Character development is, by definition, the change in characterization of a DynamicCharacter, who changes over the course of a narrative. At its core, it shows a character changing. Most narrative fiction in any media will feature some display of this.

While the definition of "good" and "bad" character development is subjective, it's generally agreed upon that good character development is believable and rounds out a well-written character. Bad character development leads to the feeling that someone is manipulating the events to their own whims, or even reduces the character's believability.

There are many sub-tropes that take place due to this trope, some of which include

* The ComingOfAgeStory is centered around this trope in the context of growing up.
* DarkerAndEdgier and LighterAndSofter can either deepen a character or round out unnecessary roughness. They can also turn them into a pile of mush or make them an unsympathetic jerk.
** Similiarly, despite the negative connotations in the name, BadassDecay can soften a previously harsh character. [[TropesAreTools Or it can ruin an awesome character.]]
* {{Flanderization}} is often a negative example, in that a character has a quirk or personality trait that slowly becomes their only defining characteristic.
* HeelFaceTurn and FaceHeelTurn rely on [[SortingAlgorithmOfFaceHeelTurning character development]] to make this a believable turn of events.
* HiddenDepths has a character develop in unexpected directions.
* OutOfCharacterMoment may be a positive or negative example, generally steering a character in new directions without wholesale CharacterDerailment.

These are hardly the only examples. The evil twin of CharacterDevelopment is CharacterDerailment. Beware this trope. To see the opposite of this trope, see StaticCharacter. See also FlatCharacter and RoundedCharacter. Compare HiddenDepths, where something is revealed that was true all along, but would not have been visible before.

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