According to a study by Writers Digest, 78% of readers cite “relatable characters” as the primary reason they become emotionally invested in a story. Characters connect readers to stories. Plot may draw initial interest, but characters transform casual readers into passionate advocates. Richard French creates memorable characters that linger in readers’ minds long after the final page, both under his own name and his Raven Fontaine pen name. His character development techniques differ between these writing identities, producing figures who feel alive beyond the printed word. This post examines specific techniques he uses to create compelling characters while offering practical methods for writers developing their own fictional people.
The Listening Approach to Character Development
Richard French’s primary method for character creation might seem deceptively simple – he listens. Unlike writers who begin with elaborate character sheets or detailed backstories, French initiates his process by creating a quiet mental space where his characters can speak.
“I don’t invent my characters so much as discover them,” French explains. “They exist somewhere in my subconscious, waiting for me to become receptive enough to hear them.”
This approach mirrors what many accomplished writers describe as the mysterious emergence of character voices. Rather than forcing personalities onto the page, French allows them to reveal themselves naturally through what he calls “guided imagination sessions.”
Techniques for Developing Character Voices Through Guided Imagination
French’s guided imagination technique involves several practical steps writers can incorporate into their character development process:
- Morning Pages: Writing stream-of-consciousness in a character’s voice before beginning formal work
- Sensory Immersion: Visualizing environments where characters might exist and documenting their reactions
- Dialogue Improvisation: Writing unplanned conversations between characters without plot objectives
These exercises create space for characters to emerge with their own distinctive voices and perspectives, often surprising the writer with unexpected traits and decisions.
Examples Showing How Listening Altered Character Trajectories
In French’s historical novel “The Covenant Keeper,” protagonist Thomas Warfield was initially conceived as a straightforward hero. However, through French’s listening technique, the character revealed deep moral ambiguities that transformed the narrative.
“I had planned for Thomas to make the righteous choice in a key moment,” French notes. “But when I reached that scene, I realized he wouldn’t. The character had developed his own moral compass that didn’t align with my original outline.”
Similarly, in the Raven Fontaine thriller “Cold Harbor,” detective Amelia Frost was initially a secondary character. Through dialogue exercises, her voice emerged so distinctly that she ultimately became the novel’s protagonist, redirecting the entire series.
Exercise: Conducting a Character Interview
To apply French’s listening technique to your own writing, try this character development exercise:
- Create a quiet, distraction-free environment
- Write down 10-15 open-ended questions for your character about their past, beliefs, fears, and desires
- Answer each question in first-person as your character without planning responses
- Note any surprising answers or tonal shifts in their voice
- Identify recurring phrases or verbal patterns that might become character signatures
Allow yourself to be surprised by the responses. The most compelling characters often emerge when writers relinquish complete control and allow imagined personalities room to breathe and develop independently.
The Contradiction Method in Character Development
While French’s literary works often feature characters who evolve gradually through subtle revelations, his Raven Fontaine thrillers employ a more deliberate approach to character construction centered around internal contradictions.
“The most memorable fictional characters contain opposing forces,” Fontaine explains. “They’re walking contradictions, just like real people.”
This method intentionally builds tension within individual characters by giving them traits, values, or behaviors that exist in opposition to each other. These contradictions create internal conflict that drives character decisions and adds psychological depth to their portrayal.
Practical Approaches to Building Tension Within Character Traits
To implement the contradiction method in your own character development, consider these approaches:
- Contrasting Values: Give your character two deeply held beliefs that sometimes conflict
- Behavior vs. Self-Image: Create a gap between how a character sees themselves and how they actually behave
- Competing Desires: Establish two goals that cannot both be achieved
- Situational Ethics: Develop principles your character holds until specific circumstances force reconsideration
These contradictions shouldn’t feel arbitrary but should emerge from the character’s history, circumstances, or psychological makeup to feel authentic rather than contrived.
Examples of Memorable Characters Built Around Core Contradictions
In Fontaine’s psychological thriller “Whisper Room,” protagonist Dr. Eleanor Vance is both a brilliant psychiatrist and someone suffering from undiagnosed mental illness herself. This central contradiction creates tension in every professional judgment she makes throughout the narrative.
Similarly, in French’s literary novel “The Cartographer’s Son,” Isaac Mercer possesses both a need for precise order and an impulsive romantic streak that repeatedly disrupts his carefully structured life. This contradiction drives the novel’s central conflicts as Isaac struggles to reconcile these opposing aspects of his personality.
Exercise: Creating a Contradiction Profile for Your Protagonist
To apply the contradiction method to your own character:
- List your character’s 3-5 most dominant personality traits
- For each trait, identify its potential opposite
- Select one opposition pair that creates the most interesting tension
- Write a brief scene where these contradictory elements conflict
- Identify how this contradiction might drive your character’s arc
The Non-Fiction to Fiction Bridge
Before his emergence as a novelist, Richard French spent fifteen years writing non-fiction across multiple domains. This background profoundly shaped his approach to creating fictional characters, providing a foundation of research methodology and subject matter expertise that enriches his narratives.
“Non-fiction writing taught me the value of specificity,” French explains. “Fiction may be invented, but it must feel absolutely true to resonate with readers.”
This bridge between factual writing and fictional creation represents one of the most distinctive aspects of French’s character development techniques.
How French’s Experience Writing Non-Fiction Informed His Approach to Fiction Characters
French’s non-fiction work required interviewing subjects, researching historical figures, and documenting real human experiences. These skills transferred directly to his fiction through:
- Research Discipline: Thoroughly investigating historical periods, professions, or psychological conditions before creating characters within those contexts
- Observation Skills: Noticing and recording subtle human behaviors and speech patterns that can be incorporated into fictional personalities
- Subject Matter Expertise: Drawing on specialized knowledge areas to create characters with authentic professional identities
This foundation in factual writing creates a bedrock of authenticity beneath French’s characters, allowing readers to suspend disbelief even in highly imaginative scenarios.
The Journey from Writing Solely as Raven Fontaine to Creating Fiction Under His Own Name
French began his fiction career under the Raven Fontaine pseudonym, creating psychological thrillers with plot-driven narratives. While these books found commercial success, French eventually felt constrained by genre expectations.
“The Fontaine novels gave me valuable experience in creating memorable characters within tight plot structures,” French notes. “But writing under my own name allowed me to explore character development with fewer genre constraints.”
This dual identity as a writer has created a fascinating laboratory for different approaches to characterization. The Fontaine books favor characters defined by psychological hooks and clear motivations, while the French novels often feature more complex, ambiguous figures whose development drives the narrative itself.
Examples Showing How Real-World Expertise Enhances Fictional Characterization
French’s background in architecture informs the protagonist of “The Silent Spire,” Oliver Wendell, whose professional knowledge becomes essential to the plot while also shaping his methodical approach to solving the novel’s central mystery.
Similarly, Fontaine’s thriller “Sleepwalker” features a neurologist whose understanding of sleep disorders reflects extensive research into the field, allowing for both plot authenticity and character depth as she navigates ethical questions related to her expertise.
Exercise: Identifying Your Knowledge Areas That Could Deepen Character Development
To bridge your own expertise into fiction:
- List 3-5 knowledge areas where you have deeper-than-average understanding
- For each area, identify potential character professions, problems, or perspectives
- Select specialized terminology from your field that could add authenticity
- Draft a character sketch that incorporates this expertise
- Identify potential plot points where this knowledge becomes crucial
The Relationship Web in Character Development
Both Richard French and his Raven Fontaine persona recognize that characters fully reveal themselves through interactions with others. While personality traits and backstories provide foundation, it’s relationships that expose character dimensions invisible in isolation.
“Characters exist in context,” French emphasizes. “A person alone in a room is one version of themselves. The same person with a parent, a lover, an enemy, or a child becomes four entirely different people.”
This relationship-centered approach represents one of French’s most consistent character development techniques across both his literary and thriller works.
How Characters Develop Through Interactions with Others in French’s Various Works
French constructs elaborate relationship webs around each significant character, recognizing that different relationships reveal different aspects of personality:
- Power Dynamics: How characters behave when they hold power versus when they lack it
- Intimacy Patterns: The varying degrees of emotional vulnerability characters display across relationships
- Conflict Responses: How characters manage disagreements with different types of people
- Communication Styles: The varying ways characters express themselves depending on their audience
These relationship variations create multidimensional characters who feel authentic precisely because they don’t behave consistently across all interactions.
Practical Approaches to Creating Revealing Character Relationships
To implement relationship-based character development in your own writing:
- Contrast Relationships: Create relationships that bring out opposing sides of your character
- Historical Context: Develop relationships with different temporal depths (new acquaintances vs. lifelong connections)
- Relationship Evolution: Allow relationships to change throughout the narrative
- Secret Dynamics: Establish hidden aspects of relationships unknown to other characters
This approach helps avoid the common pitfall of characters who seem to exist in isolation or who behave identically regardless of social context.
Examples Showing How Relationships Expose Character Dimensions
In French’s “The Inheritor,” protagonist Claire Denton’s relationships with her estranged father, ambitious colleague, and young mentee reveal contradictory aspects of her personality that create the novel’s central tension. Her ruthlessness in professional relationships contrasts sharply with her vulnerability in personal ones.
In Fontaine’s “Cold Ethics,” detective Marcus Reed’s interactions with his supervisor, ex-wife, and prime suspect each expose different facets of his character, creating a complex portrait impossible to achieve through internal monologue alone.
Exercise: Mapping Your Character’s Relationship Web
To apply relationship-based development to your characters:
- Identify 4-6 key relationships for your protagonist
- For each relationship, define the power dynamic and emotional tone
- List 2-3 aspects of your character that only this relationship reveals
- Create brief dialogue samples showing how your character speaks differently in each relationship
- Identify one relationship that could evolve significantly during your story
The Evolution Tracking Method in Character Development
Character arcs represent one of the most challenging aspects of narrative construction. Both Richard French and Raven Fontaine emphasize methodical approaches to character evolution rather than relying on intuition alone.
“Character development requires intentional design,” French notes. “Organic evolution is valuable, but it must happen within a carefully considered framework.”
This structured approach to character growth distinguishes French’s work in both his literary and thriller identities, creating satisfying character transformations that feel both surprising and inevitable.
How Both Authors Manage Character Growth Across a Story
French employs several specific tracking methods to ensure character evolution remains consistent and compelling:
- Character Tracking Documents: Detailed records of character decisions, reactions, and insights at different story points
- Transformation Catalysts: Planned events that force character reevaluation or growth
- Behavior Consistency Checks: Regular review to ensure character changes develop logically
- Evolution Visualization: Visual mapping of character growth alongside plot development
These tracking methods prevent common character development pitfalls like sudden personality changes, forgotten traumas, or inconsistent reactions to similar situations.
Techniques for Plotting Character Development Alongside Plot
To implement evolution tracking in your writing:
- Parallel Timelines: Create separate but aligned timelines for plot events and character development milestones
- Character-Specific Outlines: Develop individualized outlines tracking each major character’s journey
- Decision Trees: Map potential character choices at key plot points and their consequences
- Belief Evolution: Document how character beliefs change in response to story events
This approach creates a framework for character development that connects directly to plot without becoming mechanical or predictable.
Examples Showing Effective and Ineffective Character Arcs
In French’s “The Memory Collector,” protagonist Samuel Harper undergoes a carefully tracked transformation from emotional detachment to profound connection. Each step in this evolution corresponds to specific plot events that challenge his worldview.
Conversely, in an early unpublished manuscript, French struggled with a character whose growth felt arbitrary rather than earned. “I allowed Emma to transform without sufficient catalysts,” he explains. “The resulting character arc felt unearned and unconvincing.”
This experience led to his more structured approach to tracking character evolution across his subsequent works, creating the moral dilemmas that often drive his most compelling character arcs.
Exercise: Creating Your Character’s Transformation Timeline
To apply evolution tracking to your own character development:
- Identify your character’s starting state (beliefs, fears, desires)
- Determine their ending state at story conclusion
- Define 3-5 significant stages between these points
- Connect each development stage to specific plot events
- Create a visual timeline showing this parallel evolution
This exercise creates a roadmap for character growth that can guide your writing while still allowing room for discovery during the creative process.
Conclusion
Characters emerge through methodical craft rather than random inspiration. Both Richard French and Raven Fontaine employ specific techniques to develop fictional people who feel authentic to readers. By adopting similar approaches—listening to character voices, building around contradictions, developing detailed backgrounds, creating relationship webs, and tracking character evolution—you’ll create characters that readers remember long after finishing your story. Next month, we’ll explore how personal experiences transform into fictional elements while maintaining appropriate boundaries between author and work.
The journey toward creating memorable characters requires both creative intuition and deliberate technique. By incorporating these character development methods into your writing practice, you’ll move beyond flat stereotypes toward complex, contradictory, and compelling personalities that form the heart of unforgettable fiction. Whether you’re crafting literary characters with subtle psychological depth or genre figures with bold motivations, these approaches will help you bring your fictional people to life on the page and in readers’ imaginations.
As you develop your own character creation process, remember that the most effective approach combines multiple methods, allowing you to build psychological depth while maintaining narrative momentum. The ultimate goal isn’t perfect characters but perfectly human ones—flawed, fascinating, and fully alive beyond the printed word.
FAQs
What’s the difference between character development in literary fiction versus genre fiction?
Literary fiction often emphasizes internal character development through subtle psychological exploration, while genre fiction typically balances character growth with plot demands. However, the best works in any genre create memorable characters through complexity, transformation, and authentic motivations rather than stereotypes.
How do I prevent my characters from all sounding like me?
Create detailed character backgrounds including education, region, era, and social class. Listen for unique speech patterns, vocabulary choices, and sentence structures. Consider their worldview and values when crafting dialogue. Track distinctive verbal tics and phrases that become character signatures.
Should I use character worksheets or let characters develop organically?
Most successful writers combine both approaches. Start with basic character foundations (background, motivations, contradictions) as guideposts, then allow organic development within that framework. The key is creating enough structure to maintain consistency while leaving room for discovery.
How do I write characters with experiences very different from my own?
Research extensively through firsthand accounts, interviews, and reputable sources. Consult sensitivity readers from the communities you’re representing. Focus on universal human emotions while acknowledging specific cultural contexts. Approach different experiences with humility and a willingness to learn.