Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

60%
+1 −0
Q&A Identifying and managing weak scenes during planning

Understanding your characters is definitely important. I know that there are some authors who take specific events from main characters' lives -the types of events that shape who they are as people...

posted 6y ago by Cherriey‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T10:54:35Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/42335
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Cherriey‭ · 2019-12-08T10:54:35Z (about 5 years ago)
Understanding your characters is definitely important. I know that there are some authors who take specific events from main characters' lives -the types of events that shape who they are as people- and write a short blurb of that event. This not only helps them find the characters' voice, but it also allows them to become better acquainted with who the character is.

Once you write these blurbs, when you are thinking about your story while standing in line or driving you can use the knowledge you gained from the blurbs to walk the characters through the plot as you currently understand it. If you hit on something that the character just wouldn't do, you are more likely to notice it. That is the benefit of knowing someone so well. You know if it would take a very specific set of events to get them to do what you think is necessary, or it could force you to use your resourceful skill to find another way.

Like most things in life there is still a small possibility that your flow will be broken by something else, but knowing your story elements intimately will help greatly.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-02-19T16:24:33Z (almost 6 years ago)
Original score: 1