I've realized that the part of my original writing I struggle with the most is the characterization. My originals seem stiff because I don't really know the characters.
The fanfic I've written in the past has been great for stuff like building a storyline, developing a plot, and expanding characterization. But by the time I'd decide to write fan fiction about a book/movie/tv show, I knew the characters I was playing with -- who they liked and disliked, what they did for a living and why, what their relationships were like.
Not so with originals.
I can't get myself engaged with my characters, because I don't know enough about them. I'm trying to write histories of the major ones but I stall out.
Why can't characters cooperate?
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The thing with characters is, I think, that you have to get to know them. You can't force a background on them, you have to let them reveal their own backgrounds over time.
Did that make sense?
I agree; usually I let the characters develop as I write, but then I find that most of my writing is dry and uninteresting.
My stories develop in my headand with it my characters develop, by wandering into the story without asking for permission. that's why they come to exist and that#S why they are so complicated...
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