Enhancing Character Development The Lazy Way

It’s every author’s bane. Those two hated words that at some point or another will show up in a critique: Character Development. Unfortunately, if one aspires to become a successful author, character development is one of the key elements in achieving success.
During the penning of my first novel, The Eighth House, I ran into a problem common in the writing world. I had an idea, I had a setting, and I had the sketchy outline of a main character, one I didn’t know anything about other than his physical features. All I knew was he was a lot like that hot guy you pass on the street, do a double take, admire for a few seconds, and then go on with your life because there is no possible way you can know anything about him with just a glance.
Days after coming up with the story idea, there I was, racking my brain trying to figure out an easy way to make my protagonist, and all my characters for that matter, into real human beings, complete with all the idiosyncrasies that make them unique. I had to find a way to make the reader believe that these could be real people… right down to their imaginary souls.
So, I did the only logical thing I could think of: I turned to astrology. And no, I don’t mean I consulted an astrology expert to read my star charts. What I did do, however, was begin researching each house (or sign) of the zodiac. Anybody who has read a newspaper horoscope in the last fifty years can find some way to relate the goings on in their life to those three scant sentences of advice based solely upon the date of one’s birth. It’s because, inherent to each soul born under a certain zodiac sign come certain personality traits.
For example, my protagonist, Nash Graffias is six-five, well-built, with longish black hair, and startling blue eyes. (Hey, it’s a not-so-sweet romance, of course he’s hot.) Based off that information, you know what he looks like, but that’s about it. So I applied the character traits innate to those born under the sign of Scorpio, and “built” Nash based on those traits.
Since we’ve already established the protagonist is physically fit, we now need to develop his psyche. The protagonist in this story is highly emotional. Scorpios ride the emotional knife’s edge, often to the point of volatility, especially when their anger gets the better of them. This Scorpio character trait is established in my male protagonist early on in the novel. As a Scorpio, he is naturally withdrawn, which adds to the “brooding” trait common amongst alpha male characters in some romances. When a Scorpio finds something they want, they will stop at nothing to get it. Since the novel is a romance, Nash’s obsession and subsequent love for the female protagonist epitomizes this natural Scorpio trait. Additionally, those born under the sign of the scorpion can also be very jealous. Scorpios are the most passionate, powerful, and sensually energetic lovers of all the signs of the zodiac and therefore, “rule” the genitals. This means they have great control over everything associated with this body area, medically, physically, and everything in between. On the dark side of sex, they can fall easily into debauchery, sadism, and can become deeply involved in the darker sex acts. The final two traits are key components I used in my novel to create and develop my character and story arcs.
I could go on and on about this, but I think I’ve driven home the point. Understand, one doesn’t have to use all the personality traits associated with a particular sign of the zodiac to develop their character, but taking a couple of them and molding your character out of two or three of the traits can definitely get you on the road to building your imaginary human.
As for where to begin? Type, “signs of the zodiac” into any search engine and prepare to be overwhelmed by volumes upon volumes of information. My month’s long research simply scratched the surface of the strange and fascinating world of astrology… a world I continue to learn from and utilize in my writing to this day. So much so, my entire paranormal romance series is based on the twelve houses of the zodiac.
Your homework: Come up with a birthdate for your main character before you even develop him or her. This should occur after you have an image of this character in your head. Check the birthdate against the appropriate zodiac sign, read the traits, and then run with them if they fit. Do the same for the remainder of your main and significant peripheral characters. This exercise can also be used to help develop an existing character that’s not “popping”.