u/tsquig

Currently working on a scifi/fantasy series. I've written nearly 15 full chapters, but upon reflection have found that almost all of the characters lack depth. And that includes my primary protagonists and antagonists. A sad discovery!

I'm pausing on narrative for the moment (I have the main plot points planned for a few books, so feel good about where I am) and instead plan to prioritize my writing time focusing on building out the world and characters in more depth.

Have you had success with any methods regarding character development? Do you have templates that you like for character building or character sketches? What do you focus on to make them feel "real" and three dimensional?

Currently working on a scifi/fantasy series. I've written nearly 15 full chapters, but upon reflection have found that almost all of the characters lack depth. And that includes my primary protagonists and antagonists. A sad discovery!

I'm pausing on narrative for the moment (I have the main plot points planned for a few books, so feel good about where I am) and instead plan to prioritize my writing time focusing on building out the world and characters in more depth.

Have you had success with any methods regarding character development? Do you have templates that you like for character building or character sketches? What do you focus on to make them feel "real" and three dimensional?

I'm going insane trying to figure out the best way to get a handle on this. I have a series of fantasy novels mostly sketched out (well...at least the first 2 are mostly there...), but this includes character sketches, outlines, and also all of the lore and world building components. World building for this series = magic system, settings, languages, alliances, history, mythology...it's a lot of components, and I'm losing track of stuff.

Curious to hear from those who have done world building like this. How do you keep it all organized? Different Google Docs or Word files? Notebooks? Other tools (and if so, what?)? I'm having a hard time finding stuff ("Oh I remember I wrote down how this weird edge case of the magic is supposed to work but now I can't find it...").

Help!