One of the most important elements of any story are the characters. Characters can make or break a book or screenplay. Well-developed characters make the difference between a stiff and unrealistic story and a dynamic, captivating one. That’s why this month we’ve created this list of free character development resources!
Email course: the magic of character arcs
This seven day email course from Golden May Editing teaches you how to take your characters from the first scene to the last. I completed it, and found that even as an experienced professional writer there were a lot of nuggets of wisdom in it that benefited me. All you have to do is sign up for their newsletter and you’ll receive this character development course in your inbox for free!
Webinar: writing morally gray characters
Also from Golden May Editing, this webinar teaches you how to create and write a morally gray character. Morally gray characters can be tricky; you need your audience to be able to root for them even as they’re making questionable decisions. This class will break down the difference between a villain, a morally gray character, and a hero, and then teach you how to write it. Once again, all you need to do is sign up for their newsletter (so if you already did the email course, you’re good to go!)
Worksheet: designing unforgettable characters
One of my favorite character development resources are character worksheets. This one from Dabble is great. I like it because I feel like it doesn’t go into too much detail, while still touching on the really important things that make your character tick.
Questionnaire: 150+ character questions
If, on the other hand, you like to know a LOT of information about your characters? This may be the questionnaire for you. There are over 150 questions you can answer about your character to really get down into the nitty gritty details of their life.
Worksheet: Character arcs
This worksheet is a little different from the others because it focuses on the arc; the journey from flawed belief to healed belief that you can learn more about in the email course. You’ll be able to drill down into your character’s motivations, flaws, and the stakes of your story (aka what happens if they fail.)
Article: The 12 literary archetypes
Masterclass does a great job breaking down these twelve archetypes, giving examples, and explaining how you can use them in your own work. They even explain the difference between an archetype, a cliche, a stereotype, and a stock character, which is so useful! If you’re interested in archetypes or want to learn more about them, I also did a short series of blog posts comparing Junian archetypes to tarot; you can check it out here!
Youtube video: Tarot for writers
Speaking of tarot, this Youtube video does a great job of breaking down what tarot is and how it can be used for plot and character development. If you’re new to tarot or not a witchy person, this is a great primer, and if you’ve used it before it has great ideas for how to incorporate it into your writing process. If you want to skip ahead to the stuff about writing, instead of learning about tarot, that begins around the nine minute mark.
Podcast episode: Character flaws
So many people struggle with writing flawed characters. This episode of Write Where It Hurts is an hour and twenty minutes worth of information about writing flawed characters that your audience will still love.
Website: Fantasy name generator
It’s called the fantasy name generator, but this website can do so much more. It’s full of random name generators; I’ve used it to gain inspiration for everything from D&D characters to town names to real human names broken down by region of the world. Need a name for a laboratory, a detective, or a werewolf? Fantasy name generator has you covered.
Youtube video: Four proven frameworks
This masterclass video from Storygrid is focused on developing a cast of characters for your book or script. It provides four frameworks that may work for you!
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