There is a lot of great material out there about how to create believable characters that readers care about. Any combination of questions can help you check how robust and dimensional they are for instance:
Who wants what?
Why can’t they have it?
Why do I care?
While questions like the above are valid, they are very broad so in some ways trying to answer them can be overwhelming. Having said that, even when questions get more precise, I find myself shoehorning answers in to fit the question which means one version of the character is not correct.
It’s common knowledge that we don't all take information in the same way, so exercises that might work for most people, won't be as effective for others.
As an example, when I heard someone describing elements of drawing ie: overlapping, negative space, contrast, proportion--it resonated with me in a way that other exercises haven't. Here were my initial thoughts:
Negative space.
This makes me think of what a character is NOT saying, and what does that tell us about them?
Overlapping
How do they fit in the world with the other characters?
Contrast
How distinct are they from the people and environment they're in?
Perspective
Where is this person coming from, where are they trying to get to? What are they seeing in their horizon line? What are they missing, or seeing more of because of where they're standing?
Essentially, they're the same questions, but when I think about it in terms of how this character fits into an image, I can see it more clearly. The hilarious thing, dear reader, is that I can't draw for shit....which is why I write ;)
Another approach I discovered more recently is thinking about our characters as if we're their life coach. Due to being in some form of lockdown for almost a year now, I ended up sitting in on a 5 day course which included some training with Millionaire Success Habits writer Dean Graziosi. I continued to follow Dean on a few other training courses and came across one of his exercises to help find out about yourself, and what it is that really drives you.
The exercise is called 7 Levels Deep, and it's basically asking ‘why’ to a question 7 times, until you get to the truth of your first answer.
Here is an example.
We'll take this character from a story I started earlier this year called Lucy. Her estranged sister has disappeared in search of their father, and Lucy goes looking for her.
1) What is important to you about finding your sister?
Making sure she's okay.
2) What is important to you about making sure she's okay?
To know I haven't lost her.
3) What is important to you about not losing her?
She's the only tie I have with my dad.
4) What is important to you about your dad?
Understanding why he left.
5) What is important about finding out why he left?
Needing to know why his books were so much more valuable than his family.
6) What is important about knowing which is more valuable?
I always had the feeling he was taken, not that he left.
7) Why is it important to know which one is the reason he left?
It will define me.
Yikes! So, on the surface, she's trying to find her sister because she wants to save her, but underneath it all, she needs to find her sister so she can find her dad and confront him to finally understand who she is. Therefore, her superficial journey will follow one line of inquiry but the negative space, the contrast, the perspective, will unveil a different story.
For those of you looking for other ways to find your characters, hopefully these are some helpful tools to add to the character development arsenal!
Good luck, we’re all counting on you!
