What is a Character? Are they more than the sum of their archetypes, or nothing more than a collection of stereotypes occasionally given a new coat of paint? How can you take a concept into a fully fledged character?
The answer, as with anything put to the public forum, will vary depending on who you ask.
Start Big
By which, I mean, start with the Broad Strokes of your character.
Tropes are Tools, and are only bad if they are mismanaged. Kind of like a hammer hitting your finger rather than the nail. What is your character's
purpose within the story? Are they the Main character? The Antagonist? The Sidekick or Lancer? The kindly old grampa watching the epic battle of Fleenor Street from the comfort of his porch?
There's no wrong way to start; only multiple ways to approach character development.
Character First
With this method, you start with the Character, and create stories to suit their personality and adventure style.
Story First
With this method, you start with the Story you want to tell, then create Characters to fill roles in the story. Worldbuilding First
With this method, you start with the World you are building, and the Characters are added to live within it and give it texture.
The kind of character you want to create will influence which way you choose to develop the character. Sometimes you will start with a Character, other times with a story. As your story and character develop, you will need more characters to fill in around them, and the cycle continues.
Game Masters and
Players are most likely to use Worldbuilding first, whereas
Writers are either going to start with Character or Story First.
Character First
With Character First, the Archetypes are selected and the primary traits of the Character Developed before the Worldbuilding and the Story are settled. Superhero comics are a good example of this in play; you aren't reading for the overarching narrative and deep themes, you're reading for the superhero and how they're going to save the day. In our example, the concept would look as thus:
The Protagonist
The Great Hero of Fleenor Street who defends toddlers on trikes and sweet sisters in skipping ropes from the evil bullies of Morgan Lane. Armed with his hockey stick, his lucky Puck, and no small amount of grit, he keeps his street safe.
Character First asks
Who, and
Why;
Who is this person, and
Why do they act? The story is built to suit Who they Are and Why they act; Our hero here isn't going to be carrying the Ring to Mount Doom, but he IS going to make sure the bullies from Morgan Lane leave his sister alone.
Story First
With Story first, the broad concept of the story is developed first, and the characters designed to fit its narrative. Most writers start with the story in mind, and develop characters based off of it. The ebb and flow of story beats and the requriements of the plot dictate the skills and abilites of the characters needed to meet it. In our theoretical story, it would look like this:
The Story
Two rival factions come to a head in the Battle of Fleenor Street! One fights for peace and safety for all its inhabitants, the other for pure domination of the streets. With One Street Hockey game to rule them all, who will rise to the top?
Story First asks
What, and
Why;
What is happening, and
Why does the cast care about it? The Characters are then created to suit the story; We're not going to put a superhero character in either of these roles, but a scrappy 10-year old with a hockey stick and an attitude fits the narrative better.
Worldbuilding First
With Worldbuilding First, the Overall World is created, lined out, and set in place before the Characters are created to populate it and the story is told. Many traditional TTRPGs are set up in this way, at least when it comes to giving the players guidlines on the characters they can create. In our mock scenario, it would look like this:
Fleenor Street
A quiet suburban street sqeezed between Morgan Lane and Appleton Way. Only a few blocks from the school yet isolated from the majority of local traffic, Fleenor Street is a haven for children to play and run about after classes have ended for the day. Street Hockey is a popular favorite, especially during the summer months.
Worldbuilding First asks
Where, and
When; Where is this locale the story and characters reside in and
When can all of this come about? If my storyworld is The middle of the Ocean, the Depths of Space or an office building in the middle of downtown manhattan, the story and the Characters that result are all going to be very different from each other.
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