I’ll try to share some questions and answers I get via Discord/IG/… and hope they’ll be useful for some!
It’s a lot easier to answer specific questions within maybe 20 min instead of coming up with topics myself. Maybe I can use this tactic in the future.
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From a writing standpoint, how do you develop your characters and make them feel so real?
That’s very difficult to answer, but I’ll try. Yaa’s work back in 2015/2016 when I started working on G&G was a real eye opener. European setting, non Japanese characters? It felt so close to me! I’ve mostly seen Japanese manga/anime art before. And suddenly, I was hooked on the idea of making my own German characters that felt as if they came from my own place.
This is a big part of making characters feel real (for me): use what you know. Places, behaviour, looks.
Other than that, I noticed that I do strongly self insert myself into my characters. That’s not necessarily recommended because it can be one dimensional. While it means that my characters might become more complex and believable that way, it also means that I can’t write characters well that I don’t understand.
To make this more practical: I often use a person I see on the street as a starting point for a new character. „I want him/her as a character“ and boom – you have a new character.
Then: Flaws. Almost always, I automatically start thinking about inner conflicts of a character because that’s the most interesting part of them for me. No one is perfect, and inner conflicts create stories. (Although Sven from „WHITE NOISE“ is pretty perfect, but I haven’t done a deep dive into his soul yet.)
I often use conflicts I deal with myself in some way, or use things I have seen other people struggle with. For example, Piet is based on one of my former classmates who was always helping others, and was pretty popular despite being an A student. That was rare back then. I like that contrast.
