Developing characters is a strange thing. In the beginning they are abstract and I wonder how to move on from there.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Being a new character is like going to a new school. You have to try to maintain your own autonomy and your own personality.
I start with an idea or a problem or a conflict, or even a situation that might be pertinent to the lives of young people, then the characters grow from that point. I try to make strong characters that change and develop and learn from their mistakes.
I imagine that my characters have become much more complicated than when I first began, which would be normal.
Character development is conflict.
My school of thought with going into a character is that you have to understand where they come from, and you have to empathize with them.
There are a lot of techniques for developing a character.
I find it very hard to sit down and create an idea or especially a new character on command. Usually my characters evolve by accident out of some story context.
I usually start with an ending, then outline high points of things that happen, and kind of make up the rest as I go along. Occasionally, the characters surprise me, and I wonder how we got here. Other times, the characters are stubborn and won't do something I want them to in the story.
You've got to internalize the character. You've got to learn the words. These are separate things, but they work together.
The goal is to have every character take on a life of his or her own. Sometimes characters will come into the story that I haven't planned.
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