How do you develop a character along the course of a short story? and is it even nesscecary in the case of a short story?
It really depends on the length of the short story. If its long enough, and the story dictates for the charater to develope then yes you should. If its a micro-short story then I would advise agaisnt it. But really its up to you.
I think it doesn't matter what the length is. Character development has alot of different shapes and sizes. You could develop a character over a coarse of time, this gives the reader a 360 degree view of the character, but a character can be developed by a single action. To me, no story is successful unless it envokes emotion, and to do this you need to have a character that connects with the reader. Character development in essential in a story, short or long. My advice for a short story is that the character development should be something they come to realize, or it should be something small at least. However it is true, if your story is just a paragraph to express a message or single emtoion, character development may not be needed completley.
From what I've been told, it's very difficult to develope depth to a character in a short story. From my personal experience, however, it's easier. For me, it's harder to develope characters in a novel.
For my novel, I have a three page questionaire for each character. Which, humourously, was a phenomenal waste of time. An excel spreadsheet with a few pertinent points works much better for me. I don't know why this is, but I've also found that female characters require more background work than male characters.
I guess it might count as cheating and isnt exactly a proper way to write but a short biography of the character makes it a hundred times easier for the reader. You can also sit on the edge of an info-dump but not exactly over do it with things like "characters thoughts"
A bit of developement is required when it comes to a short story but don't drone it on. Also and some people are not aware of this, but simple things such as dialogue can reveal a lot about the character.
It allows me to track things that I should remember that I may not have to have memorized. Family structure, for example, for non-regular characters, and the rest is usually traits. If someone speaks German, I might note that if it will be relavent. The important things, including speach though, I've found I need to have first hand, and so if I write them down, it becomes distracting. I'm an odd writer though.
renegade, The success of any story whether it be short story, novella or novel will depend almost exclusively on the believability of the characters that you create. I would strongly urge you not to attempt to develop characters as you go. Many good books have been written on the subject of character development. If you have not heard the term “Three Dimensional Character” in all likelihood you will if you continue to write, attend workshops and study the craft of writing. Here is a list of a few books on the subject of character creation that should be very helpful. The Writer’s Guide to Character Traits, by Linda N. Edelstein, Ph.D. Creating Character Emotions, by Ann Hood Careers for your Characters, by Raymond Obstfeld and Franz Neumann See also the post by beowulf: https://www.writingforums.org/showthread.php?p=1727#post1727 Thanks for posting
