Hi everyone! I'm new here, so I apologize if this post comes off as a bit repetitive. So one of my OCs, Reis (the gal in my profile pic) is on a mission to find a cure for her mother's illness, which is just about incurable. She's 14, but she had her childhood cut short because she had to take care of her younger siblings. She is very task-oriented, blunt, honest with everyone (except herself, she can get quite defensive), difficult to approach, and puts up a front so that no one sees her insecurities (I guess that makes her a bit of a tsundere? lol). However, she also has an innately curious side, which she doesn't like showing people out of the fear that she'll come off as childish. My main problem is that to me, she comes off as a bit too straight-laced. I need help fleshing out her more curious side, for example finding a hobby that contradicts her serious nature. I'm a huge fan of characters who come off a certain way but have another aspect of their personality that contrasts their more dominant traits. Any advice? Thanks in advance!
What is the source of money in the house? Either she earns it, someone else earns it or they have some old family money stashed up. Either of the three ways, she worries about money. How she spends, how much she spends, who spends on what. Maintaining a house is a full time job. Who cleans the house every day? Who washes the clothes? Who cooks? Who shops for items? Groceries? Doing all these things does not leave her any time for her personal interests. Here is where you will flesh her out no matter how uninteresting this seems to you. If you flesh out her curious side too much then she will look less of a task oriented person and more of a day dreamer. The hidden aspect has not had time to develop, that is why it is more interesting. If you flesh out her curious side, then she will be a curious person. It's not practical to flesh out a character in more than one traits. She might have had a single curiosity that she keeps wondering about and what might have happened if she had pursued it. Or a few related curiosities. But they will have to be unfulfilled longings and not developed hobbies/interests. That will make her interesting to the readers.
Of course it is - people are more than one thing... a 'character' fleshed out in only one trait is a cardboard cut out... proper characters have all sorts of traits and they often conflict
pretty much every decent character ever written. e,g DI Joe Faraday in Graham Hurleys portsmouth police novels... his main character interest is that hes a cop, but he also has a deaf son, plus he has an interest in birdwatching... if he was written purely as a police officer without any other traits he'd be a two dimensional cut out
She'd be the breadwinner. Her father is around, though my thought process for not involving him was that if he's actively working then she doesn't have as much of a reason to venture out in the first place. So I'm planning on making her father a disabled war veteran who takes care of her siblings while she's away (In the story, she travels away from home in pursuit of a cure for her mom's illness.) Her being away from home becomes a larger plot point later on. I never thought of it that way! It makes sense that she'd be too busy to really pursue a dedicated hobby. That's what I'm aiming for, some sort of an unexpected hobby of hers (maybe writing...?)
Curiosities are generally deeply personal and only the individual knows the personal pleasures of a hobby. I don't think any hobby merits over any other as 'fun hobby'. Another way of saying this is all hobbies are fun. A better way of seeing this is that she is skilled in some way and she enjoys using that skill a lot, only she does not get to do that all so often. You can make her athletic. Maybe she likes to go running. Playing some kind of a sport. If you want a more mental hobby, she might be interested in board games. If she has a scientific bent of mind, she can have a hobby of botanical exploration of flora around her. This seems to go with her search for the cure. It seems obvious right now, but it won't be hard to hide it. She might own an old microscope for this purpose. She might be into star gazing. But I don't know much about star gazing. You would probably not want one of those feminine hobbies for her like sewing or embroidery, I suppose. She can be an expert in tying knots with ropes. But her life does not allow very many opportunities to use that skill. I am not so much in favour of writing as a hobby because it seems to break the fourth wall. Unless you intend to break the fourth wall, avoid using writing as a hobby/interest. Also, you might want to weave the hobby in the larger narrative. Maybe something that helps her in her longer quest? Once you decide what hobby, we can try to think about making it developed yet unfulfilled. This can be fun to do. Decide one!
