Life is a blank canvas. You can make it what you want, but like a canvas, there’s only so far you can go before you reach the edge, whether it be one’s career path or their hobbies. Life is amazing in that way. This is one of the reasons I like writing. Every time I stare at a blank page, I wonder what will spill out of my mind onto it. If I make a mistake, it’s no big deal because I can start over.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about character development and how that applies to my own life. I look over the span of my life and see how far I’ve come as an individual. Character development in stories can be equally fascinating, but like real life, there are challenges involved when putting a character’s life on paper.
I’m still pondering about character development in real life and in my writing. In real life, character development is gradual, and it’s easier to explain (most times) why a person is the way they are. In writing, on the other hand, it’s harder to make a character’s ticks and quims jump out at the reader without having to outright write it. In writing, there are only so many pages to write about why a character is the way he or she is. It has limitations. In life, death is the final page…at least on Earth, so that leaves a lot more wiggle room for character development.
In writing, I struggle with character development and the plot. That’s one of the reasons I like the easier pace of blogging. In my opinion, poetry is easier to write than an actual beginning-to-end story. I’m pretty good (I think) at making my characters funny and weird because I like to think I’m funny and weird. I usually have pretty good ideas for stories, but struggle when it comes to transferring what’s in my mind to the page.
I guess when you think about it, anyone can just write, but that doesn’t necessarily make them a good writer. Part of the battle is explaining what ideas come to mind on paper. The other battle is whether the reader will understand it. I guess practice makes perfect when it comes to writing, like practice applies to everything else. I hope with practice, I will get better and expand my scope in writing.
Maybe it’s my interest in psychology, but I want to know why a person does what they do on the page and in real life. The thing about creating characters is that the writer has more say and control over who that person is, rather than in real life. They also have more control over the outcome of the story. I don’t think control is all that important to me when it comes to character development. I just want my characters to be multidimensional and interesting, and I want the outcomes of my work to be worth the reader’s time and attention. (I know, that’s a lot of pressure to put on myself, but it’s true.)
One of my personal goals when it comes to writing is to work on character development. I heard that plenty of writers draw inspiration for their characters from real people. Maybe I can spend time taking an inventory of the people that I’ve actually encountered in my life and begin the process of working on character development that way. Who knows? Life is a blank canvas after all.