My Character is a young girl with long black hair, as in hip length long, and light amber eyes. She's an inn keeper in a tiny medieval town. And that is all I have managed to come up with for her for that last two years. I don't know how to develop her more. And she needs it if she's going to be the main character.
well what i do (i don't know if this is the best way) is I just come up with a list of character traits in my mind like: stubborn, cocky, spicy, friendly, shy, etc. And then I just put down the ones I think could move the story forward. I start with those general traits and then narrow down and add what I want and just let my ideas do what they want… If nothing i've said had been very helpful then I would start with the motivations. I personally think that whatever drives the character the most is the most important…
Hey! I've found one of the best ways is putting them into events and situations that allow them to interact with characters and settings! Like through roleplaying, short stories, or drabbles!
but i am also not the most experienced with character development, so don't take any of my advice to heart
Thanks both of you, this really helps
it also helps to ask the WHY question a lot. Why does she work at the inn? might simply be because they were hiring, or it might be because she has some crazy big ambition why does she like this kind of food or this kind of outfit? why does she dislike something else? why is she friends/ enemies with this other person?
of course, not everything needs a reason but it helps find motivation and flesh out the background and relations to other characters.
Speaking of other characters, for personalities and mannerisms I always like to think of how others would see them and why (again with the why's) that is.
It also helps to try and think of little facts about them that aren't necessarily important for the stories or rumours that somehow involve them.
And lastly, I like to think about secrets. Do they have secrets? Do others try to keep secrets from them? why?
Hopefully, this helps as well, and remember you don't have to know everything about a character right away. Sometimes you'll only figure things out when you've written several other characters involved with them.