By Sarah K.
Character development is like starting with a basic stick figure and making them believable, making them grow throughout the story. Before an author gets too deep in the story, they will usually describe what the character looks like so the audience recognizes them, things they are good at and things they are bad at, who their friends are (or maybe they don’t have friends yet, they will meet them later in the story), that kind of stuff.
In fiction -- books, short(ish) stories, and pretty much any work of fiction, characters are one of the main focuses, but what makes them so interesting? What makes them so human? Character development, of course! The audience wants to relate to the main character, because that character is the one telling the story, a good character plus good development help the audience do that.
Pretend you’re reading a book, and there is a sarcastic character. She’s very sarcastic, cold, and shows little to no emotion, she has people she calls friends, but she doesn’t treat them very well, she’s never there for them when they need her, even if she could be there. She’s good at lots of things, but not bad at much. She’s not balanced and doesn’t act human. But it’s only the beginning of the book.
After you’ve been reading this book for a while, the character should be getting better, she’s had tons of moments where you think “Yes! She’s going somewhere!”, but you keep going and BAM! She’s back to where she started.
Now, pretend you are reading another book. There is a character, she is brave, bold, loud, a bit selfish, loyal to those she cares about, stubborn, and a little too proud. Like before, it’s only the beginning of the book, there’s room for improvement, and hopefully the author will do something good with this character.
Again, after you have been reading this book for a while, she’s got her moment! Her friends need help, she puts her selfishness aside, and does what she has to do, but maybe it’s a little more than she can handle. She puts her pride aside to ask for help, so that she won’t let down her friends when they need her most. She grew and learned, she developed and you begin to like her more because she is believable.
Not all characters need to be developed though. More minor characters will have skills to help the story and main characters along. These character being extremely developed isn’t quite as necessary (and at times, it would be a waste, these are the backgrounders!) as it would be for the main characters. Having every single character be super developed might make it feel like everyone is a main part of the story, in a sense, it would get too crowded.
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