This post was first published in April 2019 and last updated in May 2025.
Whether you consider plot to be more important than character or you believe they’re just two sides of the same coin, it’s clear that character
matters.
Readers want characters who are engaging and interesting: characters who seem real. Novelists often talk about these as “three dimensional” characters – ones that are fully developed, rather than being little more than a physical description and maybe an interesting quirk.
At some point during the writing process, you need to develop your characters. You need more than just a name and a note about their hair colour or favourite food: you need characters who have a certain depth to them.
There are lots of different techniques that authors can use to develop characters – either before they begin on
a story, or during the process of writing (or even rewriting) that story.
But whatever method you use, there’s one important thing you should establish as early on as possible.
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