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LIVE Workshop: Character Development

LIVE Workshop: Character Development

February 9, 2019 Conference 2019, Live 2019 23 Comments

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Tags: character developmentworkshopwriting craft
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Carey Blankenship
Carey Blankenship
2 years ago

Do you have a set of questions you recommend we ask our characters to help us figure them out? What questions can we ask ourselves to give them the best character development?

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Lindsay Leggett
Lindsay Leggett
Reply to  Carey Blankenship
2 years ago

I do!

It’s here: http://codexfound.wixsite.com/lindsayleggett/single-post/2018/07/05/Crafting-Real-Characters πŸ˜€

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Cassy
Cassy
2 years ago

How much time do you spend on supporting character’s development? Do you know them as well as your main but don’t include all you know in the story?

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Christina
Christina
2 years ago

What are mistakes you see lots of writers making that make for flat characters?

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Christina
Christina
2 years ago

How far into our character’s personality, past, family, etc should we go into before even writing? Do you normally learn more about your characters as you write them?

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Lindsay Leggett
Lindsay Leggett
Reply to  Christina
2 years ago

For me, it depends on the genre. For fantasy, for example, I’ll do a lot more work beforehand, whereas for contemporary, I’ll run through the basics, and if something comes up during the draft, I’ll sit down and work it out. πŸ™‚

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Ryn
Ryn
2 years ago

One of the most memorable characters I’ve read is Sandry, from Tamora Pierce’s The Circle of Magic series. As another character puts it, it’s amazing how strong and stubborn Sandry is, but the minute someone turns the light off, Sandry just shuts down from fear. Not to mention how her stubbornness is both good in that it enables her kindness, but also bad because it’s connected to her pride.

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Lindsay Leggett
Lindsay Leggett
Reply to  Ryn
2 years ago

Yes! Love Tamora Pierce’s characters!

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Elza
Elza
2 years ago

when two characters share similar traits, how do you recommend developing them into unique people that are still instantly recognizable?

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Cassy
Cassy
2 years ago

With your example of character being anxious and perceiving the airport – is it necessary to give reason why the character is anxious of flying? Or can it simply be a character trait?

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Lindsay Leggett
Lindsay Leggett
Reply to  Cassy
2 years ago

I don’t think so, unless it’s integral to the plot. These details are often simply part of the characters, and including them gives the reader a deeper connection and relation with them. πŸ™‚

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Alyssa
Alyssa
Author
2 years ago

How much do you need to worry about developing side characters (especially redshirts)?

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Lindsay Leggett
Lindsay Leggett
Reply to  Alyssa
2 years ago

I think this depends on how important the side characters are to the plot, but I definitely think doing a basic runover of their personalities and how they affect the MC can be helpful in making them feel authentic. πŸ™‚

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Lisa
Lisa
2 years ago

When you write, do you think of plot and character arcs as distinct and if so, how would you say they work together?

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Lindsay Leggett
Lindsay Leggett
Reply to  Lisa
2 years ago

I think they definitely work together in harmony, when done well. Because they both influence each other, having full and complete arcs will definitely show in the narrative. When a character choice spintails the plot, it’s magical πŸ™‚

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Elza
Elza
2 years ago

how would you suggest developing motivation for a character who is ultimately very unmotivated?

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Lindsay Leggett
Lindsay Leggett
Reply to  Elza
2 years ago

I think being unmotivated is a character quality in itself, and whether they choose to act on that quality can absolutely be a part of their motivation. πŸ™‚

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Hannah
Hannah
2 years ago

If you have a MC with a secret that helps with character development but is definitely a sub plot and the main plot could exist without it, should you get rid of it?

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Lindsay Leggett
Lindsay Leggett
Reply to  Hannah
2 years ago

I think, even if it isn’t present in the book, having it in your mind will influence the way the character acts, and will definitely affect the reader. I think, for the most part, everything that happens in a book should have purpose, but having a secret would definitely be a huge character motivation, and would probably make for a great sub-plot! πŸ™‚

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Dave Wright
Dave Wright
2 years ago

“beware supporting characters that are more interesting than your main character”, but what if that interesting supporting character has no arc? What if they don’t change, but the current MC goes through a massive change? Doesn’t that make the current MC the better choice?

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Lindsay Leggett
Lindsay Leggett
Reply to  Dave Wright
2 years ago

This is generally a specific situation that you would know when you see it. The example I gave was in YA, which is specifically where the best friend character is really interesting, but the main character comes off as flat. Supporting characters should absolutely be interesting, and if they’ve done a job in affecting the main character, then that is absolutely great characterization.

The warning is essentially for incidents where a reader might wonder what’s happening with another character and care more about that than what is happening with the main character, if that makes sense. πŸ™‚

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Lauren
Lauren
2 years ago

This has been my favorite session today! Lindsay presented a ton of information but in a way that was easy to understand. Fantastic job and I hope she will be back next year!! πŸ™‚

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Lindsay Leggett
Lindsay Leggett
Reply to  Lauren
2 years ago

Thank you so much! I’m so glad you enjoyed πŸ˜€

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