Character Dynamics in TSP

As I've mentioned in previous posts, I have an ensemble cast in The Secret Portal, so it was important to me that I knew how everyone would interact with each other, and how they would feel about each other. Once again, they had to be unique, otherwise it would get pretty boring.

Knowing the MBTI personality of each of my characters helped figure out how each person was different from each other and by how much. I ended up making a list of every single possible combination I could do (but stuck only to pairs) and bulletpointed what those extremely broad differences would be, based on my research on the personalities. Then, I went back and annotated in the comments to figure out the details. I first figured out if it was even possible for them to interact, and if it was, when in my five-book series will they be able to do so. I also put a note if I already had a significant interaction, or a generic place that was open, and an extra bonus comment if they were complete opposites, since those would be interesting to write. I'm still going through this phase in character building--the annotations of the dynamics.

As I'm doing this, I have been able to fill in a lot of empty plot points. I've gotten more ideas that have helped my vision for the series tremendously. I've always believed that characters are the most important component of my stories, which is why I've gone through this much time and effort to make sure I get them right. If it's just plot, it's boring. So, while I've had a basic idea of each of the five books for The Secret Portal, I needed to fill in a lot of gaps. Things have changed in my overall vision of the series many times, and it's always due to the characters. Going through each of these dynamics has reinforced my idea of the individual characters, and it's also made me see how many dynamics I haven't even considered, and how many could work really well. Even characters who will never meet, they may have an opinion on.

Uncovering what I want my story to be through just working on characters has helped a lot. I've made notes as I've gone where I realize there's still a gap, that I need to brainstorm still. But knowing what I don't know is also extremely helpful, because I know what I need to work on.

After I finish annotating these dynamics, I will transfer all of those annotations wherever they need to be on my outline, my brainstorming document, or wherever they need to be (I have a lot of documents to keep things organized). Then, we'll see what the next step is.

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