CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT EXERCISES

From Flat to Feral

Building Characters That Bite Back

So, you've built the skeleton of a character—brilliant. Now it's time to put some meat on those bones. This guide is the perfect sidekick to our main Character Development Guide and is here to make your characters feel less like cardboard cutouts and more like people you'd (begrudgingly) invite to dinner.

A word of advice: if you're the kind of writer who flies by the seat of their pants (hello, fellow pantsers), these might seem like unnecessary prep. But trust us, even a bit of dabbling in these exercises can save you hours of painful rewrites and bland dialogue later on.

These exercises aim to help you:

Understand your character's emotions
Figure out what sets them apart from other characters
Helps you practice writing in their voice and from their point of view
Create dynamic and well-rounded characters
Build a relationship with your character and their settings, or other characters

1. The Full Monty (of Description)

To truly know your character, write a complete physical description—not how you'd present them in a novel, but how they'd be described by someone on a gossipy debrief after a first date.

Include:

Skin, hair, and eye colour
Hair style
Build and posture
Scars, tattoos, or blemishes
Skin texture or complexion
Their default facial expression
Their scent (don't skip this one—it says a lot!)

Top Tip: Write this from another character's POV. Nobody notices someone's scent unless they're up close and personal—or romantically invested.

2. Fashionably Fictional: The Fancy Dress Test

Clothes do make the character. What your protagonist wears in different scenarios can shape how we see them. It's easy to see these things in your mind and forget that your readers don't see what you do. They only see what you write.

Continue from your previous description but switch the lens to their wardrobe:

Nightwear
Night out attire
Work uniform
Travel gear
Weatherproof wear

Are they a tracksuit-traveller or a linen-loving jet-setter? Do they spritz on a different cologne for the office than for the bar? Don't forget how they move in their clothes. A character constantly adjusting their tie says more than a thousand words of narration.

3. The Grapevine Test (aka Gossip Hour)

What do others say about your character when they're not around? Write a conversation between two non-main characters discussing them.

Are they admired? Loathed? Pitied? This reveals:

Hidden traits
Outside perspectives
Your character's reputation vs reality

This test is great for revealing biases—because, let's face it, a narcissist never thinks they are one.

4. Show It Like You Mean It

Yes, yes—“show, don't tell.” But how?

Don't say:

“He was tired.”

Do say:

“He rubbed his bloodshot eyes and stifled another yawn.”

Make a list of emotions and practice showing them through:

Facial expressions
Body language
Physical reactions

The more visceral your writing, the more real your characters feel.

5. Point-of-View: Through Their Eyes Only

Perspective shapes perception. Two characters witnessing the same event will interpret it wildly differently depending on their values, history, and worldview.

Scenario:

Two men queue at a bank. The man in front checks his phone subtly.

One’s having an affair—he assumes the man is hiding something.
One’s faithful—he’s simply annoyed the queue isn’t moving.

Write the same scene twice from two characters' POVs. How does each interpret it? How do they feel?

Focus on what you learn about each character after writing their scene.

6. The Mundane Morning Test

One of my biggest cinematic pet peeves? The magical, bladderless protagonist. You know the type: we spend 90 minutes following their every move—sometimes over days, weeks, or even months—and not once do they nip off for a wee. Not a single toilet break. Either they've got a superhuman bladder or they've mastered some ancient Zen technique the rest of us haven't.

Of course, I get it—filmmakers ruthlessly snip away anything that doesn't serve the plot. Watching Frodo dash behind a boulder for a quick pee every couple of miles on his way to Mordor isn't exactly box office gold. Still, it does make you wonder how many characters are suffering in silence.

Writing a novel works the same way. Your readers didn't sign up to watch your character brush their teeth, butter their toast, or stare blankly at the kettle as it boils—unless that kettle is about to explode or whisper a secret prophecy.

We don't need to know that:

“Ben got up from the sofa, walked into the kitchen, shuffled to the sink, turned on the tap, and washed his hands before returning.”

Yawn. Instead, try:

“Ben excused himself, returning a moment later rubbing damp hands on his jeans.”

Boom—job done. We get it. He washed his hands. Or maybe he went to the loo. Or screamed into a towel. Who knows? Either way, we've filled in the blanks ourselves—and that's part of the fun.

That said, you as the author should know what happens in those in-between moments. It's in the quiet spaces, the off-page routines, and the stuff that doesn't make the final cut where characters are often their most telling. How they act when no one's watching says more than any dramatic monologue ever could.

Choose a mundane moment (e.g., brushing teeth, walking the dog, making breakfast) and write it as if it matters. Because it does. It's in these quiet in-between spaces that:

Personal habits emerge
Relationships play out
Characters become human

Show emotion, mood, and interaction, even in stillness.

7. The FBI File: Build a Profile

You'll find a great template for this exercise in the Character Lists guide—it's like a secret weapon for character development.

Now, imagine you're working undercover for the FBI (badge not included), and your assignment is to compile a top-secret psychological profile on your character. What do they look like? What makes them tick? What keeps them up at night? And what fatal flaw will trip them up at precisely the worst moment?

This isn't just about listing eye colour and star signs. It's about diving deep—think background, personality quirks, emotional baggage, and that one irrational fear they'd rather not talk about. Focus on their flaws, motivations, and fears—those juicy bits that turn a cardboard cutout into a living, breathing, and usually messy human.

Ask yourself: what gets them out of bed in the morning (besides the promise of coffee)? What drives them through the day when everything's falling apart? These little details are the key to unlocking your character's core personality.

You can find the Character Profile Template here.

Fill it out like a nosy detective, and prepare to discover surprising new sides to your fictional friend.

8. Interview with a Character

Channel your inner detective. You're in a dim room, one light overhead. The camera is switched off. Your character sits across from you. You ask:

Why?

– Why did they do that?
– Why did they react that way?

Keep digging. Ask why until you reach the bedrock of their psyche. If you've ever spoken to a curious toddler, you know how deep “why” can go. They are learning and developing, trying to gain a better understanding of the world, and your task of getting to know your character better should be no different.

9. Drag Them Through Hell (With Love)

No pain, no gain. In order for your character to develop throughout a story, they need to be tested. Sure, strapping someone to a bench and waterboarding them might make for a good thriller, and you'll see very quickly how they react to torture, but it isn't always practical or relevant.

Push your character to the brink—physically or emotionally.

Try one of the following:

Lose a limb
Receive a terminal diagnosis
Get betrayed by a loved one
Be tortured (mentally or literally)
Hit rock bottom and lose everything

Write the moment it all falls apart. Watch how they handle it. Do they break? Grow? Spiral? Remember, a glowstick has to be broken in order to glow.

10. Fan-Fiction Face-Off

Ever wonder why there's a mountain of fan fiction out there, enough to crush a small village? It's because fan-fic writers get to play with characters they already know and love. The groundwork is done—flaws, quirks, tragic backstories—it's all there, ready to go. Writing becomes a lot easier when your protagonist already has emotional baggage packed and labelled.

Now imagine tossing your own character into Salem's Lot. Vampires everywhere, and your poor hero's just trying to get a coffee without being drained dry. Or stick them on the Titanic, right before it meets its icy fate—how do they handle the chaos? Are they bravely helping others to safety, or arguing with the band about the setlist?

This exercise is the ultimate crossover episode—your character meets your favourite story. Choose a book, film, or universe you know like the back of your hand, then plop your character right into it. Salem's Lot, the Titanic, Hogwarts, Westeros—wherever your pop culture heart desires.

How do they cope with:

Vampires?
Icebergs?
Magic?
Dragons?

By watching how they react in someone else's world, you'll learn more about how they think, feel, and respond—and reveal hidden depths you didn't know were there.

Bonus Exercise: Character Prompt Goldmine

Rather than dragging this list on like a director's cut of The Return of the King, you can jump straight into a curated treasure trove of Character Prompts. You'll find a delightful mix of genre-specific gems and thought-provoking character development challenges—perfect for shaking your character out of their comfort zone (and possibly into a spaceship or a haunted circus).

There's a whole multiverse of prompt websites out there, so feel free to wander the digital wilderness like you're on a side quest in Skyrim. Find the ones that vibe with your genre—whether that's epic fantasy, cosmic horror, or romantic tension between rival baristas in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Prompts are great for flinging your character into wildly unexpected scenarios they'd never encounter in your main story—kind of like guest-starring them in a Game of Thrones battle or the Great British Bake Off. And trust me, watching your battle-hardened assassin try to ice a Victoria sponge? Comedy gold.

Personally, I've used more than a few, and some of my favourite short stories were born from these oddball scenarios. In fact, the novel I'm currently working on sprouted from six short stories that started as separate prompt experiments—now all cleverly stitched together like Frankenstein's monster.

So go ahead, prompt your way to brilliance. Sometimes the best stories start with a ridiculous “what if?”

Final Thoughts

If you've made it this far and your brain's starting to feel like it just binged all of Breaking Bad in one sitting—deep breath. No need to panic. These exercises aren't some ancient prophecy etched in stone. They're more like the IKEA instruction manual of character creation: helpful, but totally optional if you prefer to freestyle.

Think of them as a creative buffet—take what you fancy, skip what doesn't spark joy (thanks, Marie Kondo), and feel free to come back for seconds when inspiration strikes.

The real goal here isn't to tick every box like you're trying to 100% complete a Zelda game. It's to level up your writing, build a closer bond with your characters (yes, even the morally grey ones), and figure out how to craft characters who are complex, compelling, and not just cardboard cut-outs with cool names.

So whether you're scribbling in a notebook, typing furiously at 2 a.m., or muttering character dialogue to yourself like you're method acting for Euphoria, know this: you're on the right track. And your characters? They're lucky to have you steering the ship—even if it occasionally crashes into an iceberg for dramatic effect.