming the halls of the castle. This dramatic character change is something that makes her very interesting, and is worthy of discussion!

3. What are the character’s key relationships?

Does your character have a close relationship with a certain person in the storyline?

You might want to discuss the character’s relationships as a part of your character analysis. These relationships may reveal some key personality traits of your character.

For example, in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, Horatio is the loyal offsider to Hamlet. Through his actions in staying by Hamlet through thick and thin, we learn that he is a deeply loyal character.

Examining the character’s relationships with their friends and foes therefore is very useful for digging deeper into who this character actually is, and what personality traits they have when they are put to the test within the narrative.

4. What are the character’s motivations?

Another thing you might want to examine are the character’s motivations . What do they desire most in the world? Some common motivations for characters in stories are:

  • A simple life
  • To serve others

This list really could be endless, but I hope the above examples give you a bit of an idea of the sorts of traits to look out for. By mentioning and examining the motivations of the character, we will come closer and closer to learning exactly what moral message this character might be able to tell us.

5. What are the character’s key conflicts?

Stories tend to have a beginning, a complication, and a resolution.

The complication involves conflicts and challenges that need to be overcome. For Edmund in Narnia, it’s cowardice. For Romeo and Juliet, it’s the conflict between love and family loyalty. Here’s some other common conflicts for characters:

  • Whether to stay loyal to a friend;
  • To overcome obstacles to love;
  • To seek a way out of a challenging situation;
  • To escape war or poverty;
  • To persevere through imprisonment;
  • To overcome personal fear

Again, this list is endless.

Knowing the character’s core conflict gets us even closer to knowing the moral that the character is trying to teach us.

For example, in Romeo and Juliet, the challenge of Romeo and Juliet being together despite their families’ objections teaches us something. Personally, I believe it teaches us the importance of letting go of old grudges in order to let love bloom.

This moral lesson was taught to us through conflict: namely, the conflict that Romeo and Juliet were right in the center of.

6. What are the character’s epiphanies?

Sometimes a character has an epiphany. This often happens towards the end of the story and helps the character overcome the challenge or conflict that we discussed in the point above.

Here’s an example of an epiphany:

  • In the Lion King, Simba runs away from his tribe to live in exile. After a chance encounter with his childhood friend Nala, he has an epiphany that he has a duty to his tribe. This leads him back home to fight Scar and return freedom to Pride Rock.

Not all characters have an epiphany. But, if they do, I strongly encourage you to write about it in your character analysis.

7. Examine the moral message the character teaches us.

Finally, conclude by examining the moral message behind the character. Nearly every character has something to teach the reader. Authors put a lot of thought into creating complex characters with whom we can relate. We relate to the character and say “wow, they taught me a lesson about something!”

The lesson might be something like:

  • Money doesn’t buy happiness;
  • Loyalty to family comes above all else;
  • Love gives life meaning;
  • Honesty is always the best policy

This is the core of your character analysis essay. If you can pick out exactly what moral message the character teaches you, you’ll be well on your way to writing a strong character analysis.

Below I’m going to give you some examples to help you out. I know it can be hard to really get your head around a character, so sometimes the best thing is to look at some samples!

3. Here’s 13 Example Character Analysis Essay Ideas.

Most times when we create a character analysis, we’re exploring the deeper moral stories / aspects of humanity. Here’s some example ideas. I’ve tried to outline in less than a paragraph exactly what your key point will be about each character:

  • Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird: A character who teaches us a lesson about standing up for what’s right, even if you know you’re likely to lose.
  • Huckleberry Finn from Huckleberry Finn: A character who reveals our inner desire for freedom from the elements of society that constrain us.
  • Dudley from Harry Potter: A character whose personality tells us a cautionary tale of the perils of middle-class narcissism, parents’ desire to wrap their children in cotton wool, and the lack of discipline we perceive in contemporary childhoods.
  • Jack from Lord of the Flies: A character who represents the innate desire for power that seems to lurk not too far from the surface of the human condition. When social structures are stripped away, he quickly reverts to violence and superstition to assert control over his peers.
  • Lady Macbeth from Macbeth: Lady Macbeth teaches us a valuable lesson about the perils of contravening our own morality. She starts out a cutthroat killer but is increasingly consumed by the guilt of her own actions. While we may be able to escape full punishment from outside forces, it is the inner guilt that might eat us away to our last.
  • The Boy who Cried Wolf: The boy who cried wolf is a character whose fatal flaw is his desire for attention and adulation. His repeated attempts at gaining the attention of others leads the townspeople to no longer take him seriously, which causes him harm when he actually needs the villagers to take him seriously to save his life. He teaches us the virtue of honest and humility.
  • Nick Carraway from the Great Gatsby: Nick shows us all the inner conflict between the trappings of wealth, glamor and spectacle; and the desire for simplicity, honesty and community. He is drawn by the dazzling world of East Egg, New York, but by the end of the novel sees live in East Egg as shallow and lacking the moral depth of his former life in small town Minnesota.
  • Alice from Alice in Wonderland: In many ways, Alice represents the child within all of us. She is a character of goodwill to all and who looks upon the world (or, rather, Wonderland) with awe. Travelling with a cadre of flawed characters, she learns with them the importance of seeking strength from within.
  • The Nurse in Romeo and Juliet: Like many Shakespearian characters, the nurse’s role is both as loyal confidante to a central character and comic relief. Shakespeare uses minor characters to regale his crowd and sustain viewer interest between scenes.
  • Lucy in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: Lucy represents a surprising character whose youthfulness and small stature make her an underrated character by all around her. Nonetheless, she possesses within the bravery and loyalty necessary to carry out the quest for Aslan. Lucy represents the goodness in children and, by extension, all of mankind.
  • Anne in Anne of Green Gables: Anne occupies the typical literary role of young girls in many classical novels: she represents innocence and wonder, and her contraventions of rules are seen through a prism of childhood innocence. This frames Anne not as a deviant but as a precious soul.
  • Simba from The Lion King: Simba’s story follows his struggle with growing up, embracing his destiny and duty to his family, or fleeing towards freedom and a ‘no worries’ lifestyle. Simba flees Pride Rock and goes through an existential crisis with his existentialist friends Timon and Pumba. When he runs into an old childhood friend, he realizes how shallow his new carefree life has become and reflects upon his obligation to his community back home.
  • Woody from Toy Story: Woody starts out Andy’s favorite toy, but when Andy gets a new flashier toy, Woody’s status amongst the toys falls apart. Woody’s key character challenge is to learn to be humble and inclusive living within the group. By the end of the movie, Woody realizes his duty to love and serve Andy is more important than his own status within the group.

4. Here’s an Example Template for your own Character Analysis Essay

Feel free to use this brainstorming template to get you started with your character analysis essay. I recommend filling out as many of these key points as you can, but remember sometimes you might have to skip some of these points if they’re not relevant to your character.

Once you’ve brainstormed the ideas in Table 1, follow the character analysis essay outline in Table 2 to stay on track for your character analysis essay. Do remember though that each assignment will be different and you should adjust it based on your teacher’s requirements.

Here’s Table 1, which is a brainstorming template for your character analysis essay:

And here’s Table 2, which is an example character analysis essay outline. This is for a 1500 word character analysis essay. Change the word count according to how long your essay should be:

Read Also: 39 Better Ways to Write ‘In Conclusion’ in an Essay

Character analyses can be really tough. You need to know your character really well. You might even need to re-read (or watch) your book or movie a few times over to get to know the character really well.

I recommend when you re-read or re-watch the text before you write your character analysis, have the checklist I provided above handy and take notes. Then, use the essay outline I provided above to put all of those notes together into a clear and thorough final character analysis essay.

Chris

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

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writing essay about character development

How to Write a Character Analysis Essay and Get an A+

writing essay about character development

A character analysis essay is a challenging type of essay students usually write for literature or English courses. In this article, we will explain the definition of character analysis and how to approach it. We will also touch on how to analyze characters and guide you through writing character analysis essays.

Typically, this kind of writing requires students to describe the character in the story's context. This can be fulfilled by analyzing the relationship between the character in question and other personas. Although, sometimes, giving your personal opinion and analysis of a specific character is also appropriate.

Let's explain the specifics of how to do a character analysis by getting straight to defining what is a character analysis. Our term paper writers will have you covered with a thorough guide!

What Is a Character Analysis Essay?

The character analysis definition explains the in-depth personality traits and analyzes characteristics of a certain hero. Mostly, the characters are from literature, but sometimes other art forms, such as cinematography. In a character analysis essay, your main job is to tell the reader who the character is and what role they play in the story. Therefore, despite your personal opinion and preferences, it is really important to use your critical thinking skills and be objective toward the character you are analyzing. A character analysis essay usually involves the character's relationship with others, their behavior, manner of speaking, how they look, and many other characteristics.

Although it's not a section about your job experience or education on a resume, sometimes it is appropriate to give your personal opinion and analysis of a particular character.

What Is the Purpose of a Character Analysis Essay

More than fulfilling a requirement, this type of essay mainly helps the reader understand the character and their world. One of the essential purposes of a character analysis essay is to look at the anatomy of a character in the story and dissect who they are. We must be able to study how the character was shaped and then learn from their life. 

A good example of a character for a character analysis essay is Daisy Buchanan from 'The Great Gatsby.' The essay starts off by explaining who Daisy is and how she relates to the main character, Jay Gatsby. Depending on your audience, you need to decide how much of the plot should be included. If the entire class writes an essay on Daisy Buchanan, it is logical to assume everyone has read the book. Although, if you know for certain that your audience has little to no knowledge of who she is, it is crucial to include as much background information as possible. 

After that, you must explain the character through certain situations involving her and what she said or did. Make sure to explain to the reader why you included certain episodes and how they have showcased the character. Finally, summarize everything by clearly stating the character's purpose and role in the story. 

We also highly recommend reading how to write a hook for an essay .

Still Need Help with Your Character Analysis Essay?

Different types of characters.

To make it clear how a reader learns about a character in the story, you should note that several characters are based on their behaviors, traits, and roles within a story. We have gathered some of them, along with vivid examples from famous literature and cinema pieces:

How to Write a Character Analysis Essay

Types of Characters

  • Major : These are the main characters; they run the story. Regularly, there are only one or two major characters. Major characters are usually of two types: the protagonist – the good guy, and the antagonist: the bad guy or the villain. 
  • Protagonist (s) (heroes): The main character around whom most of the plot revolves. 

For example, Othello from Shakespeare's play, Frodo from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, Harry Potter from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, and Elizabeth Bennet from 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen.

  • Antagonist (s): This is the person that is in opposition to the protagonist. This is usually the villain, but it could also be a natural power, set of circumstances, majestic being, etc. 

For example, Darth Vader from the Star Wars series by George Lucas, King Joffrey from Game of Thrones, or the Wicked Queen from 'Snow White and Seven Dwarfs.'

  • Minor : These characters help tell the major character's tale by letting them interact and reveal their personalities, situations, and/or stories. They are commonly static (unchanging). The minor characters in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien would be the whole Fellowship of the ring. In their own way, each member of the Fellowship helps Frodo get the ring to Mordor; without them, the protagonist would not be a protagonist and would not be able to succeed. In the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling, minor characters are Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. They consistently help Harry Potter on his quests against Voldemort, and, like Frodo, he wouldn't have succeeded without them.

On top of being categorized as a protagonist, antagonist, or minor character, a character can also be dynamic, static, or foil.

  • Dynamic (changing): Very often, the main character is dynamic.
An example would also be Harry Potter from the book series by J.K. Rowling. Throughout the series, we see Harry Potter noticing his likeness to Voldemort. Nevertheless, Harry resists these traits because, unlike Voldemort, he is a good person and resists any desire to become a dark wizard.
  • Static (unchanging): Someone who does not change throughout the story is static.
A good example of a static character is Atticus Finch from “How to Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. His character and views do not change throughout the book. He is firm and steady in his beliefs despite controversial circumstances. 
  • Foils : These characters' job is to draw attention to the main character(s) to enhance the protagonist's role.
‍ A great example of a foil charact e r is Dr. Watson from the Sherlock Holmes series by Arthur Conan Doyle.

How to Analyze a Character 

While preparing to analyze your character, make sure to read the story carefully.

  • Pay attention to the situations where the character is involved, their dialogues, and their role in the plot.
  • Make sure you include information about what your character achieves on a big scale and how they influence other characters.
  • Despite the categories above, try thinking outside the box and explore your character from around.
  • Avoid general statements and being too basic. Instead, focus on exploring the complexities and details of your character(s).

How to Write a Character Analysis Essay?

To learn how to write a character analysis essay and gather a more profound sense of truly understanding these characters, one must completely immerse themself in the story or literary piece.

  • Take note of the setting, climax, and other important academic parts.
  • You must be able to feel and see through the characters. Observe how analysis essay writer shaped these characters into life.
  • Notice how little or how vast the character identities were described.
  • Look at the characters' morals and behaviors and how they have affected situations and other characters throughout the story.
  • Finally, observe the characters whom you find interesting. 

Meanwhile, if you need help writing a paper, leave us a message ' write my paper .'

How Do You Start a Character Analysis Essay

When writing a character analysis essay, first, you have to choose a character you'd like to write about. Sometimes a character will be readily assigned to you. It's wise to consider characters who play a dynamic role in the story. This will captivate the reader as there will be much information about these personas.

Read the Story

You might think that if you already have read the book, there is no need to do so again; however, now that you know the character you would like to focus on, reading it again will have plenty of benefits. It will give you an opportunity to be more precise while reading the scenes that relate directly to your character and are important for his/her analysis. While reading the book, pay attention to every tiny detail to make sure you grasp the whole array of your character's traits. 

Consider the following things:

  • What specific descriptions does the author provide for each character?

For example, when J.K. Rowling describes Harry Potter for the first time, she describes his clothes as old and oversized, his hair untidy, and his glasses as broken. It might seem just like a simple description, but she expresses compassion and pity for an orphan neglected by his only relatives. 

  • What kinds of relationships does your character have with others?

Think about how Harry builds up his friendships with others. First, he and Ron do not like Hermione because she acts like a know-it-all, but when she gets stuck in the dungeons with a horrendous troll, he rushes to save her regardless. 

  • How do the actions of the character move the plot forward?

In 'The Philosopher's Stone,' Harry is very observant of any events taking place at school. He analyzes people's actions, which builds up the plot around the stone and its importance for the magical world.

Get help with your character analysis from our experts.

Choose a Dynamic Character

Choosing a dynamic character is a great idea. This does not necessarily have to be the protagonist, but a character that undergoes many changes has grown throughout the story and is not boring and/or static. This gives you a perfect advantage to fully show the character and make your paper entertaining and engaging for the reader. If you choose a character that is not very dynamic, your essay might seem monotonous because your character will not end up doing much and will not be very involved in the story.

While you are reading, it is useful to take notes or highlight/underline any of the critical elements of the story. This will add depth to your character description(s). By providing vivid and specific examples, you connect your reader to the character, and the character comes alive in their eyes. Review your notes and formulate the main idea about your character when you're finished reading with your character in mind.

Make an initial draft while taking note of the character analysis essay outline provided by your instructor. You may follow the recommended character analysis essay format if you have not been provided with a sample.

Choose a Main Idea

While reading the story, make sure you keep track of your notes. It is a good idea to look at them, choose the ones that are the most representative of your character and find patterns. This will be your thesis. Then, you must support this idea with examples and situations involving your character. 

If your character were Jem Finch from 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee, the main idea would be how his personal character is shaped through racial conflicts, social inequalities, and internal struggles between public opinion, his own views, and what is actually right. Essaypro offers you history essay help. Leave us a notice if you need to proofread, edit, or write your essay.

Character Analysis Questions

Now that you have jotted down some main concepts about your character, here is a list of questions that can help you fill in the blanks you might still have:

character analysis quesions

  • Where do the events involving your character take place?
  • What are the relationships between your character and other significant characters?
  • What is the primary change your character has gone through throughout the story?
  • What is your character's background?
  • What is your character's occupation?
  • What kind of emotions does your character go through?
  • What are your character's values?
  • What is your character's value?
  • Does your character have friends?
  • Is there a lesson your character has learned by the end of the story?
  • Does the character achieve the goals he/she has set for himself/herself?

Make a Character Analysis Essay Outline

When you're unsure how to write a character synopsis, remember that creating a literary analysis outline is one of the most critical steps. A well-constructed character analysis outline will keep your thoughts and ideas organized.

Character Analysis Essay Introduction:

Make the introduction to your paper brief and meaningful. It should hold together your entire essay and spark your audience's interest. Write a short description of the character in question. Don't forget to include a character analysis thesis statement which should make a case for the character's relevance within the narrative context.

Character Analysis Essay Body:

Subdivide your body paragraphs into different ideas or areas regarding the character. Look at your professor's rubric and ensure you'll be able to tackle all the requirements. You should also be provided with questions to be answered to formulate your analysis better. The body should answer the following questions:

  • What is the character's physical appearance, personality, and background?
  • What are the conflicts the character experiences, and how did he/she overcome them?
  • What can we learn from this character?
  • What is the meaning behind the character's actions? What motivates him/her?
  • What does the character do? How does he/she treat others? Is he/she fair or unjust?
  • What does the character say? What is his/her choice of words? Does he/she have a rich vocabulary?
  • How does the character describe themself? How do others describe him/her?
  • What words do you associate with the character? Perhaps a word like 'hope,' 'bravery,' or maybe even 'freedom'?

Character Analysis Essay Conclusion:

It's time to master the secrets of how to write character analysis essay conclusions. Your ending should also hold your ideas together and shape a final analysis statement. Mention things about the character's conflicts that we could experience in real life. Additionally, you can write about how a character should've reacted to a certain situation.

Character Analysis Essay Example

Read our blogs ‘Character Analysis of Jem Finch', 'The Great Gatsby Book Through Daisy Buchanan Character,' 'Analysis of Characters in Beowulf,' or simply use these character analysis essay examples to reference your paper. You might also be interested in a synthesis essay example .

Now that you know what is character analysis, it might be time to choose a character to write about. If you find yourself in a situation where you need to type ' do my homework for me ,' you should contact our writers. You also get a free plagiarism report, formatting, and citing when  buying an essay from us!

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47 Character Development Prompts To Flesh Out Your Book Characters

What kind of person is your main character? 

Maybe you’ve started to hear their voice in your head, but they just haven’t been very talkative. 

What can you do to make your character reveal their full self, quirks and all? 

The best way to get to know the people you’ve created is to use character development writing prompts.

We’ve created a list of 47 to put each of your key characters to the test.

Choose your own adventures for them. And see what your characters reveal about themselves. 

Actions speak louder than words. But you’ll need both. 

Key Benefits of Character Development Exercises

Identity or personality prompts, relationship prompts, reaction prompts, ethics and morality prompts, backstory prompts.

The more writing prompts you use in the development of your characters, the more of the following benefits you’ll enjoy:

  • Deeper awareness of the process of creating complex and believable characters
  • Experience writing from the character’s point of view (voice journal entries)
  • Experience writing dialogue (or taking dictation for the voices in your head)
  • Greater ease in making each character stand out as unique and three-dimensional.
  • Well-drawn, interesting characters , which help in the creation of unique plots. 

The more you know about these people in your story, the more real they become to you. 

Related: 16 Best Self-Publishing Companies For Your Writing Business

Then comes the challenge of helping your reader see them through dialogue and essential details.

The more character development prompts you use, though, the more experience you’ll have doing exactly that. 

47 Character Development Prompts 

Try any of the character scenarios below to see what each of your key characters is made of. Put them in situations that reveal their character and what they believe about themselves — as well as what they think of other characters in your story. 

We’ve divided these into groups to make it easier for you to focus on the areas that are the foggiest right now. Dive in and choose a prompt for today’s freewriting exercise . 

1. If your character has a superpower , what is it and how did they discover it? Is it something they’re proud of or would they like to exchange it for someone else’s?

2. What is your character’s biggest flaw ? Write about how they came to terms with it (if they have) or how they react when someone calls them out for it. 

3. Write a scene exposing your character’s fatal flaw and include another character from your story. Write from either character’s point of view. 

4. Write a scene revealing a mental health challenge for your character. Another character recognizes that challenge and offers help. 

5. Your character is trying to decide what to eat on a Friday night alone at their place. Write a voice journal entry about their thought process, what they eat, and why. 

6. Have three of your characters play “ Truth or Dare .” What do they learn about each other? And what character is more likely to choose “Dare” over “Truth”?

7. If your character has decided romantic or sexual love is not for them, write about what led them to identify as asexual or aromantic . How have others reacted? 

8. Has your character discovered an attraction they’ve been taught they shouldn’t have? Write about how has that affected their beliefs and sense of identity?

9. Does your character identify with the gender assigned to them at birth? If not, write about how they came to identify as a trans person and who supported them. 

10. Write a scene where your character reveals their sexual orientation or gender identity to someone who doesn’t respond well to the news. 

11. Have your character take the 16Personalities test to identify their Myers-Briggs type. Write a voice journal entry about their reaction to the results. 

12. Get your character alone with a parental figure that shaped their response to authority. Is your character generally obedient or more likely to question or rebel?

13. Get your character alone with someone they’re attracted to , whether they’ve acknowledged that attraction or not. Let them find out the attraction isn’t mutual. 

14. Get your character alone with someone who hurt them and who now needs their help. Write a scene or dialogue exchange hinting at the hurt caused by the other.

15. Write a scene where your character cooks a meal for someone else in your story. Show how it turns out and what they talk about while they eat (or drink). 

16. Write a scene where one of your character’s siblings comes to visit them. What do they talk about? What have they been through together? 

17. Get your character talking about their first love , who it was and whether the attraction was mutual. Was it an epic love or just a crush? How did it end?

18. Does your character have a mentor , coach,  or guide? Write a scene where they clash with this mentor or take issue with advice or directions they’ve been given. 

19. Has your character ever lost a friend ? Write a scene leading up to that loss and then show how your character reacts. 

20. Write a scene that shows what kind of friend your character is when someone they care about is going through a bad break-up. 

21. How does your character get along with kids ? Write a scene where someone talks to your character about whether they want kids of their own and why or why not.

22. Write a scene describing an encounter between your character and someone who has an unrequited crush on them — and who writes poetry. 

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23. Write a scene where someone teases your character and then ridicules them for acting “ triggered .” What goes through your character’s head and what do they say?

24. Write a scene showing how your character would respond to a bully — e.g., a belligerent customer harassing an employee or a parent verbally abusing a child. 

25. Write a scene showing how your character would react upon learning that the attraction between them and another character is mutual. 

26. Write a scene showing how your character would respond to the death or serious injury of someone they cared about. What would they reveal about themselves?

27. Write about the moment your character learns what it will cost to get the thing they want most. How do they react? What do they say and do?

28. How would your character react to someone telling them, “ You’re not like other women/men ”? Write a scene or dialogue exchange showing their reaction. 

29. Think of a strong reaction you’ve had that surprised or confused others. Write a scene where one of your characters has a similar reaction to something. 

30. Write a scene where your character reacts to a religious symbol from their past. What does religion mean to them, now, and what do they believe about God?

31. How would your character react if they met their clone — who happens to be both successful and (apparently) evil? Write a scene describing the encounter. 

32. Does your character meet someone who helps them make a better decision about something? Write a scene or dialogue for a pivotal moment involving both. 

33. Does your character meet someone who manipulates them into doing something harmful? What do they do, and how does it affect them and other characters? 

34. What choice would your character make if presented with the trolley problem ? Write a voice journal entry explaining their decision. 

35. Does your character have a redemption arc ? Write a scene where you reveal your character’s turning point or an experience that changes them for the better. 

36. What could push your character over the edge ? Write a scene where this happens? What does your character do or say as a result? What do they lose?

37. Write a scene where your character meets a panhandler asking for money. Do they give the man anything? Use details and dialogue to reveal why or why not. 

38. Your character’s boss has offered them a significant promotion if they can get another employee to quit. Write about your character’s thought process. 

39. Your character has an unpleasant encounter with their rich boss, who leaves their loaded wallet behind. Write a scene showing what your character does and why.

40. Write about a traumatic experience in this character’s life and how it continues to affect them. Whom did it involve, and how have those relationships changed? 

41. Is your character’s world heteronormative ? Write about how your character and others respond to non-hetero romantic relationships. 

42. How has your character dealt with grief in the past? Write a scene where someone confronts them on this or encourages them to talk about it. 

43. Your character isn’t convinced they’re a good person . Write a scene or conversation that explains why. Do they remember ever thinking they were good?

44. Does your character have a secret about their past? Write a scene where this secret comes out. How do they and the other characters react? 

45. Have your character’s beliefs changed significantly since adolescence? Write a voice journal entry about those beliefs and why they changed. 

46. As a child, your character wandered away from their parents, who didn’t notice their absence until a stranger brought them back. Write about what happened. 

47. Write about a mistake your character made that he still hasn’t forgiven himself for. Use a voice journal entry to explain why. 

How will you use these character development prompts?

Now that you have 47 character development writing prompts , which one are you most eager to start with? Which one has already started the movie projector in your head? 

Once you know each character to their core, you can do as Terry Pratchett suggests: “Wind them up, put them down, and simply write down what they do, say, and think.” 

You’ll be doing that for these prompts . But they’ll also help you do it better. 

Meanwhile, you’ll also get better at creating characters your readers will fall in love with and write fanfiction for. 

Get your ship names ready, just in case.

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Writers.com

For any work of fiction to resemble real life, it has to portray real character development with a convincing character arc. Additionally, those characters need to have believable character traits, which evolve as the character grows.

Stories are about people—even if your main character is a cat, a tree, or some other nonhuman entity. Great storytellers will capitalize on great character development, because a story’s humanness is what any reader will relate to. Great character traits and an enjoyable character arc bring a story to life, creating windows for the reader to watch through.

So, what is character development? And for that matter, what are character traits, and what are some good character arc examples? In this article, we’ll look at each of these items and more. Creating real, flesh-and-blood people is essential to great storytelling , so let’s explore the alchemy of turning words into real people—creating characters from characters.

Character Development Definition: What is Character Development?

Character arc definition, 5 character development examples, 10 character development questions to ask each of your characters, what are character traits, character traits list, advice for selecting character traits in your work.

  • Conflict and Character Development (from Instructor Jack Smith)

Further Readings on Character Development

What is character development? It’s not so different from real life: the goal is to showcase a character’s growth in the face of adversity, much like real people grow and adapt to their own real situations.

Character development is the process of creating fictional characters with the same depth and complexity as real-life human beings.

Throughout the story writing process, the author will develop any number of character traits to fully flesh out the people that populate their stories. Good character development often includes the following elements:

  • Backstory : Backstory refers to events that occurred prior to the story’s plot , but which nonetheless affect the plot itself. For example, a common trope for character backstories is having a traumatic childhood.
  • Flaws: Every character has personality flaws, because every person has flaws. Traits like hubris, pride, laziness, or impulsivity can encourage someone to make bad decisions, prolonging the story’s conflicts.
  • Goals: A central component of character development is that character’s goals. What do they want, need, or desire? What’s standing in the way of those goals? These questions often drive the bulk of the story’s plot and character arcs.
  • Personality: At its simplest, personality is a pattern of thoughts, actions, and beliefs that form a human being. What character traits does each person in your story have? These traits will coalesce into a complex personality.
  • Philosophy/Worldview: A key aspect of personality and character development is that character’s worldview. By worldview, we mean the constellation of religious, philosophical, and political beliefs that shape how someone interacts with the world. For example, one character might believe in the inherent goodness of humankind, while another will believe all people are selfish and irresponsible; each philosophy will affect how each character perceives others and lives in the world.
  • Physical Character Traits: What do your characters look like? How do those traits impact how other characters view them? In the real world, our physical appearances affect how other people treat us (for better or for worse). It’s the same in fiction, so give some thought to each character’s physical traits.
  • Morals/Values: What morals guide your characters? What do they value the most? Remember, morals aren’t inherently good: the idea that one gender is better than another is a moral belief, too, though not a very good one.
  • Spiritual Beliefs : Finally, what religious or spiritual beliefs drive your characters? This can be a major world religion, but it can also be beliefs about the universe at large. Does your character believe that life has a meaning, that humans exist for a purpose, and that we’re compelled to act in certain ways?

When these character traits are combined with the story’s overall conflict , a character arc develops.

Before we look more at character development, it’s equally important to understand character arcs. A character arc is the trajectory of your character’s inner journey and emotional growth, charted from the beginning to the end of the story. In other words, it’s your character’s personal growth and adaptation to the story’s particular conflicts.

A character arc is a character’s personal growth and adaptation to the story’s particular conflicts.

Take a look at any number of character arc examples, and you’ll find that no two character arcs are the same. In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol , for example, Ebenezer Scrooge undergoes a major shift in personality, foregoing his stinginess and embracing a life of charity and generosity. But to achieve this character arc, he first has to realize what a lonely, miserable existence life can be when one spends it solely concerned about money.

That said, if someone in your story has negative character traits, they can certainly undergo a negative character arc. Consider the tragedy of Hamlet by William Shakespeare. The titular Hamlet begins the play as a bright, charming heir, whose indecisiveness haunts him alongside his father’s ghost. By the end of the play, Hamlet’s indecisiveness has turned to impulsivity, resulting in his self-isolation, the erroneous death of Polonius, and his continued reluctance to kill Claudius. Hamlet does not embrace the character development he needs to prevent the play’s many preventable deaths.

To summarize: A story’s character arc is the evolution of certain character traits alongside that character’s inner journey, which impacts whether or not they overcome the story’s conflict.

In order for a story to push a character through a character arc, it needs to propose certain challenges without clear solutions, resulting in that character’s moral development and making a statement about the human condition. You can learn more about this in our article “ Stories vs. Situations: How to Know Your Story Will Work in Any Genre .”

Now, let’s see character arc in action through the following character development examples.

Let’s look at some character development examples in popular works of literature. Chances are, you haven’t read all 5 of the books we’re referencing below, so we’ve mapped out each character’s journey and the conflicts that shape their development.

1. Jane Eyre in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

How She Starts: Jane Eyre is a coming-of-age story (also called a bildungsroman) that charts the life of its eponymous character from childhood to adulthood. We are introduced to Jane as someone who is strong-willed and independent, but also impulsive and unloved.

Main Goals: Jane struggles to find love, acceptance, and a place she can truly call home.

Main Conflicts: Jane Eyre is populated with many different antagonists, including her adopted family, her headmasters, and occasionally her own love interests.

Key Dilemma: Jane’s situation is never wonderful, but to overcome her poor situations, she must learn to be self-sufficient —a fantastic proposition, given this was published in Victorian England. This includes acquiring work and entering adulthood, but most important to Jane’s character development, she must learn to maintain her own self-worth and independence, even in the face of true, altruistic, two-as-one love.

How She Ends: One Jane is truly self-sufficient, everything else falls into place, including her financial situation and her marriage to Rochester. With self-sufficiency comes the love and acceptance she desires, and the safe home she has always been without.

2. Janie Crawford in Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

How She Starts: Janie Crawford has much in common with Jane Eyre: she is strong-headed, independent, rebellious, and has a complex inner world that no one can see. Janie is of mixed race, and constantly encounters an inability to fit in with both white and black communities, but she is very defiant of any labels assigned to her and constantly chalks up the prejudice she encounters as a lack of perspective among others.

Main Goals: Janie’s primary desire is a marriage of equal partnership: a love that’s not unbalanced because of wealth or gender or position.

Main Conflicts: Most of Janie’s relationships are, in fact, unbalanced. First her marriage is arranged to a man who doesn’t love her, then she marries a man who excludes her from her community’s social life. Though Janie desires an equal marriage, she may have to accept that her independent spirit is incompatible in the long-term with another man, especially given the gender roles of 1920s America. This forms the core of her character development.

Key Dilemma: Janie is often treated as either a trophy wife or a domestic worker, but never as an equal, always feeling disconnected both from the people she loves and the communities around her. When she meets and falls in love with Vergible “Tea Cake” Woods, she moves to the Everglades with him, only to lose him in the aftermath of a deadly hurricane.

How She Ends: Janie returns to one of her previous homes, still the object of other people’s gossip and disapproval, but satisfied, if weary, having once known real love.

3. Ethan Allan Hawley in The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck

How He Starts: Ethan Allan Hawley is a grocery store clerk in New Baytown, a fictional city on Long Island, NY. His family used to be a member of the local aristocratic class, before Ethan’s father lost all of the family’s money; despite this, Ethan values honesty and integrity above all else.

Main Goals: Ethan wants to live a life of virtue and integrity, garnering respect from others simply by being a kind and honest person. He has no problem with his position as a grocery clerk, and wants only to provide a good life to his family.

Main Conflicts: Ethan’s family, however, is not satisfied with their life: money always seems to be a problem. In addition to his family’s continued dissatisfaction, members of Ethan’s local community frequently mention his family’s lost wealth and what Ethan should do to reclaim it.

Key Dilemma: Ethan’s character arc centers around his commitment to virtue and his conflicting desire for wealth. If he wants to reclaim his family’s fortunes, he must sacrifice his integrity and honesty, which he does—he turns his boss into the INS, he acquires his best friend’s land by (essentially) killing him, and he almost robs a bank. Ethan’s inner dialectic between his virtues and his actions prompts him to consider suicide, as a result of sacrificing integrity for money.

How He Ends: The novel ends ambiguously. Ethan commits to killing himself, but then finds that his daughter replaced his weapon of choice with a family talisman, prompting him to reconsider his decision and choose life, if only for his family.

4. Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

How He Starts: Holden Caulfield is a depressed 17 year old who is about to fail out of private school. He frequently feels alienated from his classmates, family, and society at large, and while he refuses to plan for the future, he dreams of escaping somewhere that no one he knows will ever find him.

Main Goals: Holden is desperate for connection, feeling alienated from every person he talks to. While he puts on a show of being superior to the many “phony” individuals around him, he also hopes that one of those phonies might actually connect with him on a deeper level.

Main Conflicts: It seems that everyone in The Catcher in the Rye is a source of conflict for Holden. He is not on speaking terms with his parents, he frequently gets in fights with his peers, and his attempts at relationships are always spurned, which only leads to more fighting.

Key Dilemma: To put it simply, Holden is not a likable person. He is a collection of mostly negative character traits. He’s rash, annoying, and often comes off as both immature and pretentious. At the same time, he’s deeply aware of society’s superficiality, which he tries to push past by talking to people about deep, meaningful subjects. Holden’s character arc is defined by this conflict between self, others, and society ; in order for him to connect with people, he must find a way to hold both his love and criticism for people side-by-side, and also learn how to talk to people properly.

How He Ends: The Catcher in the Rye is a story in which the main character rejects his character arc . In other words, Holden ends the same way he begins, because he has not committed to the growth he has to undergo in order to find meaningful connections. He has not accepted that he is part of the problem. Nonetheless, the novel ends on a somewhat optimistic note, and Holden forgoes running away from society and enrolls to finish school.

5. Macon “Milkman” Dead III in Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison

How He Starts: From childhood, Milkman feels alienated and disinterested in his family, as well as most of society. He feels disconnected from his father, estranged from his aunt and sisters, and has a complicated relationship with his mother, who loves Milkman but uses him as an escape from her monotonous, loveless life. In adolescence, he strikes up a brief but fleeting sexual interest in one of his cousins.

Main Goals: Milkman is sent on a quest to find a bag of gold coins from his father’s young adulthood. Perhaps by finding this bag of coins, he can also find his father’s approval, something he secretly yearns for yet openly detests.

Main Conflicts: Milkman’s search for those gold coins raises many of the novel’s central conflicts. At one point, he breaks into his aunt’s house in search of the money; at another, he is hunted by Guitar, a former friend who believes that Milkman has found and stolen the gold. Milkman’s life is also threatened once a month by Hagar, the cousin he had a fleeting relationship with. But the most important conflict is Milkman’s relationship to himself and his family, both of which have been marred by his father’s wealth and negligence .

Key Dilemma: Milkman’s character development stems from his search for his father’s gold. While searching for clues as to where this gold might have ended up, he comes to learn more about his family history, learning to appreciate and even love the complex foundation his life rests upon.

How He Ends: Milkman eventually gives up on the gold to bury the remains of his grandfather whom Milkman discovered by accident, unburdening himself from the weight of his familial hatred. Guitar, still in pursuit of the gold, kills Milkman’s aunt and attacks Milkman, perhaps suggesting the enduring wickedness of greed. The novel ends ambiguously regarding Milkman’s life.

Character Development Examples: Summing Up

Each protagonist in the above character development examples endures their own set of conflicts. Those conflicts force the protagonist to grow and change in certain ways, adopting new outlooks on life or making difficult moral decisions. It is through loss, hope, sacrifice, change, and a commitment to one’s own beliefs that each character rises to their challenge.

It is through loss, hope, sacrifice, change, and a commitment to one’s own beliefs that each character rises to their challenge.

As you learn to write and develop characters, pay attention to the character arcs in the novels you read, and how certain challenges are paired directly against certain character traits. For example, Jane Eyre and Janie Crawford are both strong-willed and independent, which are undoubtedly positive character traits, yet these traits also expose them to their senses of alienation, and they must resolve the conflict between their selves, their desires, and society at large. This resolution forms the arc of the character’s journey, which also lays the foundation for a compelling plot.

Tips for Nuanced, 3-Dimensional Character Development

Every writer approaches character development a different way. While there’s no singular formula for crafting believable characters, all writers have tools at their disposal to get in the minds of their characters. Above all, remember to give each character depth, relatability, and flaws, and to provide specific details and backstories that bring those characters to life.

Remember to give each character depth, relatability, and flaws, and to provide specific details and backstories that bring those characters to life.
  • Have your characters take personality tests . No, personality tests aren’t comprehensive, and most aren’t scientifically accurate, but the practice of answering questions like your character will help you get into their mindset, potentially generating new ideas for plots and conflicts. Here’s a free directory of personality tests you can use .
  • Consider regionality . Where someone is from influences the way they speak and think , so language should directly reflect character traits.
  • Do some sketches . You don’t need to be a good artist, just do your best to pen down how you envision them. How tall are they? What is the size and shape of their eyes, lips, nose, and ears? What style of hair do they have? How do they like to dress, and where do they buy their clothes from?
  • Think about point of view . 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person points of view each have their strengths and weaknesses, and each affects how your character is written. Spend some time considering POV, and build the story’s setting and sensory details based on your character’s observations. Remember, how your character observes the world reflects their personality, making this a key component of character development.
  • Create interiority . Show us your character’s thoughts, flashbacks, inner conflicts, and deep desires. Tell us what your character does and doesn’t know about themselves. We are all messy, imperfect, and constantly growing. Your characters are, too!

Another method is to ask yourself certain character development questions, like the ones we’ve listed below.

Character Development Questions

Good characters have depth, experience growth, have flaws—they’re real people. Asking yourself a defined set of character development questions is one way to develop these kinds of characters, who jump off the page with realistic and compelling personalities.

Use the below character development questions to plan, write, or edit your story. Read on for some interesting character development questions to ask yourself, and do this exercise person by person for anyone in your story that you’d like to know better.

Ask your character…

1. Who are you?

Think of the “who” of your character as the firm foundation with which you will bring your character to life. This “who” might take the form of one or two honest sentences that really tap the essence of the character. Starting with a strong “who” can help you add depth to your character throughout your story, as well as inform their primary character traits.

2. What are your strongest motivations?

What, fundamentally, drives your character? To be accepted by their peers? To create something new and beautiful? To protect their loved ones from a dangerous world? To find perspective on mortality? What are the core, underlying drives that shape this character and the actions he or she takes? This will form the core of the story’s conflict and provoke its character arcs.

3. What are your hopes and dreams for the future?

What world does your character hope to see? What would fulfillment look like for your character? What is your character doing to reach toward these hopes—or do they seem too far out of reach?

4. What are your biggest fears and/or regrets?

Your character certainly has a future he or she doesn’t want to end up in. What is it, and why? What are the darkest secrets and the biggest failures from your character’s past? What haunts him or her?

5. What are your greatest strengths?

What comes easily to this character? What makes this character strong, and why? Your answer can simply be a positive character traits list, but try to go more in depth, fleshing out what informs this character’s morals.

6. What are your greatest weaknesses?

Every good character has weaknesses. What puts your character out of place, out of their comfort zone, vulnerable? Why? Your answer can simply be a negative character traits list, but try to go more in depth, fleshing out what informs this character’s flaws and achille’s heel.

7. What are you like socially?

How does your character view other people? Are they very social and extroverted, or a little more on the quiet, shy, introverted side? Thinking about how your character acts in social situations can help you “beef” up your character and add depth.

8. What is your role in the story?

Consider your character’s role in the development of the story. Why does your character exist in your story? Is the character a protagonist, antagonist, or secondary character? How does your character change the story? And how is the character changed by the story—what is their character arc?

9. What is your connection to the overall storyline?

This is the important link between your character and your overall storyline. What specific impact will your character have on the overall progression of your story?

10. What sort of dynamic exists between you and the other characters?

Consider the relationships your character will have with other main or supporting characters. How do they interact? How do their personalities and motivations bounce off one another? How do they come away feeling upon interacting with each other?

Create Your Own Character Development Questions list

Creating your own questionnaire can be extremely useful in the writing process and enhance your understanding of your characters, prompting you to develop new, unique elements of their personalities. It’s a great tool for figuring out what makes your characters tick, and it can help align your storyline and plot with your character’s overall personality.

As you work to create your own questionnaire for characters, you can search for existing examples. The ten questions above are one example, and here are a few others:

  • 160+ Questions on ThinkWritten
  • Creating a Memorable Character Worksheet from Lee White
  • Character Profile Template on Reedsy

Lastly, as you look for questions to ask your character, it may be useful to take a hint from the “self-help” section of your bookstore. The same sort of self-inquiry that is important in our own lives can be applied to the development of your characters.

Character Traits

Lastly, let’s examine character development from the lens of character traits, as this will help you define and refine your characters as you start and finish your stories. First, what are character traits?

Character traits are recurring features of a character’s personality that shape how that character responds to their world. Those traits will show themselves whenever someone reacts to their surroundings, engages in conversation, has private thoughts, takes action, or makes a decision.

Character traits definition: recurring features of a character’s personality that shape how that character responds to their world.

Many great novelists have studied human psychology so intently that every of their character’s actions is defined by one of their traits. Even the minutest actions, such as making dinner or brushing one’s teeth, can in some way reflect a set of character traits. Many of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s characters, for example, reflect an intimate understanding of human psychology, and his work greatly informed Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis which, though scientifically outdated, continue to impact modern literary analysis .

As you develop your characters, you can remember their personality by boiling them down into a character traits list. Because these traits are often detrimental in face of the story’s conflict, they’re an essential component of your story’s character arcs, and your characters will often have to push back against certain traits to undergo necessary character development.

Without further ado, let’s look at common character traits in literature.

Take note that many positive character traits can also be negative character traits, and vice versa. For example, while a strong sense of independence is generally considered positive, it can also lead to a character’s sociopathy, hatred of society, and disinterest in family.

Many positive character traits can also be negative character traits, and vice versa.

Alternatively, while “disobedient” is generally seen as negative, disobedience can also bring about positive changes in society. Terms like “positive” and “negative” relate to society’s perception of those traits, but in actuality, most traits can be both positive or negative depending on that character’s circumstances.

Lastly, remember that a protagonist does have negative traits, and an antagonist does have positive traits.

Positive Character Traits List

In the below character traits chart, we’ve listed positive character traits and characters with those traits in literature.

Negative Character Traits List

In the below character traits chart, we’ve listed negative character traits and characters with those traits in literature.

Which character traits should my protagonist, antagonist, and secondary characters have? Does it matter?

When writing the people that populate your stories, it’s important to have a balance of character traits so that no two people are the same. Additionally, it’s important that everyone has both positive and negative character traits since, like people in real life, no one is perfect.

Remember that stories are, above all else, about people. Even if those stories are set on different planets, in magical realms, or between alternate universes, it’s your cast of characters that matter most because people drive plot . Your characters are the ones making decisions, reacting to situations, and embarking on journeys; they define their own character arcs, so having a strong set of character traits is essential.

Here are three tips for selecting the best set of character traits in your story:

  • For protagonists , give them positive traits to strive for and negative traits to overcome. The best conflicts occur when a protagonist has to overcome their own negative character traits to achieve something.
  • For antagonists , think about traits that will make them perfect obstacles against the protagonist. A protagonist who is kind and respectful, but conflict-avoidant, might have a hard time overcoming an antagonist who is loud, coarse, and arrogant.
  • For secondary and tertiary characters , consider their purpose in the story, and give them traits that help them uphold that purpose. For example, a secondary character that exists to support the protagonist should be helpful and generous; someone who misleads the protagonist might be well-intentioned but foolish.

Conflict and Character Development

Here are instructor Jack Smith’s thoughts on using conflict to deepen your character development.

Jack Smith

Characters become interesting when they undergo conflict . A character without conflict is a dull character. Conflict gets the reader interested, as long as the conflict is important to the character in a way we can relate to—and in a way that motivates the character to take action.

This takes us to motivation. What prompts your character to do what they do?

What are the protagonist’s stakes? What is the protagonist’s goal?

You can always go back and rethink motivation later, but if your character just seems to be doing something for no apparent reason, it might be harder to fix. Get inside your protagonist. Be your protagonist. See what happens. Whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, you’ll do well to identify with the protagonist and become that protagonist.

Think  story : What’s happening? Where is this character going? What is the main conflict the protagonist faces?

Let the conflict build. Think about foreshadowing, about hinting at something that will occur down the road—for instance, a marital break-up, a run-in with the law, a loss of job. Little things mentioned early on plant seeds of things that will bloom later.

The earlier you hook your reader with interesting conflict, the better for character development. Just set the stage for what is to follow. But don’t treat these pages like a “thesis statement” for the novel; your reader wants to experience  the novel, not be told what it’s about. That’s like reading a plot summary instead of the story itself.

Think of conflict as worked out in plot threads. What are the main plot threads in your novel? Assuming you have one main plot thread, what are the subplots that will thread their way through your novel? Watch for these.

A few things to keep in mind:

Fiction thrives on conflict : Not every conflict can be resolved, but avoid dead spots in your fiction—particularly scenes that go nowhere, ones that lack friction.

How about this one?

“How are you?” “Doing pretty well. You?” “Doing pretty well.” “Good.” “Great.”

It’s hard to say. If this is the mindless chatter that most people engage in just to be polite, that might work if you’re satirizing small-town life. But otherwise, cut it.

Weed out extraneous conflicts and plot threads: Do they contribute in some way? Are they like streams flowing into a river? Do they contribute to or parallel the main plot in some way or ways? Consider this: Paul, a police detective, wants to solve a major wave of murders in his small city. He’s been running into some problems, including false leads. Paul has a background in music; he was planning to be a professional violinist, but that didn’t pan out. He’s still conflicted about that goal. My thought is that, unless you can find some connection between his wanting to be a violinist and his being a detective—perhaps something similar in the way he approaches conflicts that sometimes seem insurmountable—I wouldn’t get into his goal in music. Including his music aspirations might help create a complex character, but might seem irrelevant, especially to his character development. Do everything you can to create a unified novel. Perhaps music is his way of reducing stress from a very stressful job.

Let’s say your pantser side comes up with this musical background and that dream to be concert violinist. Follow it up. See where it goes.

Be sure that the main plot thread, as well as those plot threads that relate to the main thread, are sufficiently developed and credible : What does this take? Ask yourself if your protagonist’s character arc is satisfying to a reader. Is more needed? Is that arc believable? It’s been said that the ending needs to be “surprising” but “inevitable.”

See my article on endings at this URL: https://www.writermag.com/improve-your-writing/fiction/ending-your-novels/2/

Incidentally, be sure that you don’t end up with everything tied up in a neat bundle, but don’t just stop either. What questions does the protagonist’s arc answer? As you write through your novel, be aware, at least, of the direction of your overall plot. If you’re a plotter, you know what it is. If you’re a pantser, you’re discovering it as you go along.

The following articles take a deeper look at the specific kinds of characters you might develop a story around.

  • Character Development Advice
  • How to Write Dialogue
  • Crafting Your Protagonist
  • Writing An Antagonist
  • Foil Characters
  • Static Vs Dynamic Characters
  • Round Vs Flat Characters
  • Anti Hero Characters

Craft Compelling Character Arcs at Writers.com

Looking for feedback on your characters, their journeys, and the worlds they occupy? Get feedback on your work in a Writers.com course! Take a look at our upcoming fiction courses and receive detailed, personalized feedback on your characters-in-progress.

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Great content, it will help in my business Thank you for sharing useful information. Respectfully, David from https://deteced.com/

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To what extend does the content apply to Characters in non-fiction memoir book?

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Hi Maneo, great question! Because the people in nonfiction are real life human beings, they aren’t “characters” in the same way fictional characters are. However, no piece of literature can encompass the ENTIRETY of a single person. So, these character development questions are great starting points if you’re struggling to write about real life people. What do you want your reader to know? How can you make this person seem like a flesh and blood human?

If you’re interested to learn more about the dichotomy between fiction and nonfiction, check out this article: https://writers.com/fiction-vs-nonfiction

Happy writing!

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Very comprehensive! A thorough and very helpful exposition. I love the examples used, as many of those stories informed my childhood. Thank you for an incredible resource.

[…] onto character development, which is defined as “the process of creating fictional characters with the same depth and complexity as real-life huma… to me and many other fans is an important aspect of any story. Crafting a character that people can […]

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How to Write a Character Development Essay

Character development essays provide detailed descriptions and predictions about characters from fictional works. The purpose of an essay of this kind is to encourage readers to briefly inhabit the world of a character so that he or she might understand that character's motivation and perspective. Crafting a solid character development essay requires you to describe the character's appearance and attitude, then analyze the background of that character as well as manner in which the author introduces the character. From there, you will evaluate how the character changes over the course of the fictional work, concluding with a prediction of how that character's life will continue on past the conclusion of that work.

List and describe all of the character's physical and mental attributes in your first paragraph. For example, if your character essay focuses on Huckleberry Finn, you could describe his attributes thusly, "Huckleberry Finn is a physically dirty and raggedy child with a mind and wit as sharp as his clothes are filthy."

Describe and analyze the character's background in the second paragraph, focusing on key people or events from the character's past that might have led to his or her current state. For example, of Huckleberry Finn you might say, "His interactions and adventures with Tom Sawyer directly motivated Huck's desire to raft down the river with Jim."

Interpret the manner in which the author introduces the character. For example, "That The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is told in first-person indicates the truthfulness of Huck's analyses by making him an immediately sympathetic character."

Detail how the character changed from the beginning of the work to the end, emphasizing lessons learned and newly acquired beliefs. For example, "Though Huck remains adventurous at the conclusion of the novel, he has clearly developed a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between the haves and the have-nots."

Predict where the character will be and what the character will be doing following the conclusion of the fictional work. For example, "I believe Huckleberry Finn will continue adventuring, but his escapades will likely transition from the backwoods of the South to a more socially impacting venue, perhaps the courtroom as a lawyer or even the capital as a politician."

  • Character Analysis; Wilhelm Reich and Vincent Carfagno; 1980
  • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Mark Twain; 2010

Samuel Hamilton has been writing since 2002. His work has appeared in “The Penn,” “The Antithesis,” “New Growth Arts Review" and “Deek” magazine. Hamilton holds a Master of Arts in English education from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Master of Arts in composition from the University of Florida.

How to Write a Character Analysis Essay: Examples & Outline

A character analysis is an examination of the personalities and actions of protagonists and antagonists that make up a story. It discusses their role in the story, evaluates their traits, and looks at their conflicts and experiences. You might need to write this assignment in school or college. Like any other essay, your character analysis should contain an introduction, a conclusion, and a thesis.

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Want to know how to write a character analysis essay? Not sure how to start? We understand. Whichever piece you choose – Lady Macbeth, A Rose for Emily, or something else, – analyzing a character for the first time might be challenging. No worries, we are here to help! In this guide by our custom writing experts, you will find a step-by-step guide, outlining and writing tips, as well as a number of character analysis examples.

  • 📔 Character Analysis Definition
  • 🧙 Types of Characters
  • 📝 Writing Guide
  • 🖥️ Formatting Tips

📑 Character Analysis Essay Examples

📔 what is a character analysis essay.

A character analysis essay is an assignment where you evaluate a character’s traits, behaviors, and motivations. It requires critical thinking and attention to detail. Unlike descriptions, analyses focus on a character’s personality and internal drives. It explains how those factors shape the narrated events.

The picture shows the definition of character analysis.

So, what you need to do is to see the characters as if they were real people who feel and act just as we do. Ensure there are no baseless assumptions and interpretations: the ideas you present should be supported by quotes from the text.

Character: Definition (Literature)

How do you define a character? It is a person, a creature, or an animal that makes up the story’s world. A character can be based on a real-life person, or it can be entirely fictional. It is someone who thinks, feels, and acts.

We use the word “character” in many different contexts. For instance, it can denote someone eccentric or worthy of our admiration. In both contexts, the term “character” means a distinctive personality. Similarly, in an analysis, your task is to show what makes a character stand out.

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Characterization: Literary Definition & Examples

Characterization is the process by which a character’s personality is revealed. It presents characters’ traits, feelings, and motives to the reader. For this reason, characterization is closely connected to character analysis. It helps us to understand the characters better throughout the reading process.

Characterization can be direct and indirect .

  • Direct characterization is when the narrator directly tells the audience what the personality of a character is.
  • In contrast, indirect characterization shows things that hint at a character’s nature.

Here are some examples of direct characterization taken from Patti Smith’s Just Kids :

“But he always suppressed his real feelings, mimicking the stoic nature of his father.”

Here we see a direct description of a character. The author straightforwardly talks about Robert’s feelings. In comparison, look at the description of a woman taken from John Steinbeck’s The Snake :

“He looked around at her again. Her dark eyes seemed veiled with dust. She looked without expression at the cat’s open throat.”

These lines don’t directly reveal anything about the woman, but the reader can understand that she is cold and dangerous. It’s an indirect characterization that focuses on looks and actions to convey the message to the reader.

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🧙 Types of Characters for Your Essay

When it comes to characters, they can be divided into several groups. For example, characters can be:

  • Protagonists or antagonists,
  • Static or dynamic,
  • Flat or round.

These types define how much the characters change through the course of the story and their role in it.

Character Type: Definition

In psychology, a character type is defined by a combination of personality traits that coexist in an individual. Authors incorporate different types of characters into their works to convey the message and make the story more exciting or relatable to the reader.

There are three ways to categorize a character type:

  • by archetypes,
  • by their role in the narrative,
  • by their ability to change throughout the story.

If you are about to write a character analysis essay, being familiar with character archetypes is essential. They have been categorized by a generation of writers, including the Swiss psychologist Carl Jung and the American literary theorist Joseph Campbell. A lot of characters we see in today’s literary works are rooted in them.

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Archetypes include the Trickster, the Ruler, the Lover, the Sage, and others. The Hero is one of the most notable archetypes. Hercules or Achilles can be good examples of heroic protagonists. They are strong and courageous; they meet challenges and save the day by helping others.

Main Character: Definition & Examples

The main character and the protagonist often get mixed up. Most narratives also have the figure of the antagonist , whose actions affect the plot and stimulate change. Let’s have a look at the similarities and differences between these types.

The main character is central in the narrative. We experience the story through their eyes. They don’t necessarily have to be protagonists, though it happens in many cases.

The crucial difference between the main character and the protagonist is that the protagonist goes through changes throughout the story. The main character, however, is there to guide the reader through the experience. Often they help to show a different, darker side of the protagonist.

To understand the difference better, let’s turn to some examples.

What’s a Static Character?

Now that we’ve learned about the main character and the protagonist, we will closely look at other types of character classifications. One of the ways to categorize a character is by their ability to change throughout the story.

A static or simple character is someone who undergoes little or no significant changes. They often exist for comedic purposes. Here are some examples:

Complex Character: Definition & Examples

Complex or dynamic characters are the opposite of static characters. Characters of this type change as the book progresses. They display different qualities, emotions, and motives. They become more complicated and interesting to the reader as the story unfolds.

Check out these examples of dynamic characters:

Other Kinds of Characters

You already know about several ways to define a type of character. Now, let’s go over some other types, starting with flat and round characters.

Similar to dynamic and static ones, round and flat characters represent two different ends of a spectrum. Round characters usually come with an in-depth background. They are traditionally protagonists, antagonists, or those close to them. In contrast, flat characters are two-dimensional, and there is not much depth to them.

For the examples, we will turn to the novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

Finally, here are some bonus character types for you:

  • Stock characters have a fixed set of traits and are flat. Most of the time, they exist for comical relief.
  • Symbolic characters represent a concept or a theme that goes beyond them. They can be round and flat as long as they symbolize a particular notion or phenomena.
  • Sidekick is a secondary character who supports the protagonist.
  • The love interest is someone with whom the main character is infatuated.
  • Foil is someone who’s set in contrast with the protagonist, thus putting more emphasis on the latter’s qualities.

Characterization Essay: Which Character Type to Choose

Before you start writing a paper, it essential to decide on the character you’re going to analyze. There are different types of characters in every story, so you need to choose which one suits your essay topic the best.

Usually, it’s best to choose a dynamic and round character . With static and flat ones, there may not be enough substance for you to analyze. However, some such personalities can be interesting to work with. For instance, a flat character such as Mr. Collins can be symbolic of something. Then, you can talk about how it embodies a specific idea or notion. You can also look at how they affect other characters in the story.

📝 How to Write a Character Analysis Step by Step

Now, we’re going to discuss how to write your paper step-by-step. But first, here are some pre-writing steps for you to consider:

  • Choose a character for analysis.
  • Take notes while reading;
  • Define the type of the character and their role in the story;
  • Pay attention to their descriptions and actions.

How to Analyze a Character: Description Examples

Knowing how to organize your work is an essential skill. Certain things need special attention if you are describing a character:

  • physical appearance,
  • emotional state,
  • how the character speaks,
  • behavior and personality traits,
  • relationships with other characters.

When you analyze a character, try to look at them as if they were a real-life person. You want to know their motive, learn about how they feel, and understand why they think in a certain way. Ask yourself:

  • How did the character change throughout the story (if at all)?
  • What do other characters say about them? Can their words be trusted?
  • Where is the character physically and emotionally? What brought them here?
  • What is the character ready to do to achieve their goal?

Now, let’s look at the character of Franklin from the short story Just Before the War with the Eskimos by J.D. Salinger:

Character Profile Template for Writing

When writing your essay, use this character analysis template:

The picture shows the main steps in writing a character analysis essay.

In the following sections, we’ll discuss each step in detail.

Character Analysis Outline: How to Start a Character Analysis

The beginning of your essay is its crucial part. It sets the mood and grabs the reader’s attention. There are many different ways to write a character analysis introduction, but here are the most effective ones:

  • Use a quotation. It’s a great way to make a catchy hook. If it relates to the character and reflects their nature, it can also help to set the tone for analysis. In case you are using a quotation from somewhere else, mention the source in parentheses.
  • Talk about the book or story. Mention the author, the name of the story, and the genre. Briefly describe the main events that are taking place in the story.
  • Introduce the character. State their role in the story (define whether they are a protagonist, an antagonist, etc.) Then, explain whether the character is static or dynamic. Finally, describe them in 2-3 sentences.

The final part of an introduction is a thesis statement.Read on to learn how to write one!

Character Analysis Thesis Statement & Examples

A thesis is the key component of every essay, and character analysis is not an exception. It’s crucial to develop a good and clear thesis statement that includes all the aspects of your paper. For instance, if you plan to write a 4-paragraph body, including 4 points in your thesis.

What should a character analysis thesis include? Well, try to think of any trait that the character possesses that has to do with their downfall or somehow influences the story. Think about how this trait affects the character’s relationship with others or how it contributes to their motive or aspiration.

Take a look at the following examples:

How to Write Character Analysis Paragraphs for the Main Body

The main body of your essay can include as many paragraphs as you need. In this part, you introduce the character and analyze them. We have already talked in this article about what kind of questions should be answered in these paragraphs. The most important points are:

  • Describe the character and their role within the story.
  • Give the audience an explanation of the character’s motives.
  • Show what message the author wanted to convey through this character.

Keep in mind that every paragraph should have a topic sentence that captures its main idea.

Tsukuru Tazaki’s spiritual rebirth also affects his physical appearance.

Character Analysis Conclusion: How to Write

The conclusion part of your essay summarizes all the information you have mentioned and restates the thesis. Here is some advice for your conclusion paragraph:

🖥️ Character Analysis Essay Format

Most college assignments and essays are written according to the APA or MLA format. Both styles have the same formatting, which requires:

  • a double-spaced paper with 1-inch margins,
  • a page header with page numbers flush right,
  • an 11-12-point font.

While writing an essay on characters, pay special attention to quotations. Here are some tips for APA in-text citations:

  • When you summarize or paraphrase the information, mention the author’s name and publication date in brackets. Example: According to Collins (1997.)
  • When you quote directly from the source, add the number of the page, as well. Example: “There is a view that…” (Collins, 1997, pp. 134-135.)
  • If the source includes three or more authors, use the abbreviation “et al.” after the first author’s name. Example: (Collins et al., 1997)

As for MLA format:

  • You can write the author’s name in the sentence. Example: As Collins mentions in his essay<…>.
  • You can mention the author’s name in the parentheses at the end of the sentence. Example: (Collins, J.K.)
  • The last option is to use either footnotes or endnotes.

Below you’ll find a collection of character analysis essay examples and a downloadable sample to inspire you even more.

  • The Grandmother in A Good Man Is Hard to Find: Character Analysis
  • Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman: Character Analysis
  • Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway: Character Analysis
  • Prospero in The Tempest: Character Analysis
  • Agamemnon in the Iliad: Character Analysis
  • Lord Pococurante in Candide: Character Analysis
  • Andromache in the Iliad: Character Analysis
  • Character Analysis of the Knight from The Canterbury Tales
  • Essay on Soldier’s Home: Analysis of the Characters

Character Analysis Example (Downloadable)

Roald Dahl’s  Matilda  is one of the most famous children’s novels of the 20th century. The protagonist of this tale is Matilda Wormwood, a five and a half-year-old girl with a brilliant and lively mind that distances her from the rest of the family. Matilda’s character is particularly interesting as she has a powerful personality with extraordinary mental abilities, and she manages to overcome all the obstacles that surround her.

Character Analysis Essay Topics

  • Character analysis of Abbas from A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge .
  • Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
  • Beowulf and Hamlet : similarity and diversity of the characters.
  • Personal and social failures of Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller.
  • Character analysis of Othello .
  • Analyze the characters of Stanley and Blanche from A Streetcar Named Desire .
  • The tragedy of Mathilde Loisel from The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant.
  • Character analysis of Huck Finn from Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn .
  • Moral force of Kate Lipton from Double Helix by Nancy Parker.
  • Character analysis of Thorvald and Nora in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House .
  • Discuss the character of king Creon in Antigone .
  • Analyze the personality of Lydia from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice .
  • Compare Nick Carraway and Tom Buchanan from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
  • Describe the peculiarities of Lord Pococurante in Candide .
  • Sarty Snopes in William Faulkner’s Barn Burning : character analysis.
  • Analyze the character of Biff Loman in Death of a Salesman.
  • Personality of Nora in A Doll House by Henrik Ibsen.
  • Examine the main characters of The Yellow Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
  • Personality change of the main character in Edgar Alan Poe’s The Black Cat .
  • Analyze the characters of E. Hemingway’s A Clean, Well-Lighted Place .
  • Describe the main characters of the novel The Overstory by Richard Powers.
  • Controversial personality of Vladek in Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman.
  • Character analysis of Victor Frankenstein in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley .
  • Discuss the character of Creon in Oedipus the King .
  • The manipulative character of Iago in Willian Shakespeare’s Othello .
  • Analyze the characters of Nil and Kristine in A Doll’s House .
  • Eccentricity of Grendel’s character in Beowulf .
  • Describe the main characters of Four Summers by Joyce Carol Oates.
  • Examine the characters of Harold Krebs and his mother in Ernest Hemingway’s Soldier’s Home .
  • Analyze common and different traits of the characters in The Monkey’s Paw .
  • Character peculiarities of Rostam and Sohrab in Shahnameh by Ferdowsi Tousi.
  • How does the character of Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen differ from the rest of her family?
  • The behavior and meaning of the characters in Nicholas Rowe’s The Tragedy of Jane Shore.
  • Compare the characters of Victor Frankenstein and the monster in Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley.
  • Discuss the differences of main characters in Everyday Use by Alice Walker.
  • Examine the character of Connie in Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been by Joyce Carol Oates.
  • The influence of social pressure on the characters of Chopin’s Desirée’s Baby and Sedaris’ A Modest Proposal .
  • Dynamic feminist characters of Delia and Jig in Sweat by Z. Hurston and Hills Like White Elephants by E. Hemingway.
  • Analyze the personality traits of Emily in William Faulkner’s A Rose for Emily .
  • Examine the characters of The Quiet American by Graham Greene.
  • Henry ΙV by William Shakespeare : analysis of main characters.

Now you know everything necessary for writing an excellent character analysis. What character would you like to analyze? Let us know in the comments!

Further reading:

  • How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay Step by Step
  • Literature Review Outline: Examples, Approaches, & Templates
  • Library Research Paper: Example & Writing Guide [2024]
  • How to Write a Critique Paper: Tips + Critique Essay Examples
  • 435 Literary Analysis Essay Topics and Prompts [2024 Upd]
  • How to Write a Literature Review: Actionable Tips & Links

❓ Character Analysis FAQ

A character analysis involves:

1. description of a character; 2. explanation of how they change throughout the story; 3. their role in the narrative; 4. relationships with other characters; 5. what idea the author wanted to convey through the character.

A character analysis creates a description that contains their most important qualities. It provides a new perspective of a character that reveals more about what it’s like to be human. It can also point to a moral or a lesson.

Literary analysis uses the technique of tracing the character development. This technique is usually used to understand the theme of the work better. Through tracing a character’s development, we can learn more about the story’s message and how it’s conveyed.

A summary paragraph in a character study should include answers to the questions “what,” “who,” “where,” and “why.” You should mention who narrates the story, where the story is set, its theme, and the message it conveys.

  • Critical Concepts: Character and Characterization: Kansas State University
  • Analyzing Novels & Short Stories: Texas A&M University
  • Guidelines for Writing a Character Analysis Essay: Tidewater Communite College
  • Literary Criticism: Thesis Examples: The University of Texas at Arlington
  • Writing a Literary Analysis Paper: Germanna Community College
  • Flat and Round Characters: Encyclopedia Britannica
  • Literature: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • How to Write a Book Analysis: Kean University
  • Elements of Literary Analysis: Alamo Colleges District
  • Defining Characterization: Read Write Think
  • APA Style: General Format: Purdue University
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Character Development: How to Create Fan-Favorite Characters in 5 Steps

In fiction, character development is the process of writing a character who feels as complex and real as a person. This means sketching the character’s inner world 一 their wants and needs, strengths and weaknesses 一 as well as their outer appearance and behavior. It also means showing how the character changes throughout the course of the story 一 their character arc .

In this article, we will guide you through a step-by-step process to create multi-faceted characters that readers will care to read about. You can also download our free character development template to start crafting your own protagonist. 

How to develop a fictional character:

1. Give the characters wants and needs

2. identify their strengths and flaws, 3. sketch out their antagonists, 4. develop their look and behavior, 5. research their trade and culture.

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Reedsy’s Character Development Template

A story is only as strong as its characters. Fill this out to develop yours.

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First, it’s important to point out that your main character will be inextricably linked to your book’s plot . As author Tom Bromley teaches in his course on writing novels , “the protagonist should shape the plot, and the plot should shape the protagonist.”  

In this regard, the most important character building blocks are their Wants and Needs. As Bromley explains, a Want is what the character thinks will make them happy, a goal they are motivated to pursue, that propels them on an inner and outer journey. 

A character’s Need, on the other hand, is something deeper, more fundamental. It’s a truth they must learn about themselves or the world around them. Most of the time, a character’s internal story arc sees them realizing that their Want was fuelled by a lie they told themselves — and coming to understand a new truth (their Need) that is the secret to unlocking their success:

  • A character might want to be famous, but what they need is to be heard. 
  • They might want to get married, but what they need is love.

For an example, think of Joy in Pixar’s Inside Out : 

  • Want : Joy wants to ensure that Riley is always happy and only experiences positive emotions. This is because she believes that emotions like sadness and anger are harmful and unnecessary.
  • Need : Joy needs to realize that all emotions have their place and are important for Riley’s psychological development and a healthy emotional life. 

Image of Joy and the other emotions in Pixar's Inside Out movie

Or take Jay Gatsby (who actually doesn’t learn what he needs, and has a negative arc ): 

  • Want : Gatsby wants to be reunited with Daisy, his long-lost love. He believes that by attaining wealth and status, he can win her back.
  • Need : Gatsby must learn that happiness cannot be bought and that living in the past or for another's affection is self-destructive.

Now it’s your turn..

📝 Exercise:

  • What does your character think they want?
  • What do they actually need in order to feel fulfilled?

Mapping your character’s wants and needs 一 two key components of their character arc 一 will help you figure out what psychological space they’re in at the beginning of the story and in what direction they should move as the plot progresses. But to figure out whether they’ll have a smooth ride or not and what type of obstacles they might encounter, we have to know their strengths and weaknesses.

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How to Develop Characters

In 10 days, learn to develop complex characters readers will love.

Much of the intrigue in your story will stem from how your character responds to the external and internal conflicts they face in the pursuit of their Goal. Every type of character — from superheroes to lovelorn accountants — will need both strengths to draw upon and flaws that threaten to drag them down.

If in The Lord of The Rings Frodo walked up to Mount Doom unbothered, dropped the ring in the lava, and made it back in time for a second breakfast, he’d be a dull protagonist. It’s the obstacles he faces — Sauron’s army of orcs and the ring’s power over his spirit, to name a couple — that force him to make decisions and evolve as a character .

The iconic characters we know and love tend to have a nuanced mix of positive and negative traits. Consider Woody from Toy Story : he's a charismatic figure and a natural leader among the toys, known for his loyalty to Andy. However, he can be vain and petty, so the arrival of Buzz Lightyear causes him to feel jealous and insecure. 

Woody in Toy Story

While Woody’s charisma is admirable, it's his flaws that make him relatable. We may not all relate to being the leader of the pack, but we all know the fear of being overshadowed and replaced, as well as feeling jealous and insecure. 

So many of the challenges Woody faces are meant to test his strengths and flaws, from his face on the wall and bed cover being replaced with Buzz’s, to the other toys questioning his leadership and morals when he kicks him out of the window. Ultimately, he has to overcome his jealousy, cooperate with Buzz, and learn that they can both have a place in Andy's heart.

Some other common examples of character strengths are courage, intelligence, resilience, integrity, perseverance, and creativity, whereas character flaws are qualities like bitterness, arrogance, greed, selfishness, deceitfulness, and pessimism.  

  • What are your character’s best qualities?
  • What are some of their negative traits?

Pick a mix of both to give your readers something to root for. Your character should be plausibly able to overcome the challenges the plot throws at them, whether that’s destroying the ring or saving the wizarding world. At the same time, there should be a real risk that your character will fail — whether they fall prey to the ring’s power at the very edge of Mt. Doom, or die in a burst of green light from the Dark Lord’s wand. 

This brings us to another key piece of character development, which is sketching out your hero’s main antagonist. 

What is your character's archetype?

Take our 1-minute quiz to find out.

An important point to make is that you can’t create a character in a vacuum. You need to define them in relation to other people and the world they inhabit. As John Truby writes in The Anatomy of Story , “[to] create great characters, think of all your characters as part of a web in which each helps define the others. To put it another way, a character is often defined by who he is not.” 

Of particular importance, according to Truby, is your primary antagonist . “The relationship between the hero and the opponent is the single most important relationship in the story. In working out the struggle between these two characters, the larger issues and themes of the story unfold.”

It bears noting that the main antagonist doesn’t have to be another character (or even have evil intent). As we explain in our post on types of conflict , your hero might be up against nature, technology, society at large, or other forces that keep them from achieving what they want. Regardless of the form your story’s opposing force will take, Truby reminds us that it’s crucial to develop their morals or logic in parallel to your hero’s. 

Harry Potter and Voldemort staring hard at each other, still from the movies

“The main opponent is the one person in the world best able to attack the great weakness of the hero. And he should attack it relentlessly. The necessary opponent either forces the hero to overcome his weakness or destroys him. Put another way, the necessary opponent makes it possible for the hero to grow.” 

Think of Voldemort: an orphan and a brilliant wizard, he deeply understands Harry. He also knows his main weakness 一 the death of his parents 一 because he’s responsible for it. And he keeps putting his finger in the wound: from (indirectly) killing Sirius Black and other people he loves, to pervading his mind with fear, to literally trying to kill him. Ultimately, it’s his evil competence that forces Harry to grow into the wise and selfless man he needs to become. 

  • Who is your hero’s antagonist? 
  • What is their background? What are their motivations?
  • How do they relentlessly attack the hero?

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And other secondary characters

While the antagonist is the most important other character in the story, you can also craft your hero by sketching out secondary characters 一 other enemies or allies who contrasts with the hero in order to highlight some qualities of their personality. 

In Tarantino’s Django Unchained for example, both Django and Stephen display high intelligence and adaptability in dealing with enslavement. But their paths couldn’t be further from each other. Django uses his wit and skills to free himself and others, while Stephen embraces racism and even participates in its practices in order to gain protection and comfort for himself. The juxtaposition between Django's quest for freedom and justice and Stephen's acquiescence to the status quo of slavery sharpens Django's resolve and moral stance. 

Django and Stephen from Django Unchained

For another quick example, think of Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird : despite his flat arc , his steadfast belief in justice allows Scout to evolve from an innocent child into a girl with a strong sense of right and wrong.

As Truby explains, each secondary character can make the hero confront the central moral problem of the story, either by providing support and new perspectives or throwing obstacles at them trying to tear him down. 

  • Who are the allies your hero will need on their path to achieve their goal?
  • Which other enemies (or false enemies) can force them to grow?

Alright, after mapping the inner life of our main characters, it’s now time to look outwards.. 

An infographic showing the 5 steps of character development

Yes, the internal goals and motivations are the "heart" of a character. But that doesn't mean that their external characteristics should just be an afterthought. Sure, the fact that your protagonist has blonde hair may not impact the plot — but it might color how other characters respond to them. So, early in your character development, put a bit of time into sketching out your protagonist's physical features.

  • Appearance : What do they look like? Does their look play a role in the story?
  • Voice: What do they sound like? Does their voice match their look?

Remember that people’s looks don’t always match who they are inside. Some of the most compelling characters are baby-faced killers and brutes with a heart of gold. So try and play around with interesting contradictions.

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Physical traits don’t end with eye color and voice type. To make your brown-eyed alto stand out from similar characters in the literary canon, you’ll want to round out that physical profile with some distinctive mannerisms . 

After all, a character’s physicality takes so much more than describing their static body in isolation. It’s about how they move through space — and about how they interact with everything around them, from objects to other characters. By focusing on their mannerisms, you take a step towards showing instead of telling: big, bold movements imply confidence so you don’t have to spell it out, whereas frantically moving or fidgeting suggests a nervous nature.

To achieve this, you’ll want to reflect on how your character consciously and subconsciously responds to the world around them.

  • Communication style : How do they engage in dialogue ? How does that shape their relationships? Does their speech have any idiosyncrasies or quirks ?
  • Gait : How do they make their way around their environment, and how does this impact how they’re treated?
  • Tics and tells : What do they do when they’re nervous, uncertain of how to proceed, or telling lies?

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Reedsy’s Character Questionnaire

40 questions to help you develop memorable characters.

Some character mannerisms will be situationally dependent and can serve as a shorthand for describing a character’s emotional state. For example, Nynaeve from the Wheel of Time series tugs on her braid when she's agitated, and Bond villain Le Chiffre bleeds from his eye when under intense pressure.

James Bond villain Le Chiffre's character development includes a nervous tic

Other mannerisms, however, are part of a character’s default state — as essential to our view of them as their coloring. Just think of Draco Malfoy’s permanent sneer: it’s as much a part of him as his pale blond hair.

To make your character truly memorable, you’ll want to consider adding both these types of mannerisms to their behavioral repertoire. Anger shouldn’t look the same on everyone: someone might flare up like an inferno, going red in the face, while others turn icily polite, smiling insincerely. 

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When it comes to character development, imagination will only take you so far. Unless you’re intimately familiar with your protagonist’s world, you’ll need to work to get the details right. 

If your hero is a NASA astronaut or a veteran of the Vietnam war, there are readily available resources that will let you find out what their life might be like. You might uncover small details that are key to bringing them to life — perhaps some slang they used back in the seventies, or some unusual morning routine astronauts go through. 

The research doesn’t stop at your character’s main trade, but it can include everything else about their culture 一 their ethnicity, social class, political and spiritual views, education, interests, and language. 

Say you’re writing a British character when you’ve never set foot outside of Florida, you’ll want to do a bit of research when scripting his dialogue . For example, you could search “croydon slang” on YouTube or watch a British-made TV show set in the character’s hometown. 

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By now, you will have chiseled away at the blank marble and uncovered enough about your character to have a good sense of them. You can now work on the fine details — those subtle psychological touches — by putting them through these eight character development exercises or by getting character feedback from groups such as CharacterHub . 

If you’re not sure how your characters might be received by people from different backgrounds consider engaging the services of a sensitivity reader . Think of them as research assistants, committed to making your character development as authentic and nuanced as possible. 

Be patient with yourself. Character development is hard. It will take a little time (and a lot of refining) before you’ll create a protagonist as complex and real as a person, but when you do — you’ll know it and your readers will thank you for it. With a fully developed character by your side, your story will almost start writing itself.

2 responses

Diane says:

07/06/2018 – 09:01

Indeed Indeed Indeed. Brilliant article. Everything is simple and difficult in the same time. But with this tips it is easier to create your full tutoriage character.

16/04/2020 – 19:50

clearly the writers of star wars episodes 7, 8, and 9 never read this article.

Comments are currently closed.

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How to Write a Character Analysis

Learn to spot and describe character traits and development

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  • M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
  • B.A., History, Armstrong State University

Being mindful of subtle hints, like mood changes and reactions that might provide insight into your character's personality, can help you write a character analysis.

Describe the Character's Personality

We get to know the characters in our stories through the things they say, feel, and do. It's not as difficult as it may seem to figure out personality traits based on a character's thoughts and behaviors:

"'Say cheese!' the exasperated photographer shouted, as she pointed her camera toward the group of squirming children. Margot displayed her broadest, most convincing fake smile as she inched ever-closer to her younger cousin. Just as the photographer's finger twitched over the shutter button, Margot leaned into her young cousin's side and pinched hard. The boy let out a yelp, just as the camera clicked."

You can probably make some assumptions about Margot from the brief segment above. If you had to name three character traits to describe her, what would they be? Is she a nice, innocent girl? Doesn't seem like it from this passage. From the brief paragraph, we can assume that she's apparently sneaky, mean, and deceptive.

Determine the Character Type of Your Protagonist

You will receive clues about personality through a character's words, actions, reactions, feelings, movements, thoughts, and mannerisms. Even a character's opinions can help you learn more about the individual, and you may discover that the person fits one of these stock character types:

  • Flat character. A flat character has one or two personality traits that don't change. The flat character can play a major or a minor role.
  • Round character. A round character has many complex traits; those traits develop and change in a story. A round character seems more real than a flat character because real people are complex.
  • Stock or stereotype character. Stock characters are stereotypes, such as hot-tempered redheads, stingy businessmen, and absent-minded professors. They are often found in genre fiction (romance novels and mysteries, for example), and are usually flat characters. They are often used as a tool to move a plot forward.
  • Static character. A static character never changes. A loud, obnoxious "background" character who remains the same throughout the story is static. A boring character who is never changed by events is also static.
  • Dynamic character. Unlike a static character, a dynamic character does change and grow as the story unfolds. Dynamic characters respond to events and experience changes in attitude or outlook. The character might go through a transformation during the course of the storyline, and grow as a result of actions that took place.

Define Your Character's Role in the Work You're Analyzing

When you write a character analysis, you must define that character's role. Identifying the character type and personality traits can help you better understand what the larger role of the character is within the story. The character either plays a major role, as a central element to the story, or a minor role to support the major characters in the story.

Protagonist. The protagonist of a story is another name for the main character. The plot revolves around the protagonist. There may even be more than one main character.

  • In "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn ," Huck Finn is the protagonist.
  • In "Little Red Riding Hood," the little girl is the protagonist.

Antagonist. The antagonist is the character who represents a challenge or an obstacle to the protagonist in a story. In some stories, the antagonist is not a person but rather a larger entity or force that must be dealt with.

  • In " Little Red Riding Hood ," the wolf is the antagonist.
  • In "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," society is the antagonist. Society, with its unfair laws and rules, represents the obstacle to Huck's development as a person.

Foil. A foil is a character who provides contrast to the main character (protagonist), in order to emphasize the main character's traits. In "A Christmas Carol," the kind nephew, Fred, is the foil to nasty Ebenezer Scrooge.

Show Your Character's Development (Growth and Change)

When you are asked to write a character analysis, you will be expected to explain how a character changes and grows. Most major characters go through some kind of significant growth as a story unfolds, often a direct result of dealing with some sort of conflict . Notice, as you read, which main characters grow stronger, fall apart, develop new relationships, or discover new aspects of themselves. Make note of scenes in which character changes become apparent or the character's opinions on a topic change. Clues include phrases such as "she suddenly realized that..." or "for the first time, he..."

Understanding the journey of your character and how it relates to the story as a whole can help you better understand that character's motives and better represent the person in your overall analysis.

Article edited by  Stacy Jagodowski

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Character Analysis

Barbara P

Writing Character Analysis - Outline, Steps, and Examples

12 min read

Published on: Feb 9, 2020

Last updated on: Nov 22, 2023

Character Analysis

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Have you ever struggled to understand characters beyond what meets the eye?

Character analysis is more than just explaining the character. It focuses on a particular character in a story and analyzes their strengths and weaknesses, and the depth of their character. 

These assignments help students develop critical thinking, analytical skills, and writing skills. Analyzing characters from various backgrounds also helps encourage inclusivity.

Writing a character analysis might feel tricky, but fear not! 

In this blog, you will learn how to write a character analysis, with tips and examples.

So without further ado, let’s dive right in!

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What is Character Analysis

This type of analytical essay involves examining the traits, motivations, behaviors, and development of a character within a story or literary work. 

Its purpose is to deeply understand and interpret the complexities of a character, going beyond surface-level descriptions.

Purpose of a Character Analysis

The key objectives of character analysis are:

  • Understanding Depth: It aims to uncover the layers of a character's personality, motivations, and emotions to comprehend their role in the story comprehensively.
  • Exploring Development: It involves tracking the character's journey throughout the narrative, identifying changes in their beliefs, attitudes, or actions.
  • Identifying Motivations: Character analysis seeks to unearth the driving forces behind a character's choices, behaviors, and relationships within the story.
  • Relating to Themes: Dissecting characters helps in exploring and understanding the themes, messages, and conflicts within the story.
  • Enhancing Engagement: It encourages readers or students to engage more deeply with the narrative, fostering empathy and connection with the characters.
  • Interpreting Author's Intentions: It aids in deciphering the author's purpose in creating specific characters, adding depth to the understanding of the literary work.

How to Write Character Analysis

Writing a good character analysis goes beyond just describing how a character looks or acts. It's like peeking into their thoughts, and feelings, and how they change as the story goes on.

Here are some steps you can follow to write a compelling character analysis;

Step 1: Choose a Character

When you pick a character to study, think if they change or if they stay the same throughout. Each character type brings its significance to the story. 

When analyzing characters, knowing their type helps in understanding their roles, motivations, and impact on the narrative.

Here are different types of characters you can encounter:

Step 2: Gather Information

Gathering information is crucial for character analysis because it helps us understand the character better. By knowing about their physical attributes, personality traits, and what they do in the story to move the plot, we can identify the character better. 

Look at the example of Harry Potter, the protagonist in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series:

Step 3: Outline Your Analysis

Create a structured plan for your character analysis essay. Begin with an engaging introduction, introducing the character and their significance. 

Proceed to discuss the character's development throughout the story and their interactions with other characters in the story. 

Here is a basic outline structure you can follow for your essay:

Here is a template you can look at to understand the structure and flow of the analysis essay:

Character Analysis Template

Step 4: Support with Evidence

While analyzing characters, substantiate your observations with evidence from the text. 

Quotes, descriptions, or scenes that depict the character's actions or character relationships provide strong evidence for your analysis.

Let’s take a look at the example below of a character analysis of Hamlet:

Step 5: Analyze, Don't Summarize

Remember, your goal is to analyze the character, not summarize the plot. Focus on interpreting their actions, decisions, and the types of characters they represent. 

Let’s take a look at the example of character analysis of ‘Waiting for Godot’:

Step 6: Incorporate Critical Perspectives 

Consider different interpretations of the character. Acknowledge how their character development influences the story's themes and the author's intentions for including them.

The character analysis of Joseph Andrews is a great example of understanding this factor:

Step 7: Write Your Character Analysis

Craft your analysis into a structured and coherent essay. Ensure your analysis contributes to a broader literary analysis of the work. 

Here are some tips to help you:

  • Avoid summarizing the plot extensively. Concentrate on interpreting the character's traits, actions, and their significance within the story.
  • Contextualize your analysis within the broader themes or messages of the literary work.

Step 8: Conclusion

Conclude your analysis by summarizing the character's evolution, the impact of their character traits on the story, and their significance to the overall narrative.

Let’s take a look at the conclusion in the character analysis of Kurtz in Heart of Darkness:

Step 9 - Proofread and Refine

Though conclusions mark the end of an essay, it is considered a good practice to proofread. This step ensures the quality and readability of your essay. 

Here are some tips to help you proofread and refine:

  • Look for unclear or difficult sentences that might confuse the reader.
  • Double-check formatting guidelines, citation styles, and bibliography entries if applicable. 
  • Correct any grammatical errors, punctuation mistakes, or spelling issues. 
  • Check that the quotes or scenes you've mentioned actually support your ideas.

Character Analysis Example

Examples of character analyses offer valuable insights into structuring an essay. They help to demonstrate how to organize thoughts systematically, from the introduction to the conclusion:

Let’s take a look at the character analysis of Oedipus Rex:

Let’s take a look at some more examples:

Character Analysis of Antigone

Mr. Birling's Character Analysis

The Crucible Character Analysis

Lady Macbeth Character Analysis

Jay Gatsby Character Analysis

Othello Character Analysis

Okonkwo Character Analysis

John Proctor Character Analysis

Tips for Writing a Character Analysis

Here are some tips that can help you improve your analysis:

  • Focus on Subtleties: Pay attention to subtle character traits, gestures, or speech patterns that reveal deeper insights into the character's personality.
  • Contextual Analysis: Consider the character within the context of their environment, era, or social background to understand how these factors shape their actions and beliefs.
  • Contrast and Compare: Compare the character with others in the story to highlight unique attributes or to showcase how they contrast with different personalities.
  • Symbolism and Imagery: Explore any symbolic elements or imagery associated with the character, as these can often convey deeper meanings or themes.
  • Evolution over Time: Analyze how the character evolves or changes throughout the narrative, focusing on pivotal moments that drive their development.
  • Impact on Plot Development: Highlight the character's role in advancing the story, influencing other characters, or triggering significant events.
  • Narrative Perspective: Consider how the character's portrayal might differ based on the narrator's perspective or point of view.

So, there you have it! 

By now you must have gotten an idea of how to write a character analysis. 

By following these steps and tips, you'll grasp how to craft a thorough character analysis. You'll be able to understand and explain the complexities of the character effectively. 

However, if you need help with it, then working with a professional essay writing service like MyPerfectWords.com, will save you time and help you learn better.

Barbara P (Literature, Marketing)

Dr. Barbara is a highly experienced writer and author who holds a Ph.D. degree in public health from an Ivy League school. She has worked in the medical field for many years, conducting extensive research on various health topics. Her writing has been featured in several top-tier publications.

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Home / Book Writing / 17 Character Development Exercises for Writers

17 Character Development Exercises for Writers

Character development exercises are short forms of deliberate practice to improve your writing skills and round out your characters.

They are typically not used in the final novel, but are little extras that help you understand the personalities that you are writing.

Because for some of us, nailing down that perfect character can be hard. And to help with that, we’ve assembled 17 different exercises to improve your characters.

  • Why character exercises are important
  • A list of 17 different exercises that you can implement today
  • Examples and advice to improve your characters

Table of contents

  • Why Are Character Development Exercises Important?
  • Exercise #1: Write a FULL Description
  • Exercise #2: Play Dress Up
  • Exercise #3: Write a Description Scene Through the Character’s Eyes
  • Exercise #4: Practice Showing Emotion
  • Exercise #5: Write a “Slice of Life” Episode
  • Exercise #6: Write Other People Gossiping About Your Character
  • Exercise #7: Write a Progression Short Story
  • Exercise #8: Draw the Character
  • Exercise #9: Create a Character Profile
  • Exercise #10: Conduct a Character Interview
  • Exercise #11: Play the “Why” Game
  • Exercise #12: Create a Character Based on Someone You Know
  • Exercise #13: Imagine What Happens Before and After the Novel
  • Exercise #14: Put Them in Horrible Situations (Muahahahahah)
  • Exercise #15: Create a Timeline
  • Exercise #16: Do a Little Fan-fiction
  • Exercise #17: Use Character Writing Prompts

So why use a character development exercise in the first place?

This may be a valid question, especially for authors like myself, who just want to dive into the writing and let the characters unfold as I write.

But honestly, a little work up front can save you a load of headache afterward.

Running through a handful of these exercises will help you to:

  • Understand your character’s emotions
  • Give you practice writing in their voice and from their point of view
  • Find out what sets them apart from other characters
  • Flesh them out to create round and dynamic characters
  • Establish the relationship between your characters and the setting, or other characters
  • Deliberate practice of the process to create complex and well-written characters

In short, it’s a great way to deliberately practice writing and reduces the need to go back and do extensive revisions on your characters.

That said, this might not be the best thing to do if you’re a pantser and just want to dive in and discover your characters along the way. But it can be a great tool in your author tool belt.

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So without further ado, here are 17 of our best picks for character development exercises. 

Exercise #1 : Write a FULL Description

When it comes to writing characters, most of us focus on the facial features, things like hair color, eye color, etc.

A great way to begin getting to know your character is to do a full description of them. In a book, we might not do this to the extent you might in a creative writing exercise, which is why it’s good to practice here.

Here are some things to consider: 

  • Skin/hair/eye color
  • Do they have any warts or moles?
  • What is their hair style?
  • What is their build?
  • Do they have any scars, tattoos, etc.
  • What is their general complexion. Is their skin smooth and silky, rough and calloused, or even bruised and battered?
  • What default facial expression do they have?
  • What does he/she smell like?

Exercise #2 : Play Dress Up

What we choose to wear says a lot about a person. Someone wearing an extravagant French-style outfit from the 18th century will give you a completely different impression than a cut business suit from the 21st century.

The problem is that most authors, when they’re writing about their characters, often forget to add a lot of detail about the clothes they are wearing. It’s easy to see these things in your mind and forget that your readers don’t see what you see. They see what you write.

One way to help overcome this oversight is to continue the exercise above, but focus on clothing.

And don’t just focus on any one type, because your protagonist will most likely use several types of clothing throughout the course of your novel. Here are just some examples:

  • Travel clothing
  • Clothes for a night on the town
  • Clothes for wilderness survival
  • Combat wear

Exercise #3 : Write a Description Scene Through the Character’s Eyes

Ideally, every character should experience the same thing differently, depending on their background, their wants and desires, and their tastes.

Additionally, great prose is often written from the perspective of the character making the observation.

For example, let’s say you have two people, one who has grown up in a desert their whole life, where water is scarce, and the other who grew up in a place where water was plentiful. 

Imagine these two people on a hot day, observing a third person splashing water on their face. If you’re writing from the first character’s perspective, you could describe this as “and the man took a handful of water and wasted it on his face.” The second person might describe it this way, “I watched as the man poured the cool liquid and splashed it all over his face. I wish I were him right now.”

Do you see the difference there? In one, the character sees using water in one way as a waste, and for the other, it’s something to be sought after. 

Exercise #4 : Practice Showing Emotion

We’ve all heard the adage to “show, don’t tell,” but what does this really look like for most characters?

This is something that really only comes with practice. Once you’ve done it enough times, you’ll recognize instances where you’re saying things like “he felt hungry,” and can replace them with something like “He winced and put a hand to his stomach as it growled, and he swallowed hard.”

Character emotion is one of these areas where showing rather than telling can really enhance your novel.

Exercise #5 : Write a “Slice of Life” Episode

There are a lot of scenes in a book, and most of them have a purpose. That said, there are many scenes that probably occur in that character’s life, but that we don’t talk about because they’re not important for the story.

However, you as the author should have an idea of what happens in these less important moments.

Some examples of a “slice of life” episode might include:

  • Having dinner with family
  • Going to the bathroom
  • The morning routine
  • A conversation with a co-worker
  • Late-night conversations with a spouse
  • Cooking a meal
  • Going on vacation
  • Playing with their kids
  • Coming home a little too drunk
  • Visiting a museum

Exercise #6 : Write Other People Gossiping About Your Character

Very often, we learn more from others about ourselves that we might not have known on our own. Others can provide unique perspectives, and in some cases expose huge biases (on both sides).

For example, a proud character might not realize that he/she is proud, but it’s easy for an outside observer to spot this.

Exercise #7 : Write a Progression Short Story

In real life, people change a lot, and characters should change in stories too (most of the time). 

A great way to show this is to write a short story that examines the character at different parts of her/his life. You can focus on key moments in their life, but you could also just follow exercise #5 and focus on a few more everyday events.

The purpose of this exercise is to show how that person may have changed. Do they view the world differently as a working adult, vs as a teenager? A child? An elderly person?

What about before or after experiencing some kind of trauma?

Exercise #8 : Draw the Character

I’ll be honest, I’m not an artist. But I am a visual person, and getting some solid visuals of the character can be a huge boost in helping me understand them.

If you’re like me and really have no design skills , then finding a few photos is fine.

I’d recommend several photos though, since one might not be enough. You could have some for their face and general appearance, one for their clothes and how they look, etc.

If you know a program like Photoshop, you could even crop these together to get an even better sense of what you character looks like.

This is a great exercise for understanding the feel of a character, which is often harder to put into words.

Exercise #9 : Create a Character Profile

Imagine you work for the FBI, and you have to draft up a dossier about your character. What might that look like?

Fortunately, we’ve done a whole article about this topic, so you should definitely check that out, and also don’t forget to pick up our character profile template, which can easily help you through this process.

If you want a thorough process to identify the character’s appearance, personality, background, and more, this is the way to go. 

The best aspects to focus on are the flaws, motivations, and fears of your character. What prompts them to action? Understanding these things will help you get at the core of your character’s personality traits.

Exercise #10 : Conduct a Character Interview

Imagine you sat in a darkened room, across the table from you is your character. You can ask them anything, they won’t be offended, and they will understand the question.

What do you ask them about?

Writing a character interview is almost like writing yourself into a short story where you get to personally meet your character and ask them questions.

This is huge for helping you understand the character’s voice, but also a good strategy for building solid character backstory and character traits.

To help, we’ve already assembled over 200 character development questions that can aid you in this process.

Exercise #11 : Play the “Why” Game

This goes along with the idea of an interview, but sometimes in order to dig really deep into the motivations of your character, you’ve got to ask why.

Is your character aggressive? Ask them why. 

From there you might find out that his mother shouted at him as a kid, and he saw his parents fight a lot. Ask why.

You might learn that his father had a drinking problem and it meant that his mother took it out on him. Ask why.

From there, it might come out that his father had lost a lot of money in a business deal, leading him to turn to drink.

I hope you get the idea. The more you ask why, the more you’ll dig deeper into your character’s past, and the better you will understand them.

Exercise #12 : Create a Character Based on Someone You Know

This can be a little dangerous, because to be honest, most of the people we know are not that interesting. And we also want to avoid lawsuits for defamation if the comparison is too obvious.

That said, the people we know can be a huge inspiration to pick and choose ideas to incorporate into your characters.

For example, my own father and uncle have a really fun way of talking to each other. They’re always ribbing on each other and calling eachother weird, made-up names. You can tell that they love each other, but it’s an uncommon way of showing it.

This might make a good relationship between two people in a book.

Exercise #13 : Imagine What Happens Before and After the Novel

The writer is mostly concerned with what happens during the plot of her novel. But if written well, a character will feel like they exist long before and long after the pages of the book.

So it’s a good idea to try dreaming up what happens to these characters in that time. 

It can be dramatic, or it can be mundane. Impactful, or ordinary. It doesn’t matter much. All that matters is that you have a past and future in mind for that character (unless you plan to kill them off of course).

And who knows, you might even come up with some good ideas for other books involving those characters.

Exercise #14 : Put Them in Horrible Situations (Muahahahahah)

I’ve heard it said that you should basically put your characters through hell in a story, and never let up.

While this is good advice, it’s not always practical. That said, putting your characters through the meat-grinder is a great way to learn how they react to conflict.

These scenarios don’t have to be trials you will actually use in your novel. These are just different ways to put your character in pain and see how they react (I know I sound like a very unethical scientist, don't @ me).

Here are some possibilities:

  • The loss of a loved one
  • A diagnosis of cancer
  • The loss of a limb
  • Getting tortured
  • Breaking up with the love of their life
  • Losing everything they own
  • Being betrayed by a friend

Exercise #15 : Create a Timeline

Sometimes it’s hard to keep every part of a character’s life straight. That’s where a timeline can be helpful.

A timeline is a simple list of events in the character’s life, though they can get more complex and interesting, and you can even put some design skills to work if you want.

But timelines only have to be a simple list of events. They can include events from before their birth to their death, or they can be focused on a specific period of their life.

It will depend on the character and the story you will want to tell.

Exercise #16 : Do a Little Fan-fiction

When we’re writing a story, we might not have a full grasp on it yet, and that’s where writing fan fiction can help.

Imagine your character interacting with characters from a story you already know? Imagine the ultimate crossover between your story and your favorite franchise.

For example, what Hogwarts house would your character belong in? What might it look like when he/she is sorted and interacts with other characters in that house or other characters from the Harry Potter books.

It’s a great way to lean on characters you already know, to help unveil more about the characters you’re trying to discover.

Exercise #17 : Use Character Writing Prompts

There are a bunch of character-related creative writing prompts out there, and many of them can be quite helpful in getting your brain to think outside of the box.

In theory, we could have a list much longer than 17 if we wanted to include more of these prompts, but that would end up being too much.

Instead, I recommend this post , or checking out our list of character questions to give you ideas.

Final Thoughts on Character Development Exercises

If you’ve made it far, first of all, well done.

Second of all, you might be a little overwhelmed, but don’t worry. This list is not meant to be a checklist for everything you should do to expand on your characters.

Instead, this is a handful of ideas that you can take (or leave) and use them to better understand your characters.

As you apply these exercises, I can pretty much guarantee that you will grow as a writer, become more familiar with your characters, and increase your chances of having a great dynamic character in your books.

Let us know how it goes!

Jason Hamilton

When I’m not sipping tea with princesses or lightsaber dueling with little Jedi, I’m a book marketing nut. Having consulted multiple publishing companies and NYT best-selling authors, I created Kindlepreneur to help authors sell more books. I’ve even been called “The Kindlepreneur” by Amazon publicly, and I’m here to help you with your author journey.

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Essay on Character Development

Students are often asked to write an essay on Character Development in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Character Development

What is character development.

Character development is the process where a person in a story changes over time. It’s like watching a plant grow. Just as a seed turns into a flower, a character in a book or movie starts one way and becomes someone new by the end.

Why Characters Change

Characters change for many reasons. They might face a big problem, meet new friends, or go on an adventure. These experiences are like lessons that teach them to be braver, kinder, or smarter.

Types of Changes

Some characters change a little, while others change a lot. Small changes might be learning a new skill. Big changes are like going from selfish to sharing.

Importance in Stories

Stories need character development to be interesting. Without change, stories would be boring. We enjoy seeing characters grow and become better, just like we want to improve ourselves.

250 Words Essay on Character Development

Character development is the way a person in a story changes over time. It’s like watching a friend grow up and become different. In books, movies, or plays, characters start with certain traits, and as the story goes on, they learn lessons that make them change.

Characters change for many reasons. They might face a big problem or make a new friend who shows them a different way to think. Imagine if you were afraid of the dark but then you had to spend a night in a tent. The next morning, you might not be afraid anymore. That’s how characters develop.

Some characters change a little, while others change a lot. A shy girl might become just a bit more confident, or a mean boy might turn into a kind person. These changes make the story interesting because we get to see how the characters grow.

How We See Change

We notice change in characters by what they say, what they do, and what others say about them. For example, if a girl shares her lunch with someone who doesn’t have any, we can tell she’s kind and caring.

Why It Matters

Character development is important because it makes stories feel real. We like to see characters learn and become better, just like we do in real life. It helps us understand that everyone can change and grow no matter where they start.

500 Words Essay on Character Development

Character development is the way a person in a story changes over time. Imagine you are reading a book or watching a movie. The people you read about or see on the screen are called characters. Just like real people, these characters can grow, learn, and become different as their stories go on. This change is what we call character development.

Think about when you try something new or face a tough problem. You might learn a lesson or become braver. Characters in stories face challenges too. They might have to defeat a dragon, solve a mystery, or make a new friend. As they try to overcome these challenges, they learn new things. This helps them to change. For example, a character who is shy at the beginning of a story might become more confident after making a new friend.

Types of Character Development

There are many ways characters can change. Sometimes, they become better people. This is called positive development. Other times, they might make bad choices and become villains, which is negative development. Characters can also become more complicated, showing both good and bad sides. This makes them more like real people, because everyone has both strengths and weaknesses.

How Writers Show Development

Writers have tricks to show how a character changes. They make characters say and do things that show their personality. They also put characters in situations where they have to make hard choices. How a character acts in these moments tells us a lot about them. Another trick is to show how other characters react to them. If people start treating a character differently, it might be because the character has changed.

Examples in Stories

You can see character development in many stories. In “Harry Potter,” Harry starts as a boy who doesn’t know he’s a wizard. By the end, he’s brave and knows a lot about magic and friendship. In “The Lion King,” Simba grows from a young lion into a wise king. These changes make the stories more interesting and help us learn lessons from the characters.

Why Character Development Matters

When characters change, it makes stories more exciting and real. We can see ourselves in the characters and learn from their mistakes and victories. It’s like having a friend who tells you about their adventures and the lessons they’ve learned. This can help us think about our own lives and how we want to grow and change.

Character development is a big part of what makes stories fun to read or watch. It’s about how characters change from the start to the end of a story. They might become braver, kinder, or learn something important. This change makes them feel like real people, and it can teach us a lot about life. Next time you read a book or watch a movie, try to spot how the characters change. It will make the story even more interesting!

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

  • Essay on Charity
  • Essay on Chartered Accountant
  • Essay on Cheating In A Relationship

Apart from these, you can look at all the essays by clicking here .

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Reading and Writing Haven; English Teaching Ideas

7 Good Examples of Emotional Character Development – with Mentor Texts!

Looking to teach students about how character development impacts theme? First, you’ll need to model with some specific, high-interest examples. Students need to know what character development looks like from an author’s craft standpoint as well as what it feels like from a reader’s perspective. One of my favorite places to begin when it comes to character development is with picture books!

There are different types of characters in a story. I like to introduce or review these with students using an anchor chart . Students fill out a graphic organizer or add notes to their reader’s notebook as we discuss the types.

  • Flat characters are those that readers have little information about.
  • Round characters are ones the author develops more completely. We often feel we know them like a friend. These characters tend to have major roles in the text.
  • Static characters stay the same. These are often minor character or antagonists.
  • Dynamic characters change internally from beginning to the end. This change is typically instigated by dialogue, plot, and setting. Dynamic characters are complex and contribute to the overall theme development, learning an important lesson as they go.
  • Antagonists are the force that opposes the protagonist. Students do not always understand that an antagonist is not always a person. Sometimes it’s a concept, like greed or a social issue, like poverty.
  • Protagonists are the main character(s) in a text. They drive the storyline and play the leading role. Students often think protagonists are “good” and antagonists are the “bad guys,” but that isn’t always the case.

In their notes, students record information about each type of character as well as an example or two that we discuss.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT EXAMPLES

Once we have common understandings of types of characters, we explore picture book examples. I love sharing picture books with students! As a read aloud, you can pause and ask thought provoking questions at key points in the story.  Why did the character say or do that? What do you think the character is thinking right now? How might that action or that dialogue impact the character internally?

Of course, picture books can also be used in learning stations or with small groups of students.

It can be time-consuming to find good examples of emotional character development in picture books. So, I did some of the grunt work for you! Here is a list of picture books with solid examples of emotional character development.

Baditude by Julia Cook

Meet Noodle. Sometimes, his life just stinks. Like today. Everything is extra stinky. Homework stinks. Yard work stinks. Family pictures stink. Practice stinks. Imagine an updated version of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

In Baditude , Noodle learns that his bad attitude impacts his mood as well as the people around him negatively. Even his friends begin to avoid him! Luckily, Noodle is surrounded by some influential characters who help him identify the detrimental effects of his bad attitude. By the end of the book, Noodle learns language strategies like turning “I have to” into “I get to” and how the power of a positive perspective will help him turn his “baditude” into gratitude.

Using this book, students will see how wise words and patient encouragement from Noodle’s teacher and parent lead him to greater perspective and more gratitude as his emotional maturity develops.

Taste Your Words is a picture book that models how character development can come in the form of more kindness #Kindness #PictureBooks #ELA

Taste Your Words by Bonnie Clark

In  Taste Your Words ,  Bonnie Clark makes the concept of kindness tangible with the repeated phrase, “taste your words.” The main character, Amera, runs into issues with her best friend, and they call each other names. Visibly upset, Amera spills the beans to her mother who advises, “That must have tasted yucky. Make sure to taste your words before you let them out of your mouth.”

As the book progresses, Amera has more opportunities to reflect on her mom’s advice. When her little brother takes her coloring supplies, she snaps at him. Feeling guilty, she tastes lemons and dirt. Later, she tells her mother she doesn’t want to apologize to her brother or help with dinner, which tastes like spoiled milk.

With perseverance and consistent reprimands from her mother, Amera finally has tasted enough bad words to realize she doesn’t like the way they make her feel. In the end, Amera utters the yummiest words she had tasted all day: “I love you.” And that? It tastes like chocolate.

Through this book, readers will see that characters can grow in kindness from the beginning of the story to the end once they realize the impact their hurtful words have on others. And that is a lesson we all need to learn!

Compassion is an example of character development. Teach students about it using this picture book! #PictureBooks #MiddleSchoolELA

The Sour Grape by Jory John and Pete Oswald

In  The Sour Grape , readers follow a nameless green grape who likes to hold grudges against everyone he knows. Sour grape is beyond offendable, living life with furrowed brows and a chip on his shoulder. Of course, Sour grape wasn’t always bitter. As a young grape on a vine, he was very sweet and lovable. His days were full of humor, goodwill, and warmth.

One day, Sour grape invites everyone to his birthday party, but unfortunately, no one shows up. This tragic day sends Sour grape on a downward spiral toward a short, snappy lifestyle. As he says himself, “After that, my personality became something else entirely….Finally, I became a sour grape.”

Eventually, Sour grape’s friend Lenny gives him a dose of his own grouchy medicine, leaving him to sit in nature, pondering the beauty that surrounds him. As he reflects on his own feelings spurred on by Lenny’s tartness, he reconsiders his own demeanor and how his lack of compassion impacts others. Slowly, Sour grape realizes how draining it is to waste energy holding grudges when he could just acknowledge his hurt, listen to the offender, and work things out.

With this picture book, students will learn characters can develop internally when they are confronted with their own character flaw. After all, everyone needs a good long look in the mirror from time to time.

The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi

The Name Jar is a beautiful, culturally rich story about Unhei (Yoon-hye), a new student. Unhei travels from Korea to a new country, a new town, and a new school, which prompts a lot of insecurity around social acceptance. Expectedly, Unhei wants to make friends and belong in her new school, but she is worried people will make fun of her name.

So, she tells her classmates she hasn’t chosen a name yet. Kindly, they begin a name jar for her, filling it with lots of American names, like Miranda, Stella, and Park. As the story progresses, Unhei gets encouragement and confidence from her grandmother who still lives in Korea and a friendly classmate who stumbles upon her real name by chance.

Realizing her identity is unique and special to her, Unhei summons the courage to finally introduce her herself to her new classmates. Humbly, she admits, “I liked the beautiful names and funny names you thought of for me…but I realized that I liked my name best, so I chose it again. Korean names mean something. Unhei means grace .”

The class begins to bond over the symbolism and sentimental aspects of their names, and Unhei realizes that by facing her fears and embracing her identity, she makes friends in the truest of ways. This book is wonderful for teaching how friendship and courage are common examples of character development in terms of identity.

writing essay about character development

Integrity by Julia Cook

Cora June does not like cleaning her room. Or taking spelling tests. That’s why she takes shortcuts. When Cora June’s mom asks her to clean her room, she shoves everything in random places to hide the mess. Of course, Cora’s mom asks her if the job is done, and Cora replies, “Yep, I put everything where it goes.”

Without skipping a beat, Cora June’s mom insightfully questions, “What about your integrity? Did you put that away, too?” A similar conversation emerges between Cora June and her teacher after Cora writes her spelling words on the bottom of her shoe to cheat during a test.

Integrity by Julia Cook does a wonderful job of unfolding the natural consequences that fall on our heads (literally, for Cora June) when we let our integrity slide. Toward the end of the book, Cora June’s mom says, “Integrity isn’t something you hold. It’s who you are inside. What are you doing when nobody’s looking? Is there something you’re trying to hide?” Cora’s mother encourages her to be a leader, and great leaders have integrity.

This book can be powerful for helping students reflect on who they see staring back at them in the mirror. Integrity is a good mentor text because it illustrates how choices characters make and reflections about the effects of those choices shape who they ultimately become and whether they like that version of themselves.

Those Shoes is an excellent picture book for teaching the topic of empathy #Empathy #ChildrensBooks

Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts

I have dreams about those shoes. Black high-tops. Two white stripes.

“Grandma, I want them.”

“There’s no room for ‘want’ around here — just need,” Grandma says. “And what you  need are new boots for winter.”

All Jeremy wants are the cool black high-tops all of his classmates are wearing instead of his dirty old things that are falling apart. To add insult to injury, poor Jeremy is the ridicule of his class after his counselor gives him a free replacement pair of shoes with dinosaurs on the sides.

As this touching story unfolds, readers’ hearts will ache for Jeremy as what he wants and what he feels he needs to fit in are just out of his reach. But, by the end of the powerful narrative, Jeremy realizes that the things he already has (warm boots, a loving grandmother, and a good friend) are worth more than the things he wants.

Those Shoes is ideal for teaching about character development as it relates to empathy. One valuable lesson is that, in part, growing up means realizing that material things do not bring true happiness. Someone will always have something newer, something more expensive, or something cooler. When it feels like life hands you lemons, it helps to identify the reality of those situations. Being content with what we already have will lead to greater peace, and having compassion to help those in need is is one of the greatest kinds of fulfillment.

writing essay about character development

I Really Want to Win by Simon Philip

Everyone likes to win. But at what cost? The main character in I Really Want to Win is a nameless little girl who gets to have fun in a Sports Day full of events like a spelling bee, a dancing contest, and hide and seek. A serious competitor, she has her sights set on the gold medal for every event.

Unfortunately, things do not quite pan out the way the main character hopes. Event after event, she does not win, and her reaction is natural — jealousy. As she watches her biggest competitor who wins everything lose gracefully in the painting contest, she realizes kindness is important, even in sports. “You cannot always be ahead. Enjoy the things you love instead!”

Following this pep talk, the main character is inspired to focus on what she loves most…baking! She tries with all her heart to make her favorite cake, and she has a fantastic time doing it. When her friend encourages to enter a bake off, she realizes everyone deserves to win. Having changed her perspective from winning to enjoying herself, she wins, although she has prepared herself to be at peace with the possibility of losing.

This book is a short, rhyming story with beautiful illustrations and many opportunities to talk about character development through sportsmanship and teamwork. In a team, we all play a valuable role! But, if everyone’s role was the same, we would be an incredibly lopsided team.

Final Thoughts

So! There are seven children’s books to use as mentor texts when teaching about character development. These books are beautifully written and perfect anchor texts you can refer back to as students explore emotional character development in their own texts. Middle and high school classes can discuss multiple themes and topics with each of these titles.

Picture books help to create a strong classroom community and are natural ways to embed social emotional learning into a fast-paced environment. I hope these titles help you to build relationships and emotional connections with your students while staying rooted in reading literature standards.

*Please Note:  This post contains affiliate links. This means that if you click through to purchase any of the books listed in this post, I will make a small commission off of the sale at no extra cost to you. This commission allows me to continue producing fresh content for my readers. Thank you for your support.

7 picture books with high-quality examples of emotional character development #LiteraryAnalysis #CharacterDevelopment #MiddleSchoolELA

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Ideas for using mentor sentences meaningfully #mentorsentences #highschoolela

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  1. Writing a Character Analysis Essay

    1. Start with the Simple Details. You can start a character analysis by providing a simple, clear description of who your character is. Look at some basic identity traits such as: Age Gender Race (if relevant) Social class (if relevant) Protagonist or Antagonist?

  2. How to Write a Character Analysis: Outline, Examples

    Written by John S. February 15, 2023 11 min read Share the article A character analysis essay is a challenging type of essay students usually write for literature or English courses. In this article, we will explain the definition of character analysis and how to approach it.

  3. 47 Character Development Prompts To Build Out Your Story

    The best way to get to know the people you've created is to use character development writing prompts. We've created a list of 47 to put each of your key characters to the test. Choose your own adventures for them. And see what your characters reveal about themselves. Actions speak louder than words. But you'll need both. What's In This Post:

  4. Character Development Definition and Examples

    Character development is the process of creating fictional characters with the same depth and complexity as real-life human beings. Throughout the story writing process, the author will develop any number of character traits to fully flesh out the people that populate their stories. Good character development often includes the following elements:

  5. How to Write a Character Development Essay

    Character development essays provide detailed descriptions and predictions about characters from fictional works. The purpose of an essay of this kind is to encourage readers to briefly inhabit the world of a character so that he or she might understand that character's motivation and perspective.

  6. How to Write a Character Analysis Essay: Examples & Outline

    A character analysis essay is an assignment where you evaluate a character's traits, behaviors, and motivations. It requires critical thinking and attention to detail. Unlike descriptions, analyses focus on a character's personality and internal drives. It explains how those factors shape the narrated events.

  7. Character Development: How to Create Fan-Favorite Characters ...

    In fiction, character development is the process of writing a character who feels as complex and real as a person. This means sketching the character's inner world 一 their wants and needs, strengths and weaknesses 一 as well as their outer appearance and behavior.

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    Introduction: Introduce the character you are writing about using a good hook to get your reader curious. Body: In this section, use a few paragraphs to describe the character's traits, their role, and the transformation they undergo (you could write one paragraph for each of the sections outlined above). Conclusion: Summarize your essay in ...

  9. How to Write a Character Analysis

    When you write a character analysis, you must define that character's role. Identifying the character type and personality traits can help you better understand what the larger role of the character is within the story. The character either plays a major role, as a central element to the story, or a minor role to support the major characters in ...

  10. How to Write a Character Analysis Essay: A Comprehensive Guide

    Step 1: Choose Your Individual for Analysis. Character evaluation is the first step to a great analysis. The role or persona you choose for your analysis is crucial to its success. Primary characters are sometimes easier to write since they have well-defined personalities, and their motivations may be evident.

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  12. How to Write a Character Analysis

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  16. Character Development: 12-Step Guide For Writers

    Character development is the process and execution of creating a fully rounded, complex, and lifelike character within your fictional writing with the purpose of making readers invested in them and their life or journey. Think of character development like the paper of your book.

  17. Character Development: 7-Step Guide for Writers

    1. Determine your character's roles and goals Before exploring how to develop a character, determine your character's role in your story. It will help you to create a character arc that hits the right notes with your readers. When it comes to etching out a character's role, think about how it's going to impact the plot.

  18. What Are Some Good Examples Of Character Development In Literature

    Read on for some good examples of good character development. 1. Mr Darcy - Pride and Prejudice. Let's start with one of Jane Austen's most famous leading men, Mr Darcy. We see him primarily from the perspective of Elizabeth Bennet, who doesn't exactly view him as her potential future husband after their first meeting.

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  21. Essay on Character Development

    Students are often asked to write an essay on Character Development in their schools and colleges. And if you're also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic. Let's take a look… 100 Words Essay on Character Development What is Character Development?

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  23. 7 Good Examples of Emotional Character Development

    In Taste Your Words, Bonnie Clark makes the concept of kindness tangible with the repeated phrase, "taste your words.". The main character, Amera, runs into issues with her best friend, and they call each other names. Visibly upset, Amera spills the beans to her mother who advises, "That must have tasted yucky.

  24. PDF Strategies for Essay Writing

    understand why it's worth writing that essay. A strong thesis will be arguable rather than descriptive, and it will be the right scope for the essay you are writing. If your thesis is descriptive, then you will not need to convince your readers of anything—you will be naming or summarizing something your readers can already see for themselves.