In each book you pick up, you will either love the characters or feel disappointed that the characters were undeveloped or were not multifaceted.

As writers, we want to avoid this. Let’s cover a few ways to improve your character development to bring your readers back for every word of the story.

We need compelling characters to add depth and connection to our stories. When a character is complex, with more facets of their lives covered, it makes the characters more relatable, connects them emotionally, and draws your readers into your stories.

The character’s name is one important piece in developing the character. A name can allude to the character’s personality, time era, or culture. His name can also give insight into his parents’ personality or desires for their child. A name can also have some importance in the character’s background. With some cultures not picking their kids’ names until after they have seen some of their personalities, name choice can be critical for some. Others, we want them to sound cool or lead into the nickname we want our character to hold throughout our stories.

External and internal character motivations play a significant factor in your story. If your character had a major life event in their childhood, you’d better believe that it will affect how they relate to the world as they grow up. It also will influence the jobs they pick, the people they are attracted to, and how they respond to situations.

The external motivation is also the bones of the story. What are they trying to achieve in the story? All the things that happen to your characters directly affect this achievement. Will they get to the boat before it sails away? This is why the audience reads the story.

But-

Internal motivations are the reason why we invest in the story. The reason why that character wants to be on that boat is what weaves into every answer, reaction, and desire and is the key to understanding that character.

If your character wants to be a concert pianist, what will that achievement mean to them, and why is that important?

Including the external and internal motivations, your reader will be drawn in to see if they will accomplish and overcome the negative comments their father gave them as a child when they were practicing, confirming that they have what it takes to be a great pianist.

What makes your character break? What gives them strength? These components drive what your character will and won’t do. It also makes them more relatable. No person on earth, outside of Jesus, is perfect. We all have things that make us cringe. Play these up in your story. Give your character victory or even loss when dealing with the things that give them strength and make them weak. Examples of strengths include bravery, learning quickly, and seeing things others miss. Examples of weaknesses could be clumsy, shy, and easily angered. Examples could be scenarios, phobias, or people from their youth. Fears can be both big and small, but they fuel–even sometimes rule–the character’s life and decisions.

Morals. What standard or code does your character hold to? Did they develop this code, or was it something they learned?  Everyone views the world differently, which must be evident in our characters. Different backgrounds, experiences, people, and cultures will affect how a person sees and reacts to the world; the same must be true for our characters.

How about the way the characters talk and their? These things can give even more insight into who they are, where they grew up and traveled, and their value of others. 

There are two parts to good dialogue. The first is writing the character’s personality into the dialogue; this means integrating both vocabulary and tone characteristics of the character. Someone who feels self-important might use bigger words and talk down to others. Meanwhile, someone shy may be more soft-spoken and more apt not to say anything.

The second part of good dialogue is body language; how the character stands as he speaks, what he does with his hands, and his facial reactions are all good aspects to include. If a character has a habit of doing something such as raising his eyebrow when certain things are said or done, or someone who tends to talk with their hands, always waving them around to emphasize his points. Such tendencies can make characters more memorable; the reader remembers them because they are so different from the other characters in the story.

Your character arc should influence how you write your character. The plot hasn’t been developed enough if your hero or heroine doesn’t change throughout the story. Going through the life events described in a story is meant to change the characters and move them closer to who they need to be. It will also disappoint your audience to see the punk kid never growing and developing responsibility by the end of the story. 

All of these points have to be included in your character. Remember, like normal people, we grow during trials. It won’t be easy to make your character grow if you don’t include all the different pieces. 

Think of building your character like building a cake. If you don’t add sugar, spices, and icing, that cake will taste bland. Your character will read dull if you don’t include what makes them scared, weak, happy, their moral code, and even their external and internal motivation. You can round it all up by researching names and determining if your character will have traits that go with their name.

Action step: Dissect your character. Did you leave out one of these pieces of your character cake? If so, rewrite your story in a way that adds depth and all pieces to the character mixture.