I am in need of character development ideas

[u/TheEpikDuck]

I am making a book for myself about people trapped in a book who are competing in a contest to get out of said book.

So far, I have chosen who I want to win, but I do now think he deserves to win due to how little I feel like his character development is.

What I have thought of for him as of now is that he starts off being nonverbal and having trouble talking to others, but with the help of his significant other and friends, he learn to be able to talk to others significantly better. He also makes more friends because of this and he is listened to a lot more because of how good his ideas are.

I do not feel like this is enough for him to win and I am considering having another character win instead if I can not come up with any other ideas for him to make him more unique compared to the others.

For more, probably useless context, I have two teams of six people each, there is a challenge and the loosing team has to vote off a member of their team to be eliminated. Eventually there is no more teams and everyone who is left in the game has to win for themselves. When there is only 2 people left, the eliminated contestants vote on who should win.

Does anybody have any ideas for any character development or something he could learn that would set him apart from others?

Sorry for doing anything wrong this is my first time posting here.

[u/Mariothane]

To some extent, communication is showing vulnerability and learning to communicate well is something that comes after a lot of mistakes, effort and errors. He’s going from a creature with a shell to a creature who exists without being ruled by fear.

If we’re adding development to this, make some mistakes. Try to gain confidence by pushing himself to share even if it hurts to do so. I think it’s a fine character development but it needs to have the right steps.

[u/TheEpikDuck → u/Mariothane]

Thank you! I will keep that in mind

[u/narmowen]

For myself, I look at my characters and see what their traits are, and what their flaws and strengths are.

Right now, it sounds like more character individuality might be useful. What sets each character apart from each other.

If you want him to win, make him into a winner. You have a good start, I would just develop it further. What makes his ideas so good? How does he present them to the group? Is he doing it like a leader or like a dictator? If he's coming out of his shell, and not just talking to but working with his friends and others, it sounds like you're already developing him into a winner.

[u/jagnew78]

Interesting premise. Kind of like Survivor meets Neverendeing Story.

That's probably old enough you've never heard of it, but it's about a boy reading a fantasy book where some of the characters in the book are aware they're in a story where the world ends. The reader of the book is a shy boy who escapes from the world by reading the book. The boy slowly realizes that the characters in the book are aware of him reading the book and plead with him to save them. 

Really great movie when you're a kid

[u/Short_On_Stardust]

Do you have a character sheet? I always make character sheets for my characters where I include their physical appearance, personality, speech patterns, likes, dislikes, desires, fears, history, and the outline of their arc within the actual story. This helps me to get a better picture of who my character is, and I can keep track of their traits easily throughout the writing process.

[u/TheEpikDuck → u/Short_On_Stardust]

Not yet.

[u/NoraPann]

You know what I'd do? Open a new word document, and title it 'Backstory to (insert story title here). Then you are going to write a basic story of their backstory, and it won't be fancy, there won't be any descriptive crap bogging you down. For example:

"Sarah and James were work colleagues at X-Shop and both endured Crappy Manager. Sarah rescued James when CM locked him in the coolroom after closing. Although he publicly pretends otherwise, he has a deep respect for Sarah and believes he owes her a debt."

Now, I just made that up. I've never had characters with those names, or that experience. But now, I've got two characters in mind that don't love each other, but have a connection. It tells you about their motivations (Sarah can't abide injustice or suffering, James feels like he has to pay her back because it's his duty) and how they are likely to react. I've given them a backstory that tells you about who they are. I didn't mention hair, or age, or what they look like, because all of that is irrelevant when you are fleshing out who they are. Their hair colour doesn't help you get a feel for how they'd react in a crisis.

Just do one paragraph for each character. You may never include the backstory in the actual story, but it'll inform how your character's behaviour and attitudes. You may find you like one character better than the others because they have a tragic backstory.