When writing a novel, how can a character be developed well, but QUICKLY?
Last Updated: 29.06.2025 00:00
“About wearing more clothes? How am I supposed to catch any fish if I don’t show off the bait?”
“You know what? Never mind,” May said. “I am way, way too drunk to be having this conversation.”
“Claire, I—”
Brad Pitt and Tim Cook surprise fans at Apple Fifth Avenue ahead of ‘F1 The Movie’ release - 9to5Mac
Essentially, what you do is show the character:
“Nary a cute boy in sight.”
Engaging in conversation that also shows something about their intelligence, personality, wit (or lack thereof); and
Kristen Bell sends Adam Scott "deeply insulting" voicemails when she's mad about Severance - AV Club
“But they’re cold!”
Create a context between this character and other characters.
“I’m serious!” Claire said. “It’s staring straight at me.” She let the curtain fall. “Weird.”
Cancer patient given months to live is 'more positive than ever' - BBC
In the kitchen, Claire set out a battered pair of mugs: May’s black, with “PEBKAC: Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair” in white letters; Claire’s white, with “This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays” in dark blue. She carried both mugs into the living room. “A moggie followed you home? Is this some weird Internet slang I’m not current on?”
“Fine.” May collapsed into the warm spot Claire had just vacated.
“From the look of you, if you try to sleep now, you’ll spend the next three hours hanging onto your bed trying to stop the world spinning. Since you’re not going to sleep anyway, you might as well keep me company.”
What are some common examples of condescending behavior?
“Exactly.”
“Tart!”
“I’m glad my sex life is so entertaining.”
Is Beehiiv better than Substack?
May pushed Claire’s feet away. Claire rose to peer out the window. “Huh. It’s still there.”
“None of those either. Look upon the wasteland that is my sex life, and see that it is barren. Naught but a moggie followed me home.”
“You don’t need a cat. You can’t take care of a cat. You can’t take care of a ficus.” Claire flopped on the other side of the sofa and wriggled her feet beneath May.
“Claire! Why are you still up?”
After Eunice and I finished London Under Veil, I entered the first chapter in a contest at a convention where you could submit something and have it critiqued by a professional book agent.
“It’s a cat. All cats are weird.” May sipped from her mug, inhaling the warmth. She closed her eyes. The room spun. She opened them again. “Ugh. I think I drank too much.”
Shane Bieber Suffers Potential Setback In Elbow Rehab - MLB Trade Rumors
“Well, maybe if you’d wear more clothes, they wouldn’t feel so cold. Hussy!”
They both burst out laughing. “I’m right, though,” Claire went on.
“Number one, it’s not porn, it’s ecchi, and number two, why would I waste a perfectly good Saturday doing anything else?” Claire pulled at her tea and sighed. “The only thing that could make this day better is if you'd come home with some cute boy, so that after you kicked him out tomorrow I could live vicariously through you.”
What are some effective ways to cope with loss and grief?
“No, about the cat. You don’t need a cat. You remember what happened to your spider plant, right?”
Do that and you can ground your characters quite quickly.
Claire, one of May’s three flatmates, former university roommate, and best friend in all the world, shrugged expansively. “It’s a Saturday night. What else would I be doing?”
“Yes way. It’s washing itself under the street light. Uh-oh, I think it spotted me. It knows I’m watching it. I swear it’s looking at me.”
“Nope, I mean a cat followed me home. A black cat, to be exact. All the way from the club. Probably still out there, for all I know.”
“I know! That’s why I’m putting them under you!”
May yelped. “Hey! Your feet are cold!”
“Hang on, are they playing ping-pong?”
“Damn straight. So get to it! This time next week, I want to hear some moans coming through that wall.”
Could You Live Without a Computer? I Can. - The Free Press
Doing something they enjoy, that expresses their personality, and that is in some way unusual or noteworthy;
“I’m just a fan of your catch and release program.”
“I don’t know. Partying. Going to a pub. Anything besides sitting on the couch reading…” She squinted. “What the hell are you reading?”
Astronauts Reveal The Shocking Beauty of Lightning From Space - ScienceAlert
“Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs!” Claire turned the book around.
“I’ll put the kettle on.”
“So you didn’t meet any cute boys at the club tonight?” Claire called as she bustled about the small kitchen.
Rangers' Zibanejad pens heartfelt goodbye to Kreider after trade - NHL.com
The agent had only one bad thing to say (the synopsis was crap; writing synopses is hard!), but praised the characterization and particularly how well we introduced a character’s personality quickly.
“I try not to, but thank you for reminding me. I know I don’t need a cat. I don’t want a cat. What would I do with a cat?”
Claire sat back down, legs tucked elegantly beneath her. “You are looking a bit sloppy,” she said, inspecting May through narrowed eyes.
Hic perferendis in et impedit quo.
“Why is that always your first suggestion? I do not need some tea. It’s three o’clock in the morning! If I have tea, I’ll never get to sleep.”
“No way.”
“Yep!” Claire chirped. “There’s this schoolboy, see, and he’s homeless, so he lives in this boarding house that used to be a hot springs bathhouse, which is cheap because it’s haunted, so he decides—”
“I need to do laundry.”
“It’s not looking at you.”
“They are! He broke the rules of the boarding house by petting this character while she was in cat form, so they invoke the ancient rules of single combat via ping-pong, and—”
“You need some tea!”
“May! You’re home late! Early, I mean. Well, I mean, it’s early in the morning, but you’re home before I expected. Er, after. Before?”
“Perv.”
“Exactly.”
“Well, maybe if you didn’t spend all day reading—” May prodded the book with its garishly-coloured cover with her foot. “Bizarre comic book porn…”
“Cute girls?”
May studied the black and white comic panels. “Oh, my. She looks…anatomically implausible. What is she doing to that poor man? Wait, are those cat ears?”
Here’s how we presented the character Claire when she was introduced, which the agent particularly singled out:
“Thanks. You’re looking pretty ratty yourself. Have you been in that bathrobe all day?”