There are several ways to develop characters, but this is one I’ve heard from several writers. It was author Chantelle Atkins who encouraged me to write it down. 

The idea is to answer the following:

1. What three things does the character want?
2. What three things does the character fear?
3. What three things are stopping them from getting what they want?
4. In what three ways is the character unreliable?

Having to think of three things rather than just one means you can’t escape down the easiest path. This helps make them more three-dimensional. It also provides ideas for what might create tension in the plot and how the character needs to develop. 

I’m currently working on the sequel to The Wrong Sort to Die, set in 1911. If I give one answer for each question about Dr Margaret Demeray, I’d end up with:

• She wants to progress her career
• She fears being passed over because of her gender
• She’s hindered by a society which inhibits women pursuing careers particularly if they marry
• She’s unreliable because she tends to lose her temper and speak/act before she listens/thinks

Thinking about it harder the three answers for each question would be:

• Margaret wants to progress her career
• She wants to be in a loving, equal relationship (and maybe have a little romance) as well as have a career
• She wants equality not just for women but for everyone, regardless of gender, class or race
• She fears being passed over because of her gender
• She fears living alone forever
• She fears boredom
• She’s hindered by a society which inhibits women pursuing careers particularly if they marry
• She’s hindered by a society in which someone (particularly female) is more likely to be called immoral because of perceived sexual behaviour than because of actual abuse of power. 
• She’s hindered by 1911 modes of communication
• She’s unreliable because she tends to lose her temper and speak/act before she listens/thinks
• She’s unreliable because she protects herself from being hurt by not trusting people who love her.
• She’s unreliable because wanting to support the underdog makes her easy to manipulate

Now Margaret is in a situation where she not only has to choose where her life is going, but also has to convince Fox that what appears to be an accident is not just murder, but connected to espionage.

What if tackling both these problems forces her into an alliance with Miss X whose wants, fears, hindrances and unreliabilities don’t quite align with Margaret’s?

• Miss X wants to progress her career
• She wants to be respected
• She wants equality not just for women but for everyone regardless of gender, class or race (but she thinks there needs to be a long, slow process to get there)
• She fears being passed over because of her gender
• She fears dying alone
• She fears disruption and change
• She’s hindered by a society which inhibits women pursuing careers particularly if they marry
• She’s hindered by women like Margaret who are trying to change society rapidly 
• She’s hindered by knowing she will not be forgiven if she makes a mistake
• She’s unreliable because she would rather avoid risk than take a necessary action
• She’s unreliable because she hasn’t dealt with how she feels about choosing a career over marriage
• She’s unreliable because she can’t admit when she makes a mistake

What clashes will occur if they have to work together? Will they hinder each other? Or will they, in fact, help each other? 

Although I’m talking about characters who are complete figments of my imagination, today, I thought about whether those four questions could have any relevance outside a fictional setting. I think they do.

If the last few years have shown us anything, it’s how depressingly easy it is for people to become polarised in their views. 

I haven’t navel-gazed for a number of years but do think that periodically re-examining my views is worth doing. After all, if they’re valid, they should be able to take some honest scrutiny. 

I wonder if part of the reason it’s so easy for us not only to end up on opposite sides of a fence but at the far side of our personal paddock is because if we do ask ourselves questions, we only ask the first three and tend to stop at one answer for each. That way, the chances are we’ll disagree.

I want…

I’m afraid of…

I’m hindered by…

If we think of three answers to each question however, the chances are that we’ll agree on more than we think.

And secondly, if we’re all honest about how, why and in what way we’re unreliable, maybe we can look at both our own views and others’ more honestly and with more depth.

It’s the only way we can start to discuss how to move forward and not back, make things better for everyone, not worse.

Going back to Margaret and Miss X, who knows how they’ll influence each other as the book unfolds. 

Will Miss X convince Margaret that she should give up hopes of love? Not in a million years. Will Margaret convince Miss X that she should chain herself to the railings of Downing Street? Probably not. 

But they do have three things which they (and I) definitely agree about: 

• After a hard day at work, no woman has the energy to cook anything but toast, and potentially the worst thing about married life would be a man demanding a fiddly meal or worse still, cooking it himself using ALL the pans and utensils.
• A woman living on her own needs a cat to come home to.
• It definitely wasn’t an accident and if no-one pays attention soon, someone else is going to die. 

Words copyright 2021 by Paula Harmon. All rights belong to the author and material may not be copied without the author’s express permission. Photograph https://www.dreamstime.com/jrabelo_info