Beyond the Character Sheet: How to Give Your Characters Depth, Conflict and Growth
Kirsty Schumacher
9/14/20266 min read
You can create the most detailed character profile imaginable.
You can know their birthday, favourite colour, childhood pet, coffee order, biggest fear, relationship history, Myers-Briggs type and what they had for breakfast on Tuesday.
And yet... they can still feel completely flat.
Why?
Because knowing about a character isn't the same as knowing who they are.
A compelling character needs more than characteristics. They need desires, flaws, motivations, history and — particularly for a protagonist — somewhere to go.
The goal isn't simply to create a character who can exist in your story.
It's to create a character who changes because of the story.
1. Create a character personality chart
A personality chart can be an extremely useful starting point, particularly when you're developing a major character.
Think of it as a checklist of everything you might want to know about your character before — or while — writing them.
You might include:
Basic information
Name
Age
Occupation
Where they live
Family
Education
Social background
Physical characteristics
Height
Hair
Eyes
Distinguishing features
Clothing
Posture
Walk
Voice
Personality
Strengths
Weaknesses
Habits
Mannerisms
Fears
Desires
Insecurities
Values
Beliefs
Sense of humour
Psychology
What motivates them?
What do they want?
What do they fear?
What do they believe about themselves?
What do they believe about other people?
What worldview shapes their decisions?
Relationships
Who do they love?
Who do they distrust?
Who has hurt them?
Who understands them?
Who challenges them?
You don't necessarily need to include every possible category. The point isn't to create a bureaucratic form for your fictional people. The point is to know enough about them that you can write them consistently.
2. Write the backstory - even if the reader never sees it
One of the most useful exercises you can do as a writer is to write the full backstory of your characters.
This may include events that never appear in the novel.
In fact, some of the most important things you know about a character may never need to be explained directly to the reader.
Why is this useful?
Because your character's past influences who they are in the present.
If you know what happened to them at age eight, you may understand why they react strangely to something at age thirty.
If you know why they lost someone they loved, you may understand why they refuse to become emotionally attached again.
If you know where their deepest insecurity originated, you can make their present-day behaviour much more convincing.
The reader doesn't need to know all of this.
You do.
3. Don't confuse backstory with story
Knowing the backstory is important. But that doesn't mean your novel should begin with ten chapters explaining it.
One of the most common problems with backstory is that writers give readers information before the reader has a reason to care about it.
A useful place to begin is with the story's dramatic question.
What crisis or conflict has disrupted your protagonist's ordinary world?
What problem needs to be solved?
What is at stake?
Starting close to the dramatic question gives the reader something to become invested in immediately. The backstory can then be revealed as it becomes relevant.
4. Reveal backstory strategically
There are several ways you can introduce your character's past.
Begin with it
You can begin the story with an important event from the character's past, or use a prologue.
This can work, but it comes with a risk: the reader may not yet care enough about the characters or situation to be interested in their history.
Use flashbacks
Flashbacks allow you to reveal important pieces of history when they're relevant.
But use them carefully.
A long flashback can interrupt the momentum of the present-day story and leave the reader frustrated.
If you use one, either keep it brief or bring the reader deeply into the scene so that it feels like a story rather than an information dump.
Reveal it through present-day dialogue
Characters can naturally discuss their past. This can be particularly effective because the information is happening within the current story.
But there's a trap.
Avoid having characters tell each other things they would obviously already know simply because the reader needs to know them.
For example:
"As you know, we've been married for twenty years and met when we were both studying at university..."
That's information for the reader, not natural conversation.
Gradually weave it through the story
Often, this is the most subtle approach.
Reveal small pieces of the past through memories, objects, conversations, reactions and discoveries. Allow the reader to gradually put the pieces together.
And, of course, you can use a mixture of all four approaches.
The important question isn't "How can I tell the reader this information?"
It's: "When will the reader most want to know it?"
5. Give your character a flaw
Perfect characters are boring.
Not because readers dislike good people, but because flaws create opportunities for conflict.
Start with a character who has something they need to overcome.
Perhaps they are:
Afraid of failure
Controlling
Selfish
Too trusting
Cynical
Insecure
Impulsive
Stubborn
Emotionally closed-off
Obsessed with being perfect
The flaw shouldn't simply be something you write on their character sheet. It should affect the story.
Your character's flaw should cause problems. Their fear makes them avoid something important. Their stubbornness damages a relationship. Their need for control causes them to make a terrible decision. Their insecurity prevents them from taking an opportunity.
Now the character's personality isn't just information. It is driving the plot.
6. Build a character arc
Once you know your character's flaw, you can begin thinking about their character arc. A character arc is the journey of change your protagonist undergoes throughout the story.
For example:
Fear → Courage
Callousness → Empathy
Self-doubt → Confidence
Isolation → Connection
Dishonesty → Honesty
Need for control → Acceptance
The important thing is that the transformation shouldn't happen because the writer decides that the character needs to change. It should happen because the story forces them to confront the thing they need to change. That's where conflict becomes so useful.
7. Put the flaw in the path of the conflict
Here's a simple way to think about character arcs:
Flaw → Conflict → Choice → Consequence → Growth
Imagine a protagonist who is terrified of being vulnerable.
Their flaw is emotional avoidance. Then they meet someone they genuinely care about. The relationship forces them to confront their fear. They have to choose between running away - the behaviour they're accustomed to - or allowing themselves to be vulnerable. Their choice creates consequences. Those consequences teach them something. Eventually, they may reach a point where they can make a different choice.
That's character growth.
The most satisfying character arcs often involve a protagonist facing the same underlying problem repeatedly, but responding differently as they change.
8. Practise with character sketches
You don't have to practise characterisation only by writing chapters of your novel. One of the best exercises is to write separate character sketches.
Create a long list of possible character traits. Then randomly select three.
For example:
Jealous
Generous
Impatient
Now write a short scene that brings all three traits to life without simply naming them.
You might write about the character waiting in a restaurant. Perhaps they're irritated because their friend is late. They notice another table receiving a better bottle of wine and become jealous. Then, despite their impatience, they leave a generous tip for the waiter.
You have created a character through behaviour, rather than description.
Try another three traits.
Then another.
This exercise teaches you to translate abstract personality words into observable behaviour.
And that is a skill worth developing.
9. Use direct and indirect characterisation deliberately
Remember the distinction from Part 1:
Direct characterisation = telling.
Indirect characterisation = showing.
You can tell us:
He was arrogant.
Or you can show us:
He didn't bother to introduce himself. He simply assumed everyone in the room already knew who he was.
The second gives the reader something to interpret.
Indirect characterisation is often more vivid because it allows readers to participate in creating the character in their own minds.
As you revise your writing, look for places where you've simply labelled a character.
"She was nervous."
"He was generous."
"She was cruel."
"He was lonely."
Ask yourself:
Could I show this instead?
Sometimes the answer will be yes.
10. Keep observing people
Ultimately, characterisation is a skill of observation.
Read other writers and pay attention to how they construct people on the page. Then observe the people around you. Not to copy them directly, but to notice the tiny details that make people individual.
The way someone laughs. The way they avoid eye contact. The way they sit. The words they repeatedly use. The shoes they choose. The objects they carry. The way they react when they're uncomfortable. The things they notice. The things they don't notice. The contradiction between what they say and what they actually do.
All of these can become material for fiction.
The more you practise observing people through a writer's lens, the more naturally characterisation becomes part of the way you see the world.
Conclusion
Creating a character isn't simply about deciding what they look like.
It's about understanding why they are the way they are.
Know their history, even when the reader never sees all of it. Understand their fears and motivations. Give them flaws that create genuine problems. Put those flaws into conflict. Then give the character difficult choices that force them to change.
And practise.
Create character sketches. Experiment with different traits. Read closely. Watch how other writers reveal people through dialogue, action, physical details and interior thought.
Because ultimately, your goal isn't to make your character feel like a fictional construct.
It's to make the reader forget that they're reading about one.
They should feel like a person.
kirsty writes
Explore my collection of self-published novels, stories, and more.
© 2026. All rights reserved.