Character Development Ideas: Ways To Write A Great Story 

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If you are planning to write a novel, yet you are not sure how to start it, you might need a backup. It could be a professional novelist. The question will be, how much does a novelist charge you? Expectedly, these professionals might charge you a higher cost, unlike the free character ideas to get online, which you can come up with great stories for:

  • Plot
  • Character

But, if you wish to get more ideas that can be catchy to the readers, you can get cool character concepts at a lower cost online.

Is writing a novel easy?

When you wonder how to write a novel, you must keep in mind the following:

A novel has these three main parts:

  • beginning
  • middle
  • end

A novel has these four elements:

  • characters
  • plot
  • setting
  • conflict

A novel should explore at least one theme.

Before starting to work on a novel, you must familiarize yourself with these elements and separate the novels from the other types of writing. A novel is more than just a long story; it is a distinct story with multiple moving parts.

What is a novel?

If you are planning to write a novel, yet you are not a novelist, you may need to understand what a novel is. A novel is a lengthy story. Due to the length, novels tell fairly complex stories with an in-depth exploration of the following:

  • characters
  • themes
  • settings

These novels can be for:

  • adults
  • teens
  • children

They can fit into various genres. Yet, not all novels can fit neatly into one genre. Some straddle 2 or more and others don’t belong to any genre. The novels are fictional stories but may be based on historical events and figures. It is what separates a novel from a book.

 How to build a character?

Have you tried something that you didn’t want to do because someone described the experience as character-building? These experiences indeed contribute to what person you are now. The word character is derived from the Greek, which means “I engrave”. A character is something etched into by the experiences you have when going through life. 

What are the ways that character is developed?

Character development will be the most observable changes a character makes as the narrative progresses. Tracking character development makes the reader focus on the character traits and events of the character. Here are the examples of the character’s circumstances:

  • where they live
  • their family structure
  • social status, etc.

Character traits are:

  • features of a character’s personality and appearance how the character behaves and looks
  • characteristics of the character

For example:

A character in a story has a happy life with wealthy parents. The character traits of a character at the beginning of the story are:

  • trusting
  • naive
  • talkative
  • entitled
  • soft-bodied
  • expensively dressed

Then, the character’s parents have a miserable accident, making the child an orphan. Starting with that incident, the child experiences hardships and betrayals in the orphanage until it gets a new home, yet experiences the same scenario. The plot causes the child’s characteristics by the end of the story to become:

  • discerning
  • wise
  • quiet

more aware of the needs of others

  • muscular
  • dressed in cheaper
  • practical clothing

All these character ideas are only one of the effective ideas that can give life to your written novel.