**An excerpt of a tutorial written by Danielle Blanchard for the benefit of the students engaged in the seminar on fictional/creative writing.**

Anaylizing Your Character

A well developed character includes a detailed past, strengths and weaknesses, faults and talents.  It is an extension of who the member is and usually focuses upon one basic element of the member's values.  For instance, many people create characters that are based on one element of themselves that is magnified to an extreme and dictates that characters interactions with other characters.  An example would be obsessive compulsive disorder.  A character based on OCD would be hindered by the restraints of such a disorder.  They would be unable to focus on any other aspect of a role playing situation if their disorder is engaged.  If this character was OCD on cleanliness, they would be incapable of being in a dirty room.  However, there is always an opposing element to any disorder or trait.  This same character would pay special attention to detail and would gain intelligence that could be used in the interaction with other characters due to such an accute attention to details.

A common mistake for developing a character's past is making it a traumatic one filled with devastation.  This approach is usually easier for the author given that the emotional element is already there; no other development is needed to create an emotional response from the reader.  However, these characters can grow emotionally tiring and it becomes increasingly hard to continue the level of emotional stimulation and could jeapordize the literary piece in whole.  This cycle continues until the author gains insight into character development and seeks a character that can withstand time in which the reader can grow attached to them in a way that they begin to take on a life of their own.

Although it is difficult at first, it is a better idea to create your character's past based upon real world experience.  For instance, their family may not have been murdered before their eyes, but they could have divorced or their parents could have been uninterested in their lives while growing up.  This new grounded past will mould your character into a lifelike being while maintaining a neutral emotional experience.  Therefore, your character can control the emotional response of the reader over time which would benefit the general plot of the story.  The author will have more control over the emotional reaction of the reader and will, therefore, be able to emphasize specific parts of the story through emotion which will drive home the message the author intended the reader to receive.  

Another important aspect of a character's past is that, while you're writing it out, consider who is in their past.  In other words, a character's past is simply other people's actions and how those actions effect your character.  In essence, our entire past is made up of our and other people's choices and how those choices or actions affect our future.  By focusing on who are the important figures of your characters past (i.e. parents, siblings, friends, boy/girlfriends) and their actions/choices, you can develop your character's counter reaction.  Eventually, depending on how much time you wish to put into your character's past (and most people add onto it or change it as they go), it will become a history that will develop your character's basic personality.

A personality is hard to define.  In the dictionary, it states that a personality is as folllows:

1.    the visible aspect of one's character as it impresses others: He has a pleasing personality.

2.    a person as an embodiment of a collection of qualities: He is a curious personality.

3.    Psychology.

a.    the sum total of the physical, mental, emotional, and social characteristics of an individual.

b.    the organized pattern of behavioral characteristics of the individual.

4.    the quality of being a person; existence as a self-conscious human being; personal identity.

5.    the essential character of a person.

6.    something apprehended as reflective of or analogous to a distinctive human personality, as the atmosphere of a place or thing: This house has a warm personality.

7.    a famous, notable, or prominent person; celebrity.

8.    application or reference to a particular person or particular persons, often in disparagement or hostility.

9.    a disparaging or offensive statement referring to a particular person: The political debate deteriorated into personalities.

It is your character's personality that will determine how that character interacts with other characters and will be the basis for the entire plot of the story.  Therefore, a well developed personality is above all the most important aspect of your character, even if it is developed through the past of a character.

It is important to make your character as true to life as you can.  Every strength you give them (i.e. a gracious smile) you should recipicate with a weakness (i.e. intolerance for criticism.)  This will balance your character and ensure that their interactions are consistent.  Consistency in your character's personalities is important when they interact with other characters within the story.  Consider this, once one character has been completely developed, and placed in a specific setting, the character's personality will decide the movement of the piece; the story will begin to write itself.  For example, if Jane (a character) is an ambitious woman with weak morals, when placed in an environment where she is given a choice that engages both of these traits, Jane's personality will decide what will happen next in the story.  If she is weak of morals, she would most likely choose a path that would better her situation even if it would harm someone else.  Good character development in the onset of writing a story will remove the stress of the plot from the author and provide a continuation to the original inspiration for the story to begin with.