Character Development: Personality, Do you have it?

So last week, I talked about naming your characters. This week, I want to talk a little bit about personality. This is the second most important aspect of character development for me. Personality can make or break a character.

That villian that you love to hate might have a nasty personality, or a mask of kindness with ruthless intentions. The main character might distrust humanity because of a past situation. It's up to you to decide how you want your characters to be portrayed.

Something I learned along the way is to make sure your characters' personalities are motivated. Don't just say, "Marlon hates humans because." That's not good enough. Give them a reason! I don't use actual author for examples often, but here is one that I think makes sense. Stephenie Meyer's Jasper Whitlock avoids humans because of his grisly past of slaughtering them on command. Motivation for personality is key in character development. It fleshes them out.