What Challenges Do You Give Your Characters?

[OddLove]

So I'm curious how people go about developing a character and making them flawed and human-like.

For me personally, when I began my "forever story" that's episodic, I imagined a young amateur Dominatrix (27) and a young submissive line-cook guy (27) then the next step was personality. The woman would be on the spectrum but highly intelligent, and have borderline personality disorder because I personally hate the way it's portrayed as the "Crazy Ex who Burns Your House Down" in Hollywood. The man would have a learning disability. Not Autism. He's much dumber than the woman though, and he has an anxiety disorder and panic attacks.

Then strengths like Woman is responsible, good with routines, smart, intuitive in specific ways. Guy is extremely humble, open minded, and a calm presence to be around.

As I read some other people's works that give me a strong understanding of who the characters are, I sometimes pick up certain things that are unsaid for the readers. Like one story where a woman got hyper defensive and apologetic after dropping a coffee mug and a guy was left confused and scrambling to convince it her wasn't a big deal. Without saying it, it became clear she had abusive people in her life at some point whether it were parents or a partner.

Do other people here begin with character building like that?

And if not, what's your process for developing human feeling characters with depth?

 

[MrPixel]

Ohmygosh. Nearly all of my characters are introduced in some manner of resolution of a challenge. The Sexy Shay series is all about challenges and resolution.

 

[Erozetta]

My own neurosis.

 

[Britva415]

I primarily think about the character in terms of how they handle the challenge that is the story's crux. Or, the various challenges that are the plot of the story.

That can come out one-dimensional, so, a character can organically "acquire" some additional challenges as they're brainstormed or written. Flaws, personal matters, weaknesses. But to me this isn't what comes first.

Between the following two types of stories, I appreciate the second more than the first:

Stories that are conceived with the question, "what kind of challenge should a character like this have told about them?"

Versus stories that are conceived with the question, "what kind of character should a challenge like this be told about?"

The challenge could be an internal one, but I am speaking more about external ones. Think "inciting incident." What happens to drive the character to overcome the circumstances. That's when their internal challenges spice up the situation, maybe hinder the character, make the challenge harder, more dramatic, or interesting.

So a story can call for both, but I personally have more resonance with those where the characterization follows from the intended plot. Finding a plot by getting to know a character is less my preference.

 

[Erozetta]

For a more serious answer: I don't really think about it. I write, what comes out is what comes out. I don't set out to write a specific character with specific humanizing flaws. They just kinda flow like a conversation into reality.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I start work just a bare understanding of who the characters are. 'She's a cougar looking for a young lover.'
Everything else about her development evolves with the story. By the time the first draft is done I've a real good sense of them and the editing process fleshes then out completely. As much as they need, that is.

 

[Voboy]

A number of my characters are assholes.

It tends to hold them back, but their arc is pretty simple: by the end of the story, they're less of an asshole.

Usually, when I write bad-natured characters, unfortunate things happen to them. I try to make these events comedic, but that doesn't always work.

Otherwise? I try for interesting characters. Their flaws are normal flaws. I don't tend to write characters facing massive health challenges, or anything like that.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

The very same things I struggle with. Context will determine how do these struggles materialize.

 

[OddLove]

A number of my characters are assholes.

It tends to hold them back, but their arc is pretty simple: by the end of the story, they're less of an asshole.

Usually, when I write bad-natured characters, unfortunate things happen to them. I try to make these events comedic, but that doesn't always work.

Otherwise? I try for interesting characters. Their flaws are normal flaws. I don't tend to write characters facing massive health challenges, or anything like that.

Personally, I found those type of journeys/development satisfying. If the character is the exact same at the end than they were at the beginning, it's kinda meh. If it has good erotic scenes it's still worth a read. But seeing someone mature in different ways, maybe becoming more forgiving, or assertive, or whatever's holding them back.

 

[RetroFan]

Quite a number in some of my more serious stories or historical fiction works. I've set stories on the Titanic, in the Australian city of Darwin at Christmas 1974 when Cyclone Tracy destroyed most of it, during The Blitz in England during World War II, the 'Big Freeze' in the UK during the winter of 1962-1963 and another about the Vietnam War during the late 1960s, so the challenges obviously present themselves.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

I have a tendency to know the basic plot and (if they aren't existing ones I am reusing) pants the characters. That's where, say, Maureen came from, or Andrea, or Daniel McDaniel.

 

[JFoxxo]

Challenge is pretty simple with the stories I write, since they all involve role-reversal, mini giantess and male shrinking. It always comes down to, can my protag accept what's happening, or stop it? Will he maintain his previous identity? Will he submit? The answers to those questions are always different, and contextual, but that psychological challenge is at the heart of the genre I write.

 

[StillStunned]

I prefer plot- or event-driven stories, so the challenge is usually the whole point of the story. The question isn't "What kind of challenge would be interesting for this character to overcome?", but "What kind of character would find themselves in this situation?"

So take for example an alien invasion. Would it be interesting to write about heroic soldiers fighting to save earth? Sure, but that story has been told a thousand times. It would be more interesting to write about the world being saved by a nerdy sci-fi writer and his competent but fan-girly handler. A fairy tale about Jack the innocent farm lad going on a quest to find love, or Jackie the hypersexual farm lass wandering around to avoid having to marry? Watching a neighbour through the window, or watching that neighbour explore her sexual individuality as she breaks free from an abusive partner?

 

[ColtonWrites]

Oh, sure. That's how you keep them human. They have to have flaws, otherwise they're just cutouts.

I write a lot of D/s style fiction and there's always the risk of making the Dominant too perfect. I try to work in some insecurity into their personality or put misunderstandings in their dialog.

And I will often have a challenge as a core piece of the MC's personality. Often it's dysphoria/a trans identity. Sometimes it's the sub's insecurities about themselves. Once it was a physical disability.