Questions to Ask Yourself When You’re Struggling with Character Development

Struggling with character development? Look at your major characters with the following questions in mind:

Is it clear what my protagonist and antagonist want emotionally and physically?

This is also known as their internal and external motivation. And in the best pairings, what the protagonist and antagonist want are either such polar opposites or the same exact thing such that only one of them can succeed in getting that physical and/or internal need met by the end.

Do my character's personality traits work with each other, or contradict each other?

Small contradictions - a punk rocker who secretly loves Justin Bieber - round a character out. Larger contradictions (i.e., a character who is consistently described as Type-A but then is also described as a spontaneous risk taker) fight against each other.

Are we looking at a list of favorites, instead of showing some of their personality through action?

For example, telling you my character likes The Wizard of Oz, Coldplay and the color pink doesn't tell you as much as showing my character tapping her heels, whispering "there's no place like home" and comparing herself to Judy Garland whenever she's in a tight situation.

Does my protagonist have a fatal flaw?

A protagonist who is just-so-perfect all the time makes for both an unrealistic character and a boring plot. If the character always knows the answer, and always gets it right the first time, then the story loses tension. The reader never worries that the character will fail, and if that's so, why read on?