One Way to Write

Creating COMPLEX Characters

I recently read a webtoon called Hotel Phryne in which a supernatural hotel creates 12 copies of a guy's crush and challenges him to find the one real version. Unfortunately, they all truly believe they're the real version. Spoiler: All the copies are real, just each embodying different sides of the one person's personality. 

As I often do after reading comics, I imagined if this happened to my characters. And the first step was listing all their different sides that would come out as copies. As I was doing this, I realized this split-person scenario is a great exercise in building fleshed out, realistic, 3D characters. Let's call it the Hotel Phryne Scenario. So, first, some preliminary information: 

Personalities and Traits

People are comprised of personalities. Personalities are comprised of similar/complementary traits. To have a complex personality is to have personalities that seem to contradict each other, in other words, having lots of different traits. 

Some examples of traits:
- Mean
- Caring
- Sloppy, disorganized

Examples of personalities: 
- Cold and indifferent 
- Sweet and empathetic
- Scatter-brained and indecisive

Personalities may seem like just sticking two traits together and in some ways it is. But when you're developing a personality, you want to think deeper than just the surface level. It's easy to say Bob is a walking disaster with messy clothes and a disorganized locker. His traits are sloppy and disorganized. But why are his clothes messy and his locker disorganized? Well, let's say it's because his mind is thinking of a bunch of different things at once, running a mile a minute, and he has trouble making decisions so just avoids them. His personality is scatter-brained and indecisive.

The Key to Complex Characters

You want your character to have more than one "personality" so to speak. Real people have multiple sides and sometimes contradict themselves. But it's important that they contradict themselves without seeming randomly out-of-character or inconsistent. Here's a tip:

Most people will have a dominant trait. But their "opposite traits" may be visible in situations like the following:
- In front of the person they like (e.g. Eran shows insecurity in front of his boyfriend and arrogance with everyone else).

- They act contradictory to their real thoughts for convenience or a goal (e.g. Natsu finds people annoying but acts polite to make his life easier).

- As the story progresses, they undergo character development (e.g. Jay starts off selfish and shallow but ends empathetic and wise).

- In certain settings/with certain groups (i.e. at work, school, with friends, family, coworkers, classmates, with kids or animals, etc.)

Building Your Character

So you understand what traits and personalities are and that you need many to make a complex character. You're now ready to get started. There are (at least) a couple of ways you can do the next step:

Option 1: Make a short list of traits or personalities you want your character to have. Next, for each trait/personality, identify its opposite and decide in what situations or at what point in the story the character would show this side instead. 

Option 1.5: If you've already created a character (perhaps you're revising your story), jot down their current traits/personality types. Think of opposites, contradictions, and complements to these and how/when they might surface.