When writing a novel, how can a character be developed well, but QUICKLY?

“May! You’re home late! Early, I mean. Well, I mean, it’s early in the morning, but you’re home before I expected. Er, after. Before?”

“Claire, I—”

“I’m serious!” Claire said. “It’s staring straight at me.” She let the curtain fall. “Weird.”

I vibrated my dogs shock collar while it was eating my other dog’s food and now it won’t eat. How do I fix this problem?

“From the look of you, if you try to sleep now, you’ll spend the next three hours hanging onto your bed trying to stop the world spinning. Since you’re not going to sleep anyway, you might as well keep me company.”

“Cute girls?”

“I’m glad my sex life is so entertaining.”

What would happen if the Soviet Union had simply annexed Manchuria after World War 2 or kept it independent as a puppet state allied them and separate from China as China was too weak too oppose it anyway?

May pushed Claire’s feet away. Claire rose to peer out the window. “Huh. It’s still there.”

Do that and you can ground your characters quite quickly.

“Nope, I mean a cat followed me home. A black cat, to be exact. All the way from the club. Probably still out there, for all I know.”

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“No, about the cat. You don’t need a cat. You remember what happened to your spider plant, right?”

In the kitchen, Claire set out a battered pair of mugs: May’s black, with “PEBKAC: Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair” in white letters; Claire’s white, with “This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays” in dark blue. She carried both mugs into the living room. “A moggie followed you home? Is this some weird Internet slang I’m not current on?”

Engaging in conversation that also shows something about their intelligence, personality, wit (or lack thereof); and

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They both burst out laughing. “I’m right, though,” Claire went on.

Essentially, what you do is show the character:

“Hang on, are they playing ping-pong?”

Hi, I’m Jo. My best friend died 2 years ago today. My husband died 6 months later. So, I’m a depressed mess (we were married 28 years) and can’t shake it. Even my Brother is worried. Some days I don’t do anything, and avoid men cause I don’t want to date. Any suggestions? Thanks for reading.

“Well, maybe if you didn’t spend all day reading—” May prodded the book with its garishly-coloured cover with her foot. “Bizarre comic book porn…”

“Perv.”

“About wearing more clothes? How am I supposed to catch any fish if I don’t show off the bait?”

Why does my best friend call me ugly and act like she’s joking, but today she looked at me and said “I wouldn’t lie to you”? What should I say back to her?

Claire, one of May’s three flatmates, former university roommate, and best friend in all the world, shrugged expansively. “It’s a Saturday night. What else would I be doing?”

“Tart!”

“I’ll put the kettle on.”

My dog is 2 weeks old. He's not eating, moving and always sleeping and I can't take him to a vet. What should I do?

“But they’re cold!”

“Why is that always your first suggestion? I do not need some tea. It’s three o’clock in the morning! If I have tea, I’ll never get to sleep.”

“Yep!” Claire chirped. “There’s this schoolboy, see, and he’s homeless, so he lives in this boarding house that used to be a hot springs bathhouse, which is cheap because it’s haunted, so he decides—”

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“Exactly.”

“Claire! Why are you still up?”

“I’m just a fan of your catch and release program.”

Why would my husband cheat on me with an ugly fat woman?

“Fine.” May collapsed into the warm spot Claire had just vacated.

“Well, maybe if you’d wear more clothes, they wouldn’t feel so cold. Hussy!”

“I try not to, but thank you for reminding me. I know I don’t need a cat. I don’t want a cat. What would I do with a cat?”

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“You need some tea!”

“I need to do laundry.”

Create a context between this character and other characters.

Kuorans, what are some things unique to your country?

“Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs!” Claire turned the book around.

Doing something they enjoy, that expresses their personality, and that is in some way unusual or noteworthy;

May yelped. “Hey! Your feet are cold!”

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“Number one, it’s not porn, it’s ecchi, and number two, why would I waste a perfectly good Saturday doing anything else?” Claire pulled at her tea and sighed. “The only thing that could make this day better is if you'd come home with some cute boy, so that after you kicked him out tomorrow I could live vicariously through you.”

“So you didn’t meet any cute boys at the club tonight?” Claire called as she bustled about the small kitchen.

“It’s not looking at you.”

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“I don’t know. Partying. Going to a pub. Anything besides sitting on the couch reading…” She squinted. “What the hell are you reading?”

Here’s how we presented the character Claire when she was introduced, which the agent particularly singled out:

After Eunice and I finished London Under Veil, I entered the first chapter in a contest at a convention where you could submit something and have it critiqued by a professional book agent.

Beautiful European women were killed by inquisition but Russia was not Catholic. Is this the reason for a drastic difference explaining why Russian women are the prettiest?

“No way.”

“Thanks. You’re looking pretty ratty yourself. Have you been in that bathrobe all day?”

“None of those either. Look upon the wasteland that is my sex life, and see that it is barren. Naught but a moggie followed me home.”

Why are men ridiculously delusional in the women they want/approach? I'm not a troll. This is a real question. Why does a fat, pot bellied, unkempt, balding, stupid (ergo poor) man, tell a woman above his league that she isn't hot enough for him?

“I know! That’s why I’m putting them under you!”

“You know what? Never mind,” May said. “I am way, way too drunk to be having this conversation.”

“Nary a cute boy in sight.”

May studied the black and white comic panels. “Oh, my. She looks…anatomically implausible. What is she doing to that poor man? Wait, are those cat ears?”

The agent had only one bad thing to say (the synopsis was crap; writing synopses is hard!), but praised the characterization and particularly how well we introduced a character’s personality quickly.

“Damn straight. So get to it! This time next week, I want to hear some moans coming through that wall.”

“Yes way. It’s washing itself under the street light. Uh-oh, I think it spotted me. It knows I’m watching it. I swear it’s looking at me.”

“It’s a cat. All cats are weird.” May sipped from her mug, inhaling the warmth. She closed her eyes. The room spun. She opened them again. “Ugh. I think I drank too much.”

“Exactly.”

“You don’t need a cat. You can’t take care of a cat. You can’t take care of a ficus.” Claire flopped on the other side of the sofa and wriggled her feet beneath May.

Claire sat back down, legs tucked elegantly beneath her. “You are looking a bit sloppy,” she said, inspecting May through narrowed eyes.

“They are! He broke the rules of the boarding house by petting this character while she was in cat form, so they invoke the ancient rules of single combat via ping-pong, and—”