Lazy, Lazy Characters

Character development is important to any story. Readers want to see characters with depth, they want to be able to identify with your characters and feel something for them. Whether that feeling is love or hatred, it's important they feel something.

Sometimes it's better to have a smaller cast of well-developed characters than to throw a truckload of shallow, lifeless character at a reader simply for the sake of having them in the story. If the character doesn't have any influence in the story, then you likely don't need them. You can remove a questionable character and see if the story is able to progress without them If it does, then you don't need them. There is never an excuse for lazy character development. You want your characters to have a life of their own, one that readers will enjoy reading about.

I read a book a while back when I was judging a contest that was full of lazy, undeveloped characters. The protagonist worked with a set of twins. The author mentioned in the story that she had been working with the twins for quite some time, which would lead you to believe the are, at the very least, familiar with one another. Apparently not.

The author decided that the twins were so identical that it was too difficult for the main character to tell them apart, so she referred to them as twin one and twin two and she hadn't bothered to remember their names. This was written into the book, not an assumption I made while reading, the author flat out said that. The woman worked with these guys and simply made no effort to get to know them and learn about them.

Now, several chapters later a situation arises where she really needs to know the names of the twins so she asks them to tell her their names again. Magically, she now remembers which one is which and can tell them apart.

The above is a prime example of lazy character development. Many people reading this either know a set of twins or have at least met one or two in their time on this planet. If you have, then you understand that there is really no such thing as "identical" twins. They may look very much alike, but they will have differences that makes them unique from their sibling and makes them identifiable. If this author was insistent on using the 'twin one' and 'twin two' names, they could have reserved it for a situation where the main character was upset with them and resorted to labeling them as such, or perhaps when she was teasing them.

There are a handful of ways they could have handled telling the twins apart instead of rendering them flat and lifeless. Maybe a piercing, scars, tattoos, and hair color, are just starters. One could have a particular hatred or love of a certain food or TV show. Any of these things could have put a small amount of separation between the twins to make it easier for the readers (and the main character) to distinguish between them. Each should have a distinct personality. Instead, the author made them boring carbon copies of one another. It gives the reader zero reason to feel anything for them.

Characters should have more life to them and there should be a reason for readers to want to know more about them. Try not to create throwaway characters.

To make them real, your characters should have quirks and reasons behind the things they do. Try to avoid unrealistic reactions to other characters or situation. Like the situation above, where the protagonist suddenly remembers something that readers were previously told the character had issues remembering.

Your characters need several things for them to become real to the readers -

✒ Characters need a personality.

They must have characteristics that make them easy to identify. Whether it's a flaw, a habit, or a little quirk. Their morals and values and views on things around them, they need all of these things to be a normal person with a personality. Life experiences create your personality, make sure you think about what experiences have made your character the way they are.

✒ You need to give your readers a description of your character.

Readers need to know what your characters look like to form an image of them in their mind. If they have no idea what this person looks like, it's sometimes difficult for them to form any attachment to the character. However, there are authors that use very minimal descriptions and get away with it. You have to be very good at creating a story that gives the characters depth so readers get deeply involved and the minimal descriptions don't affect the story. A great example of minimal character descriptions is John Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice series.

✒ A backstory.

If you don't know their history then how will your readers? If you want readers to feel for your character they need to know about their lives. Your characters need a life filled with experiences, both good and bad. This helps to shape their personality and give them life. Did they have a loving family or dysfunctional one? Do they have strong political views, what caused this? Are they a rule follower or a rebel, what made them this way? These are all things that end up as a part of your personality due to your life experiences. If your character doesn't have this sort of a history the how do they have a personality?

✒ A reason for being who they are (this goes hand in hand with personality, and their backstory)

Simply saying 'they were born to fulfill a prophecy' isn't a reason for being. Readers need to know what experiences made your characters who they are. Why do they kill? Why did they become a cop? Give up on love? There has to be a reason and if you don't know, neither will your readers. You need to know the event (or events) that occurred in their past that molded them into the person they are. The events in your life mold you into the person you are. They help to develop your personality and habits. Your characters need those experiences as well.

✒ Your characters need a life.

Yes, a life. They need to do more than sit around drinking beer at their favorite bar or watching Real Housewives on TV. They need a job (or the reason they don't currently have one), a home, car, friends, family, social activities, hobbies, maybe a pet. Things the people have in the real world. If you can't give them these things, then they are flat and lifeless to the readers.

How exciting do you think Harry Potter would have been if we never knew his backstory? If you never knew how he got his scar? If no one was told that Voldemort was the one who killed his parents? You wouldn't feel the same for the character because the tragedy of his past was never revealed. If the story began with his arrival at Hogwarts and you never saw his life at his aunt and uncle's house you would have no idea of the events that shaped him into the person he is. Harry never saw himself as a hero because he was told his entire life that he's nothing and he doesn't matter. He wasn't even important enough for them to give him his own room. If we don't have that entire backstory at the beginning then you can't feel as deeply for him and you'll never understand the events that made him who he is.

If your character aren't as real as they can be then there's no reason to read about them. Think long and hard about your characters, their lives, and their personalities when you're developing them. Short of resorting to dark magic, they won't come to life and tell you about themselves. You need to create that life for them. If they aren't important enough for you to give them life then they probably don't belong in the story.

I have things I know about a lot of my character that never actually appear in the story, but I know them because it is a part of the personality I created. Like their favorite kind of music, or which one of them is most likely to speed while driving. Little things that make them who they are but I never actually write into a story. There are a lot of things about them I consider when writing their stories. It's what give them life and makes them believable to readers.