When creating a character it's good to make a list of everything you know about your character, including incidents from their past; how they walk, speak or dress and how they eat.
Character biographies can help you know what motivates a character's actions. When most writers have mapped out the back story and history of the characters it helps their decision making process when confronted with what a character might do in a given situation. Remember, when describing your character avoid telling and not showing. Statements like "
she has low self esteem," are of no use. How do you SHOW this about them? Try, "his brother constantly belittles his intelligence in front of their friends, but he never confronts his brother about it; instead he apologizes for having a thought or an opinion." Now you have something specific and tangible to work with. Those characteristics create something personal rather than generic.
There are three types of characters in every screenplay;
The Protagonist: The main character or leading figure or principle in the story be it hero or anti-hero.
The Antagonist: The main character or leading figure or principle in opposition to the protagonist. The person who provides the obstacle or hurdle that the protagonist must overcome in order to achieve their goal.
The Supporting character(s): These characters function to support the main characters in the story.
There's also a nifty little software tool for character development called
Character Pro 5 which can help you with character biographies & back stories for all of your character creations!
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