Character Development Exercise For Writers

Anyone who writes fiction needs to enrich their character development expertise.We build characters little by little. Today, I have an exercise for you that might be of a little help. 

Even those writing memoir or family stories should pay attention to character development. The reader much prefers you showing a character than simply telling. 

Some writers spend an entire paragraph, or even several, telling the reader about the character, then move on with the story. For me, it's preferable to receive the information about a character in bits and pieces woven throughout the narrative.  This method allows the reader to build the character in their mind little by little rather than having a glut of information all tied up with a red ribbon and handed to the reader as a gift.

 However, for the exercise, you will need to give the information in consecutive paragraphs instead of filtering it in a full chapter or more.

Study the photo of the young man including his facial features, his expression, his clothing and where he is posing. Note that I said study the photo. A quick glance is not going to bring the best results. For this exercise, paint a picture with words about who he is and begin to make up a storyline for him. 

To begin, ask yourself questions:

• What is his most outstanding facial feature?
• What is under his cap? A full head of hair or a bald spot in the center?
• Does he have a jacket to wear over that vest?
• Is he temperamental?
• What does he smell like? Good and/or bad
• Does he have a tic of any kind?
• What about his speech? Accented? Stuttering? Fast? Slow?
• Is he a kind person?
• Is he cruel?
• Does he smoke?
• Does he chew gum incessantly?
• Is he missing any teeth?
• Does he have an eye for the girls? Or boys?
• Does he live in the USA or a foreign country?
• What is his favorite food?
• Does he live alone or with family?
• What is his job? 
• What kind of sense of humor does he have?

Make notes as you answer the questions above and add a few questions/answers of your own. Then begin writing a few paragraphs to let a reader know what kind of person this young man is.