How much do you know about the characters you are writing about? Below is a series of questions that life coaches sometimes use to find out how much clients know about their partners. It can be useful to do some daydreaming about how you'd answer these for your protagonist or other character:
- favorite movie
- favorite band or singer, or type of music
- favorite actor, actress
- favorite season
- favorite TV show
- their hero
- favorite time of day
- favorite activity
- the quality they admire most in others
- favorite activity
- best memory
- who they are closest to in their family
- their best friend
- favorite color
- worst habit
- best habit
- the hardest issue for them to deal with
- the one word that best describes them
- if they were a car what car would they be?
- the thing they would most like to have (object)
- the thing they would most like to have that is not a material object
- how do they communicate their feelings
- who do they love?
- how do they show or express their love
Don't force answers, just notice what pops into your mind. If you draw a blank on one, just move on to the next.
It can be helpful to jot these down and compare the lists of your protagonist and antagonist. Sometimes you can intensify conflict by making them more different, but it also works to make them more similar except on one important dimension (which would vary depending on the story you want to tell).
For example, in a romance it could be interesting (although familiar) for the woman to have to choose between the "bad boy" and the "really nice but kind of boring" guy, but it could also work (and be less of a cliche) for the rivals to be similar. She is more attracted to one...but he has a totally different take on some subject important to her--for instance, religion, and the one to whom she's less attracted is totally in synch with her on that topic.
(For advice from some of the best writers current and classic, like Twain, Fitzgerald, Austen, and 100 more, get my book, "Your Creative Writing Masterclass," published by Nicholas Brealey and available from Amazon and other booksellers.)
