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Lazy Characters


Character development is important to any story. Readers want good characters with depth, characters they can identify with and feel for. Whether what they feel is love or hatred, you want them to feel something for your character. It's better to have a smaller cast of well-developed characters than to throw in a truckload of shallow lifeless character simply for the sake of having them there. If the character doesn't have any influence in the story then they aren't needed. Remove a questionable character and if the story can progress without them then you don't need them.

There is never an excuse for lazy character development. You want your characters to have depth and a life of their own that readers will enjoy reading about.


There was a book that I read a while back where the protagonist worked with a set of twins and the author mentions that they had been working together for a handful of years which would lead you to believe they are, at the very least, familiar with each other. Apparently not. The author decided that the twins were so identical that it was too difficult for the main character to tell them apart so she referred to them as twin one and twin two and she had also forgotten their names. Several chapters later in the book a situation arises where she really needs to know their names so she asks and they tell her. After that she can suddenly tell them apart and remember their names.

This is a prime example of lazy character development. Most of us have known or currently know a set of twins. They each have distinct personalities and I've yet to meet a set of twins who act exactly the same or don't have something that sets them apart from one another in appearance. If the author was insistent on using the 'twin one' and 'twin two' names she could have reserved it for when the protagonist was upset with them or teasing them. There were a handful of different ways she could have handled telling them apart instead of rendering them flat and lifeless. They should have distinct personalities. One could have a tattoo or different colored hair, maybe piercings, or a scar. A love or hatred of a particular food. Any of these things would have put a small amount of separation between the twins to make it easier for readers (and the protagonist) to distinguish between them. Instead, she made them boring carbon copies of one another and there is no reason for the reader to feel for them. The twins were closely tied to her main character and appeared throughout the book. They should have more life to them and there should be a reason for readers to want to know more about them but instead the author made them throwaway characters.


Your characters need quirks and reasons behind the things they do. You want to avoid unrealistic reactions. Such as a characters suddenly remembering something you previously told the readers they had issues remembering.

Your characters need several things for them to become real to the readers -

✒ Characters need a personality. They must have characteristics that make it easy to identify them. Whether it's a flaw, a habit, or a little quirk, they need these things to be a normal person with a personality.

✒ You need to give your readers a description. Readers need to know what your characters look like to form an image of them in their mind.

✒ A backstory. If you don't know their history then how will your readers? If you want readers to feel for your character they need to know about their lives. Your characters need a life filled with experiences, both good and bad.

✒ A reason for being (and not simply 'they were born to fulfill a prophecy'). Readers need to know what experiences made your characters who they are. Why do they kill? Why did they become a cop? Give up on love? There has to be a reason and if you don't know, neither will your readers and they'll have no reason to read about the character. You need to know the event (or events) that occurred in their past that molded them into the person they are. The events in your life mold you into the person you are. They help to develop your personality and habits. Your characters need those experiences as well.

✒ Your characters need a life. Yes, a life. They need to do more than sit around drinking beer at their favorite bar or watching Real Housewives on TV. They need a job (or the reason they don't currently have one), a home, car, friends, family, social activities, maybe a pet. Things the people have in the real world.


How exciting do you think Harry Potter would have been if we never knew his backstory? If you never knew how he got his scar? If no one was told that Voldemort was the one who killed his parents? You wouldn't feel the same for the character because the tragedy of his past was never revealed. If the story began with his arrival at Hogwarts and you never saw his life at his aunt and uncle's house you would have no idea of the events that shaped him into the person he is. Harry never saw himself as a hero because he was told his entire life that he's nothing and he doesn't matter. He wasn't even important enough for them to give him his own room. If we don't have that entire backstory at the beginning then you can't feel as deeply for him and you'll never understand the events that made him who he is. If your character aren't as real as they can be then there's no reason to read about them. Think long and hard about your characters, their lives, and their personalities when you're developing them. Short of resorting to dark magic, they won't come to life and tell you about themselves. You need to create that life for them. If they aren't important enough for you to give them life then they probably don't belong in the story.


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