First there are Characters. And there are sketches of characters. And after that you've got the Character Arc.
Each one of these items is connected to giving the character more depth in order that the reader be able to identify with the character.
And while a lot of attention is generally ladled upon the main character, other characters including the bad guy and the supporting characters need a certain amount of development also.
It's prolly a good idea to try and give your bad guy some semblance of a soul. I know...soul might be stretching it. But hey, some depth might be helpful in better understanding why the bad guy is...well...bad.
After all, it's a total waste to just say that the bad guy is evil, eats kittens for breakfast, and not give a rationale for such weird behaviour.
"So," I'm sure you're asking yourself, "why have you brought me here to talk about characters and such?"
Glad you asked...
I haven't the first damn clue. Really...I've been totally blocked on all of this for the past several days. And I've done an excellent job re-directing my attention at other things. ::sigh::
But the other day I started digging in where I thought I might help myself the most...characters. I have them...boy, do I have them.
Protagonists, Antagonists, Mentors, Allies, Henchmen...Pirates...oh my!
So I've got them. Not all of them have names, but some do. And I've started trying to fill out some of the particulars.
Since there's a heavy relationship lean with my protagonist (hey, her aunt's just gone off on some sort of Indiana Jones style adventure and could get herself killed or worse), I've started looking at her interaction with other people:
Does she like her family?
When was the first time she ever got punished? For what?
Who are her friends?
Does she make friends easily? Or not?
Who are some of her close friends?
and so on it goes...
(cribbed from Will Write for Shoes)
There's also a suggestion to fill out her life's events in a chronological format with a recommendation to keep it to about 5 pages in length.
So I worked out some of my protagonist's background this way. When the picture started filling out, I realized that some of the same, or similar, questions might be helpful with regards to the other characters.
So off I go...
What's up with your writing?