This term gets thrown around a lot in the writing community. I think it's a concept that most people understand, but if you ask someone to define it, you might get some pretty interesting answers.
This article from MasterClass defines character development as, "the craft of giving a character a personality, depth, and motivations that propel them through a story. Character development is also defined as how a character evolves throughout the course of a story."
That's great, but what does it really mean? And how does one create compelling character development capable of carrying an entire plot?
One of the most essential elements of this is goals. No matter what happens, characters should have specific goals on both the micro and macro levels.
On the micro level, each scene has a goal. For example, this could look like getting away from a specific character in order to read a book, or it might be purchasing a bag of milk from the grocer down the street. Whatever the case, this is what is going to force your character forward.
These micro goals work in conjunction with the macro goal: the main thing your character wants over the course of the novel.
Once the goals have been established, we can start to consider what it is getting in the way of our characters getting what they want. And deeper still, what is the aspect of their own character they are going to have to confront based on external factors?
Each character begins the novel one way and ends differently (or not, but that should be an intentional writing choice and not a mistake). Let's use the first Pirates of the Caribbean as an example. In the beginning, we meet Elizabeth Swann--the Governor's daughter. She's a little outspoken, a little rebellious, but ultimately she does what her father asks of her. Over the course of being kidnapped by pirates and trying to save Will, she gains her voice, learns to fight, and becomes a fair bit more pirate-y. In essence, she comes into herself.
Contrarily, if we look at Jack Sparrow, we can see he doesn't really progress at all. In the beginning, he wants the Black Pearl. By the end of the story, he wants the Black Pearl. He's still looking out for his own interests first--no matter who it might hurt in the process. But this was an intentional choice because, at least in the first movie, Jack is a side character. His role in the film is to support Elizabeth and Will's stories. And, therefore, his goal of obtaining the Black Pearl compliments (and sometimes hinders) the protagonists' arcs, forcing them to develop over the course of the film.
Elizabeth is forced to consider that pirates may not be as bad as everyone believes. Will is forced to confront the fact that his father was a pirate, and he has to accept who he is--a pirate's son. And Jack gets to keep going after the thing that's always just out of reach.
It's these goals that drive the story forward.
In addition to understanding what your character wants and what's going to force them to change, it's important to know what happens if they don't achieve their goal. These are the stakes. And whatever is pushing them forward needs to be a greater offer than what they stand to lose if they do nothing.
People change when doing nothing becomes harder than doing something.
So, if your character stays stagnant, what happens?
For myself, I like to draw a map to determine where I want my characters to start and end. From there, I can consider what beats need to happen in between in order to push them over the edge, and what they stand to lose if they don't move forward.
Once I have their arc somewhat mapped out, I like to think about where they came from, figure out why they make the choices they do, and learn why they hate ferrets so much. And then I go even deeper, and I give them some human quirks. Things like: she only eats bananas with peanut butter, or their favourite flower is a dandelion. (But I would highly recommend reading Story Genius to really dig into some of these things.)
So, there you have it! This is just skimming the surface of the topic of character development. I'm not a huge fan of giving specific how-tos simply because what works for one person might not work for everyone. It's a matter of trial and error to figure out what process works best for you. But hopefully, this gives an idea of somewhere to start, and what details might be helpful to add.
Happy writing,
Erin
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