Webnovel.Forum

Pleasedeteme see, this is what im taking about... you had more personality in the character you created in this post than some of the characters from the novels I saw...

Also, I'm pretty sure drawing two cards at once is cheating...

Breno_Ranyere What if you draw a royal flush?

Breno_Ranyere
because new writers only have ideas about different worlds and not enough actual ideas about character development. I struggled with this myself in my first ever novel, and realized my characters were as stale as leftover bread.
Character summarization is a lot more difficult than world summarization, hence why new writers are not very good at it.

Breno_Ranyere What helped me personally was reading published books related to my genre. And reading them thoroughly, imagining scenes, and thinking back to the start of the novel, as compared to the end.
Other than that, honest feedback from readers I guess haha

Breno_Ranyere

A good story should have both developed. What would help is actually knowing your character before you wrote them. Creating a character sheet would do wonders for that.

Just like world creation involves making a system, then strictly adhering to it, making a character involves knowing their motivation and filtering everything through that lens. On that note, before you make a character you should list all of the important throngs about them to make sure they are consistent. Here is an example I made up:

Name: Amber

Appearance: Long brown hair, soft brown eyes, freckles, short

Personality: Loud, out spoken, and mean.

Hates: being seen as weak, her short stature, people trying to help her, boys hitting on her or flirting with her, being dependent on others

Likes: making fun of others, being the center of attention, belittling others, feeling powerful, doing things on her own or in her own way

Proficiencies/job: she is a waitress at the inn, but she only does that to pay the bills while she studies to become a knight. The second most promising knight candidate at the academy, she has superior strength and hand to hand combat skills. She can use any common weapon proficiently and also is skilled at horseback riding. Because she works at an inn, she is also knowledgeable about cooking, cleaning, plant/herb recognition, etc. she hates to use these skills though, because people don’t see her as a warrior when she is doing laundry.

Now, you could put this character into any story and have her make sense. If a male character introduces themself to her, she should probably snap at them and make fun of them. All of this info is separate from the plot.

I’ve seen some of these character sheets be so in depth that they include things like favorite foods, favorite colors, sleeping habits, etc. You can also tailor the list towards the plot. If you are writing a story about cooking, her favorite food becomes more important.

Usually, authors don’t do this and their characters are just plot devices. They only say and react to things to advance the plot and are good at or knowledgeable about anything the author needs. The can be idiots, then suddenly know every fact about a town for no reason other than the author needs a way to get facts about the town into the story.

Hope this makes sense!

shadowdrake27 That's actually very helpfull and detailed, and it does make a lot of sense. I can't even begin to count the numbe of times a sheet like this would have saved my skin.

Breno_Ranyere

Glad I could help! Yeah, I never realized it until I tried to write. Make sure you include a goal/motivation line! In my haste I forgot that...

Pleasedeteme I appreciate the well-detailed answer. I'll be sure to check your novel!

Breno_Ranyere To me, I enjoy reading a book where I can relate with the character mannerisms, thought process ecetera.
I do notice that when you start a novel, you get a literal info dump about this and that and what works and what doesn’t work...
Bleh... if it’s get too much, it becomes boring.
I personally like the book development to have attached its World Building with the character progress.
Say
Bayo walked towards the Wall where the Control Array was(Note: Bayo has already been introduced earlier), his thoughts heavy with revenge. Within proximity, The Control Array activated, a beep of light blue scanning the newcomer.
“Hello Bayo.” says the Control ARray
In all of Orun, Control Arrays has been the equivalent of yaoyueyi (A-hem...)/Artificail Intelligence that was popularized by the science ethusiasts, except that it was performed more son spiritual basis, scanning soul strengths, creating mind bridges and whatnot.

Reading a story like that is more engaging to me rather than.
In the heavens, people cultivated by having Agbara. The wealthiest alone owning Arrays that helped them go about their activities, similar to A.I on earth.
Blah blah...
I feel more relaxed with the first because it feels like I am seeing things through the eyes of the MC rather than the eyes of the narrator

@Breno_Ranyere

As a first time writer myself, I tend to focus on certain things that drive the story forward. That's not to say that there won't be moments where I stop and try to flesh out the characters with some motivations and backstory. But I do find myself falling into a sort of short-sightedness when I go back and read through my earlier chapters.

Personally, I don't read a lot of webnovels, so it's hard for me to tell what is missing in my own story.

Furthermore, there's probably a lot of details that I imagined up in my head that end up not making down on paper. When you formulate a bunch of ideas and concepts, only to not use them in the end, sometimes you forget that you never actually wrote about it. You just think that you did at some point, because only you remember it.

Or maybe that's just me. I've never written fiction before, so shrug

Since there is a lot of good replies above, I'll just state my opinion short.

Usually, a new writer will just write a story for the sake of 'I want to write a story', so it's normal for them to be less focused on the character's development, as long as the story progresses it's fine.

But when one had been writing for a reasonably long period, they will start treating each of the characters in the story as an individual, or even as a life (and probably the motivation to continue writing).

So, they will be more focused on the character's personality and development, as it's really satisfying to see the growth of your story's characters.

kazesenken Furthermore, there's probably a lot of details that I imagined up in my head that end up not making down on paper. When you formulate a bunch of ideas and concepts, only to not use them in the end, sometimes you forget that you never actually wrote about it.

Ah... so I’m not alone in this. I think a lot of nice scenes but when I’m writing it down, the scene becomes half as tasteful as what’s on my mind.
Lol

sir_impeccable I sympatize with everyting said here

kazesenken

Even if you don’t focus on the characters or get into detailed backstories, writing good characters is about consistency. Sort of like gravity. You may not write about gravity, or the equations that govern it, but your story doesn’t have characters floating off the planet.

A characters motivations guide their actions, so a cautious character will not do something reckless. It isn’t about writing a lot, it’s about knowing how your character would act in a situation as if they were a real person.