You want to know what the best part of writing is in my opinion. Character work. Namely, how would this character work?
Because in real life people are rather complex. Down to things like how they talk. A person who is nervous mut talk with a s-stu-stutter or... w-well... R-repeat... Or.. Stop talking halfway to check if what they're saying is being received well.
Or a brave/rash person would just say what the mean with conviction. They wouldn't stop to double check if what they say is being received well or if it makes sense. There'd be less connecting phrases like "I mean" "if it makes sense" and so on. The get to the point.
Or a rather sophesticated individual will use big but context accurate words to get across a seemingly similar point as the others but in a more formal and civil manner. Of course, the main reason of this style of talking is to deal with others in a formal or noble setting.
And this goes even further, you know?
People usually don't say what the mean or mean what they say. I could say I like dogs, but really mean I find them on par with cats but don't want an arguement right now.
Sometimes, it's the other way around. Someone could say "I don't like dogs all that much" but mean "conpaired to cats".
In real life this sucks, but it's great in story telling as what someone means but doesn't say, or says and means, tells us alot about how the expect to be recieved in social interactions. Someone who doesn't say what they mean, could be expecting outlash more often, or someone who means whatever they say could've given up on caring what others think.
Because people don't always say what they mean and mean what they say, most people try to interpret what they think they person meant when they talked. Everyone knows they joke, you know?
Girlfriend asks boyfriend how she looks, he says todday she looks nice and she feels hurt as a result. It works like that because people hang onto interpretations in their mind of what someone says or means. The boyfriend could've just mean a specificaiton, like "Oh, yes, you look good, on this day you asked me if you looked good." But it is also reasonable for the girlfriend to read it as "You look great today, unlike every other day."
This also charactorises the charactors further. We get the idea that the boyfriend is either uncaring or a bit dense, and we get the idea that the girlfriend either is insercure or very dependent on how her boyfriend sees her.
People very rarely sit stone still while talking. Usually, tones change, facial expressions change, body language changes as well as posture and positioning. For example:
The girlfriend walks down the stairs, twirling on her heels as she reaches the bottom of the stairs. Her blood red dress flowing with the soft movement. The boyfriend looks up from his phone, his eyes slowly trailing up to her face as a smile spreads along his lips. "How do I look?", she asked with a soft voice. "You looks good today." Her smiles drops slightly as her gaze drops to the floor. "Just today?"
As I was saying. Body language and position gives half the story. If the story was more like:
The girlfriend walks out of her house, she gestures over her red dress. "How do I look?" Her boyfriend grins slightly before folding his arms over his chest. "Good today." She scoffs before lightly nudging his shoulder. "Just today?"
So, body language is usually how people read intent. Which can be difficult to explain sometimes. How do explain someone was talking with their hands without saying that verbatem. But that's a thing everyone has to work on for their own style, you know?
People focus on different things depending on what they focus on normally. Let me explain, someone who likes focusing on fashion, will describe the above girlfriend with a bigger focus on the dress, material, style, cut and even how she is wearing it.
But someone who is more focused of audio, will focus on her tone, voice, the sounds of her heels on the ground and so on.
So, certain people focus on certain stimuli. Some people focus on audio, texture, movement, fashion, smaller things like trinkets and so on. So, things might very well depend on what they first see.
Namely, people use certain words when they talk. Me for example, I read the King James Version of the bible as a child before immediatly reading Jules Verne, which is why I mix mordern talking styles with older school talking styles. As a result, my style of both writting and talking is a bit... difficult to understand. You know?
But this carries over to other people/characters as well. A mechanic will know what a bushing means and even if they are stressed they'd refer to the correct parts by what they mean. Unless of course, they're the sort to know what something is but refer to it as "thingy" or something to that effect.
This is pretty fun for characters as it tells us a lot about them but what words they use, how they refer to things and what they prioritise. A priest who curses is wildly different from a priest who uses almost curse words like "Darn". A doctor who explains medical terms to patients instead of the scientific phrase is a different person from the doctor who just says the medical term. An older character might use older terms, and a chactor who spends more time aorund the older one might pick up on those phrases.
Let me put it this way. A modern person who says "verily" sounds off if they're supposed to be very modern. Right? Unless i'ts their character voice. Sames as a mediveal knight saying "lol" would sound slightly off.
Of course, charactorisation doesn't end the second the dialogue stops. Again, a regal charactor would not stand like a farmer who would not stand like a knight.
People move in interesting ways. If you've ever people watched you might notice it. Like some people rest their hands onto their bags or into their pockets. Others fold it over their stomach or chest. Some people fold their arms behind their back. Some people walk with a limp. Others just drag their feet. Some people like to chew on things.
Mostly, just imagine the charactor in a room. What are they doing to pass the time? A soldiar might do some push-ups. A theif might scope out the room. A mage might read one of their spell books. What they do by themselves with no pressure is interesting.
And how would they act if someone else was in that room with them? Some people act different around others. You would talk to your parents like you would with your boss or your friends. A character who fears someone will treat them differently thant they would treat someone they like.
If the soldiar is in the room with a commanding officer, they might stand at attention. If they are in the room with a close friend they might just chat. If they are in the room with a rival they might be a argument or challenge between the two and so on.
Now this is fun. I love thinking how a character would fight. Mostly because there is many many different stradgies and styles and focuses and so on in combat.
Look, boxers don't fight how those trained in MMA fight or those who do Self Defense training fight. All of these people treat fights differently. A person who is a boxer will not move or think like the other three and vice versa.
Not to mention, personality. A cocky charactor might waste more energy with flashy moves or jumping around more. While a combat hardened charactor might just default to speed and lethality. A newbie, might always be on the back foot, relying on their wit but having to improvise. A sneaky charactor might use the environment more or try to rally others to fight for them. A noble charactor might focus more on honorable fighting and fairness and so on.
Say, in a bar a cop tries to apprenhend the charactor. If they are a theif, they might use a distraction to book it, or start a bar fight to slip away unnotices. A brawler however, might just tackle the cop and wrestle them down. An ex-military guy might disarm the cop and use his own gun to scare him off. A normal character might rather surrender. A cocky character might play on how cops aren't always likes in biker bars, or would surrender knowing he has a way out and so on.
Again, a character choosing not to fight can be as interesting as one choosing to fight.
What a charactor knows or focuses on learning tells us what their interest and ambitions are. A theif knowing how to lockpick makes sense. But a nerdy kid learning lockpicking can be as if not more interesting than that. Why did he learn how to lockpick? Where did he learn that? And so on.
Even for professions it's interesting. If a charactor becomes a medic, it's usually assumed they want to help people. But regardless of the usual, they choose that for a reason? Right? What does this job mean to them? How does it effect them? Where did they make this decision?
Again, people rarely respond to the same stimuli the same way every time. A shy person could become talkitive aorund the right people on the right topic. A knight might be cowardly in the face of his most dreaded fear. A dog who never bites might just bite if it's the right stresses on it.
I actually love breaking charactors light that. What makes a brave man cry? What makes a selfish person choose to risk their life for another? What makes a scared woman into a nightmare to others? Where and what can make someone break patterns?
Look, what's cooler a brave man fighting a monster or a cowardly man forcing himself to be brave to fight a monster?
But mainly, the thing which alters their behaviour must be logical. Humans are driven by emotions. A man in love will risk his love for his beloved. A woman afraid will rather fight than merely lay down and die. People are like chemicals, you need an ignitor to make it react. No one breaks habits in a world that accomidates those habits. Fear, anger, love, happiness, acceptance and so on is what drives change.
Pushing charactors to a breaking point is fun. Mostly because you get to tear down all of their walls and force their most shadow filled halves of themselves to show through. People always will try to act how they think they should, until something pushes them out of that.
And note, positive emotions are a part of that. A person in love, feeling safe and comfortable, will reveal more and more of themselves. Same as stress. Same as anger.
I think that's why I like movies like John Wick. Mr Wick gets pulled to his most shadow filled selve because of loss. It's a deconstruction of a man who tried to pull out of this life before he lost everthing that drove him away from it, leaving him with nothing but what he was before for comfort.
More or less, all of this is based on the idea that questions make things better, most of the time. If a character just smokes, that can work, but it is fun, for me at least, to ask why? Why does the charactor smoke? Is it comforting to them? Do they smoke often? Do they share their smokes? Are they ashamed of smoking? Are they proud of it?
I feel like questions like that almost always can have an interesting answer. And that's more or less the point of stories, no? To ask interesting questions for interstiing answers. A knight killed a dragon. But why? Oh, to save a princess. But who's the princess? His sister. But how did he kill the dragon? With a magical sword. What makes the sword magical? A witch gave it to him. But why? Because she wanted the dragon dead. But why? Because it was a bother to her. And so on.
Okay, take the Raven's Hold story I made:
This man is going to visit a magical store. What is the magical store? The Raven's hold. Where is it? Magnetic North. But why does he want to go there? Because he wants something magical. What? To bring something back from the dead. Who? His daughter. Why? He misses her. Does he manage it? Yes. What does it cost him?