Thanks Donna! Life just seems to get busier, doesn’t it? And heck, it’s summer, so we have to stop and smell the roses, too 🙂

Plot is my strong suit. I can spend hours (days, weeks, months) working out plots and subplots, asking all those luscious what-if questions and listing endless options.

Characters? Not so much.

The most roundly developed characters in my story worlds are those I “grew up with”. I start when they’re born and write a personal history. Where they went to school. How they did. What successes and traumas they experienced. Friends. Opponents.

For the best of those characters, an organic enemy arose at the same time, a rival from high school on, though the lead character thought they were friends and helped the “friend” when the friend showed up in need.

I’ve done that only a few times, but as I look back on it, the time I spent was well spent. Of all the characters I’ve written about, I have the deepest understanding of those.

And yet, I see how I could improve even on that.

Thanks for the post and for the tips on empathy. As others have said, sympathy is relatively easy.

Empathy?

Not so much.

Thank you for this thoughtful and useful article.