Take this theory with one of the many grains of salt in that last sentence. This is less a yardstick for measuring character quality and more as a guide for conceptualizing new characters who you'd like to be well-rounded, because it's easiest to think about in the very first planning stages of character-making. I'm writing it down and sharing it because it helps me conceptualize why some of my characters work, why others of my characters don't, and common reasons why a character concept in the pregame planning stage makes me wary or skeptical. For that reason though, this theorypost will only use my own characters as examples, as well as hypothetical character concepts.
Without further ado, let me introduce:
Three Core Things Theory
To make a well-rounded character, start with Three Core Things. Core things can be a character trait, beloved hobbies, relationships, an internal conflict, a past experience, a hope for the future -- if you can put it in the character profile, it can be a Core Thing. The Core Things must obviously interact with each other, character traits don't exist in vacuums, but at the same time, they can't all come from One Core Thing, nor can they overlap too much.
Giving your character three core things that are "Has a controlling mother, plays violin (because her mom forced her to), goes partying (to rebel against a controlling mother)" gets an incorrect buzzer according to Three Core Things Theory because it connects every major thing about the character concept to One Thing, the presence of the controlling mother. Similarly, to borrow and adapt from the Mini forum's profile critique advice on character disadvantages, "Prone to anger, got into major personal history defining trouble (because they got angry), into sports (as an outlet for anger)" also does not satisfy Three Core Things, because everything notable about the character comes back to One Core Thing, the anger. All of these sets of traits are fine to have together of course, but in both sets, they count as One Core Thing, not three.
This might come as a surprise, but I consider Iliya Polaris to be a character who fell big into this trap. I do hold her story in high regard as it actually shook out, but I also hold that Liya was best off dying on day 1 and not overstaying her welcome. What would her core things be? "Rebelling against her wiccan upbringing by being a neopagan transhumanist", "abrasive punk", and "cares deeply about her abused cousin". The former two were essentially catalyzed by the last, and everything in Liya's story as it happens in the game bends towards it. Which wasn't bad in her case -- goes to show that no writing advice or method is the one true way -- but take note that it was because she got a strong motivation to act right off the bat, and she went out early enough that it didn't get too repetitive.
As for an example of too much overlap, consider these Three Things: "craves recognition for achievements, theatre kid, outrageous homemade fashion". These things could come from very different sources, and on the face of it, it fulfills Three Core Things. But if you imagine how it goes in practice, you've kind of seen this character trope before, haven't you? This is an obvious Diva character, and every Thing builds up to that. Character development questions and exercises you ask about this guy will routinely involve two or all three of the core things. You can see how they heavily overlap and don't necessarily create a multifaceted character outside this "theatre diva" archetype, which is the point of this exercise.
If I could insert an example: this, I think, is where I failed with Tenshi Fukushima-Yves, and hard. The only thing that did not stem wholly and completely from her himedere thing was "hard of hearing youtube singer who wants to be a star", specifically the hard of hearing part - but for one, the hearing-impaired singer is such a stereotypical thing for a hearing author like me to write that I feel it makes the whole character offensive in hindsight, but more relevantly, the "youtube singer" part played into the exact same stereotypes and archetypes as "rich and spoiled" and "a weeb but hides it" and whatnot that it made Tenshi a flatter character. Fun to write maybe, but flat compared to my better work.
To reiterate my disclaimer, I don't think adding more Core Things is the only way to add depth to an otherwise archetypal or stereotypical character concept -- but it is a simple one.
(An aside: you'll notice I grouped "neopagan transhumanist" and "hard of hearing singer" as One Core Thing each, rather than two each. When traits are tightly bound together by being in direct tension, I count them as One Core Thing. After all, a character that's entire about the tension between one trait and another can be just as shallow as a pure high school archetype -- conflict and contradiction doesn't always imply nuance, which is why I focus less on "conflict" between Core Things, and more on just having a variety.)
Illustrating how Core Things can intertwine with each other without necessarily being born from one another is much easier with another example. I think Camilla Bell turned out as real-feeling as she did because the Core Things of "gardening, dealt with a messy divorce in her home life, horribly socially anxious" did not arise from one another, but do greatly affect one another, and in those interactions give Camilla a reason to do things she might otherwise not without those interactions between cores, and imply traits and motivations that took her a long, long way. She didn't get into gardening to deal with her parents' divorce or her social anxiety per se, but being into gardening gave her a way to have close friends despite the social anxiety, via a shared hobby she's very passionate about. Nor did her parents' divorce result in her social anxiety, she was gonna be like that either way, but combined they give Camilla as a character a sense of loneliness at heart. Combine that with gardening, and the gardening club, being her main road of human connection, and it gave her a pretty powerful motivation to cling to what few friends she had -- and we all know how that ended.
Obviously, not every character with Three Core Things is going to shake out exactly like this, and it may sound like I'm talking out of my ass. Deciding how Core Things interact is more of an art than a science, and I unfortunately can't teach you how exactly to do it, other than to tell you the one non-bullshit piece of writing advice: practice. But the interplay of Core Things is the other important thing about this theory: having the Three Things gives your character multiple facets, the varied ways they connect shines a light on those facets and helps give your character depth.
Three Core Things, and the interplay between them, can give you:
- A reason for your character to be friends, enemies, or generally have connections with other characters
- A motivation to act, in pregame and in the game proper
- Additional hobbies and personality traits they'd logically have, or at least dabble in
- Subversions of tropes, if that's your style
- Coping mechanisms
- A philosophy they apply to other aspects of their life
- Many other things, characters are untamable beasts after all
