Today, we take a break from that little paragraph we wrote, and we begin to think about characters and backstory. Often, writers have much more "material" about a character than what ever shows up in their novel. Fleshing out characters helps them understand exactly what a character would or would not do in any given situation. In fact, once the characters are fully developed, THEY may begin "telling" the writer what to do. Minor characters may take over and become THE major characters if they become interesting enough.
Imagine keeping a file on or interviewing your character--you'll know what they look like, of course, and their name, but you'll need to dig deeper too. Find out all the pertinent facts. Does being the eldest or youngest in the family affect them? Do they have a nuclear family? A dysfunctional one? Do they come from the richest of neighbourhoods or are they dirt poor?
Here's an example of a "character profile" template found online that can help you get to know your characters more. You can find more by Googling those words in quotation marks too. Fill one out for AT LEAST your main protagonist and main antagonist:
http://www.suspense.net/profile.htm
INNER CIRCLE:
I'm giving you handouts to complete this step with, but of course you can add sections that you think will be more useful to your characters. What I give you is just enough to get you going...
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