Crafting Complex Multi-Dimensional Characters in Your Writing

Writing Prompt 4/4 for May Course in Revealing Character

Tiny stories are an excellent arena to experiment with character development.

Because they demand a focused portrayal of a character’s complex nature.

Multi-dimensional characters elevate your writing

They allow readers to connect and empathise with the characters because there’s more to them.

They’re not paper cut-outs or raw archetypes.

Let’s dive into an exercise that will help you do just that.

Step 1: Mould a real person

• Use a mix of strengths, weaknesses, and conflicting motivations.
• This is essential to create a character that feels authentic and relatable.
• Consider their desires, goals, and the obstacles they face, both externally and internally.

Step 2: Give them an impossible choice

• This choice must highlight their complexity, their history, their traumas, their love and their hate.
• The decision should force the character to confront their internal struggles and reveal their strengths and weaknesses.
• And show their conflicting motivations.

Step 3: Show their struggle and growth

• Use their choices and reactions to visualise the conflict for the reader.
• Instead of telling the reader about their struggle, let it unfold through their actions, thoughts, dialogue, and responses to the situation.
• Use natural dialogue to add depth to your character, hinting at their motivations and intentions.
• Don’t forget about subtext!

Think of Sophie’s Choice

And how impossible they must have been for a mother. How that moment would have broken her and warped her life forever.

Now it’s your turn!

1. Create a real person faced with an impossible choice.
2. In this tiny space, make us believe in them and hurt with them.
3. Make them bleed on the page.
4. Use everything in your toolbox to show us why their choice matters.

Happy writing!

300 words for the story bits.

1. Tag your story as you like, e.g. Fiction or Flash Fiction But don’t use Writing Prompts, please.
2. 🙏 link back to the prompt so others can find it too.

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