Logo

When writing a novel, how can a character be developed well, but QUICKLY?

09.06.2025 04:12

When writing a novel, how can a character be developed well, but QUICKLY?

“Hang on, are they playing ping-pong?”

“Thanks. You’re looking pretty ratty yourself. Have you been in that bathrobe all day?”

“Why is that always your first suggestion? I do not need some tea. It’s three o’clock in the morning! If I have tea, I’ll never get to sleep.”

My religion teacher said that there are no atheists because in order to reject God, you must first have a concept of God, and if you have a concept of God, you are not an atheist. In what way is this true, if at all? Why?

“But they’re cold!”

“Cute girls?”

They both burst out laughing. “I’m right, though,” Claire went on.

Nintendo releases more Switch 1 game updates to improve Switch 2 compatibility - Nintendo Everything

“May! You’re home late! Early, I mean. Well, I mean, it’s early in the morning, but you’re home before I expected. Er, after. Before?”

“Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs!” Claire turned the book around.

“I’ll put the kettle on.”

We now told, by Senator Grassley, that on the FBI form about the Biden bribery story, there is a Burisma exec who says he has 17 tapes of his deal with the Biden. 15 of Hunter and 2 of Joe Biden? What would this do to Hunter/Joe Biden if released?

“So you didn’t meet any cute boys at the club tonight?” Claire called as she bustled about the small kitchen.

“I’m serious!” Claire said. “It’s staring straight at me.” She let the curtain fall. “Weird.”

“From the look of you, if you try to sleep now, you’ll spend the next three hours hanging onto your bed trying to stop the world spinning. Since you’re not going to sleep anyway, you might as well keep me company.”

‘King of the Hill’ voice actor Jonathan Joss is fatally shot in Texas - The Washington Post

May yelped. “Hey! Your feet are cold!”

“Nary a cute boy in sight.”

Claire, one of May’s three flatmates, former university roommate, and best friend in all the world, shrugged expansively. “It’s a Saturday night. What else would I be doing?”

What exactly is the boundary men should follow while looking at girls so they don't call them perverts?

May pushed Claire’s feet away. Claire rose to peer out the window. “Huh. It’s still there.”

“Exactly.”

“I don’t know. Partying. Going to a pub. Anything besides sitting on the couch reading…” She squinted. “What the hell are you reading?”

Why do many modern Hollywood films rely heavily on CGI and visual effects instead of actual sets? What is your opinion on this trend?

Doing something they enjoy, that expresses their personality, and that is in some way unusual or noteworthy;

The agent had only one bad thing to say (the synopsis was crap; writing synopses is hard!), but praised the characterization and particularly how well we introduced a character’s personality quickly.

“I need to do laundry.”

Eastern District of Virginia | U.S. Government seizes approximately 145 criminal marketplace domains - Department of Justice (.gov)

“About wearing more clothes? How am I supposed to catch any fish if I don’t show off the bait?”

“Nope, I mean a cat followed me home. A black cat, to be exact. All the way from the club. Probably still out there, for all I know.”

“They are! He broke the rules of the boarding house by petting this character while she was in cat form, so they invoke the ancient rules of single combat via ping-pong, and—”

Why Cutting Carbs Usually Backfires—and What to Do Instead - EatingWell

May studied the black and white comic panels. “Oh, my. She looks…anatomically implausible. What is she doing to that poor man? Wait, are those cat ears?”

Here’s how we presented the character Claire when she was introduced, which the agent particularly singled out:

“Damn straight. So get to it! This time next week, I want to hear some moans coming through that wall.”

Telescope Captures First-Ever Ultra-Fine Magnetic Stripes on the Sun’s Surface! - The Daily Galaxy

“None of those either. Look upon the wasteland that is my sex life, and see that it is barren. Naught but a moggie followed me home.”

Essentially, what you do is show the character:

“I try not to, but thank you for reminding me. I know I don’t need a cat. I don’t want a cat. What would I do with a cat?”

Why do people who aren't trans feel the need to put pronouns next to their name or picture? It seems so cringeworthy to me, to participate in that SJW paradigm of thought, like they are a spineless person who just goes along with the trends.

“Fine.” May collapsed into the warm spot Claire had just vacated.

Claire sat back down, legs tucked elegantly beneath her. “You are looking a bit sloppy,” she said, inspecting May through narrowed eyes.

“Claire, I—”

Astronomers discover black hole ripping a star apart inside a galactic collision. 'It is a peculiar event' - Yahoo

“Well, maybe if you’d wear more clothes, they wouldn’t feel so cold. Hussy!”

“It’s not looking at you.”

“You need some tea!”

What is your wildest experience in Bangalore that you haven’t told anyone?

After Eunice and I finished London Under Veil, I entered the first chapter in a contest at a convention where you could submit something and have it critiqued by a professional book agent.

“Tart!”

“Exactly.”

Murder, Sexual Assault, And Massive Fraud: 15 Celebrities Who Are In Jail For A Long Time - BuzzFeed

“Well, maybe if you didn’t spend all day reading—” May prodded the book with its garishly-coloured cover with her foot. “Bizarre comic book porn…”

“No, about the cat. You don’t need a cat. You remember what happened to your spider plant, right?”

“You know what? Never mind,” May said. “I am way, way too drunk to be having this conversation.”

How and why do cats purr? Scientists finally found the answers - Earth.com

“Claire! Why are you still up?”

“Yes way. It’s washing itself under the street light. Uh-oh, I think it spotted me. It knows I’m watching it. I swear it’s looking at me.”

“I’m glad my sex life is so entertaining.”

How one of San Francisco's most successful new chains 'just kind of happened' - SFGATE

“Perv.”

Create a context between this character and other characters.

“You don’t need a cat. You can’t take care of a cat. You can’t take care of a ficus.” Claire flopped on the other side of the sofa and wriggled her feet beneath May.

“Number one, it’s not porn, it’s ecchi, and number two, why would I waste a perfectly good Saturday doing anything else?” Claire pulled at her tea and sighed. “The only thing that could make this day better is if you'd come home with some cute boy, so that after you kicked him out tomorrow I could live vicariously through you.”

“I know! That’s why I’m putting them under you!”

“It’s a cat. All cats are weird.” May sipped from her mug, inhaling the warmth. She closed her eyes. The room spun. She opened them again. “Ugh. I think I drank too much.”

“Yep!” Claire chirped. “There’s this schoolboy, see, and he’s homeless, so he lives in this boarding house that used to be a hot springs bathhouse, which is cheap because it’s haunted, so he decides—”

Engaging in conversation that also shows something about their intelligence, personality, wit (or lack thereof); and

“No way.”

In the kitchen, Claire set out a battered pair of mugs: May’s black, with “PEBKAC: Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair” in white letters; Claire’s white, with “This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays” in dark blue. She carried both mugs into the living room. “A moggie followed you home? Is this some weird Internet slang I’m not current on?”

“I’m just a fan of your catch and release program.”

Do that and you can ground your characters quite quickly.