[Marileangorifurnimaluim]

Hi ArwenBaggins. Probably this should be posted in another section, but I'm happy to help.

I don't recommend building characters like you do in RPGs, from the outside in, clothes, weapons, etc. You get stuck that way. You probably noticed.

Try building your character from inside out.

What sort of person is she?

How did she get that way?

What is her family like?

What are the people like, and the events that made her who she is?

Bingo, Right there you have a whole set of characters, family, all the people who participated in the events of her life.

Waitaminute you say, that sounds kind of ordinary.

Well, if she's interesting, there must be something interesting about her life.
Otherwise, why would anyone want to read about it? No one wants to read about a boring life.

Waitaminute you say, I don't want to write about her childhood, I want to write about her adventures now!

Ah! Then that's the question you should ask first. You know Who your story is about. Now, What is it about?

Another thing. Good writers know more about their characters, their life stories, their history, where they lived, their friends, than ever appears in their books.

Practical suggestion: get a notebook, carry it around with you, and write notes on your characters, story ideas that come to you. Some you'll use in your story. Some, only you will know. Some scenes will come out complete, the whole chapter right there. Others will bits and pieces, puzzle pieces that don't fit anywhere. Yet. You might use them later. You might not.

RPGs don't really have characters. They have people who play themselves, in imaginary costume. What makes RPGs interesting is they reveal different sides of the players' personalities.

So you can also start with an event, ask yourself, who would have to be there?

Then ask, how would this event effect my main character(s) and her friends?

How would they react? What would they do? Say?

How would their actions change the event? Would they make it better? Would they make it worse?

How would they be different after this?

Would it scare them and make them cautious?

Or would they be braver, maybe over-confident and then make a fatal mistake later?

Would they have done something good, but nobody cares or knows?
Or maybe if Others knew it would undo the good, so they have to keep it a secret?

Maybe they did something bad, and got away with it, and now have to live with the guilt of being praised when they don't deserve it?

What would the consequences be if people found out? Would they just mad and forgive, or would it be really serious?

What if... they did something bad (what would that be?) and it through sheer accident came out to really do some good.

What if that good would be undone by admitting it? Would they choose to unburden their conscience at the expense of others, or choose to live with it, for the sake of the realm? How would that change them?

Would that change in them (let's say they got bitter and became a harsh ruler - "you don't know what I've sacrificed for the good of my people" - and gave themselves carte blanche for the rest of their lives) be a worse effect than the original good?

Characters and scenes go together, they create eachother. And characters and characters do the same. Events and other people reveal different sides of a person.

Think how the Hobbits changed as they made choices, good ones (Frodo deciding not to put on the ring in the BarrowDowns) or bad ones (Pippin giving in to the urge to look into the Palantir). Think how Frodo looked as Sam differently when he discovered Sam memorized the elvish lay of Gil-Galad.

It's all in interviewing your characters, asking ... what if?