Character Development and Short Stories

So I sometimes write short stories if I'm taking a break from a bigger story or if have an idea that doesn't quite fit into whatever I'm working on. One issue I have when writing these stories is the level of character development I can have in these stories. Obviously, I can't go in depth as with longer stories. If I'm writing a novel, I can spend pages talking about how a character lost his parents when he was young and the psychological effects it had on him. If I'm writing a short story, I can only spend a few sentences on that, maybe a paragraph.

It seems to me that character development in short fiction is limited, with characters usually undergoing a major life change, but we don't get much outside of that. In Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, the only character that changes the most is someone who supported the titular lottery, but then ends up being chosen. We don't really learn anything about her outside of that, like if she has any hobbies or what her relationship with her family was like. For a more modern example, look at Jeff the Killer (I know it's not well written, but the character seem to have a following). Jeff's character arc is that he gets bullied, gets disfigured, and then becomes a serial killer. Sure, this is definitely an important event in his life, but one traumatic event doesn't equal a three dimensional character. There are plenty of people in the real world who go through traumatic events and don't become murderers.

What do you guys think? Is there an appropriate level of character development in a short story? Can you only focus on a single-aspect of someone's character, or can some more nuanced aspects be included?

edited 17th Jun '17 9:29:05 AM by Roseface

The way I approach it (although I usually work in media other than text short stories), is to only include backstory that is relevant to understanding the main story.

Basically, anything that doesn't support the main story and the audience's understanding of it (or isn't really necessary to), is cut. If the story is about how Bob and Susie fall in love with each other, I won't discuss Bob's favorite ice cream because it doesn't matter; but to understand why Bob falls in love with Susie it might be important to explain why he's into their shared interests of scuba diving.

I think how much is enough is a matter of opinion, but I still hold myself to having only what I believe are the bare minimum requirements; I'd rather the audience get to know the character through the story, and I believe a good story will help the audience get to know the character. This is regardless of the project's length.

I think the focus on the character or on the nuanced aspects of them comes about as a result of the story- story develops and exposes characters just as characters develop story.

(If it interests you, here's a document that goes more depth into how I view and handle this: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1nkXwTAE_ZnxrLxblJ7EZArY4LtPn6GnrMxhIAEVB41o)

Contrary to what people think, not every story needs character development. It is expected in longer stories because people change over time, but when writing a shorter story you don't need to jump through hoops just to show it when you don't have a way to do so.

If you really need to show that even characters of your short stories are changing then I feel a good way of doing so is to show have your stories share the same universe and end those short stories as the character walks from ... hmm, let's say "a crossroad of life", and then show them changed as time passed in some other story as a cameo. Really, though, with short stories it is neither required nor really expected unless you expect it from yourself.

I guess I'm not sure, did you mean character development as in:

1. A character changing throughout the story

or

2. Giving the audience more info on a character

edited 26th Jun '17 8:51:35 PM by MIBuddy

I guess I meant both as they are interconnected. Character growth isn't really meaningful unless you know a bit about them first. That being said, I think it's easier to have the latter in a short story as you can simply spend a few sentences establishing the character. In the case of the former, it's almost impossible to demonstrate character growth when your story only lasts a few pages.

I'd actually disagree and say the other way around, but that would vary from story to story. I think if you showed a really intense moment in a character's life, a point of decision, you could see a shift.

I think if you can show some of their backstory with it tying into the main story, you'll have more success having the information in there. For example, you can show a teacher at their school, and from there you'll have explained in the story a) they're a teacher, b) the ages they teach (likely), c) the type of school (what's the room like?), c) their experience (by how they respond and read the students), and more.

It all depends on what your story is. But you do have to know who a character is before you know that they're growing at all. I think you'd most likely end a story not showing the effects of their growth, but their point of decision and hint at (or outright state) what their decision is.

Short stories often embrace ambiguity and leave the resolution up in the air, which allows the reader to infer a lot more about what exactly has happened.

Allowing readers to fill in the gaps about exactly how the characters change is not, I think, a worse way to address character development. It's different, but it can be thought-provoking as well.

Ambiguity seems to work best if the character is given a decision, like if a story ends with a choice and it's not clear what the character chooses. This forces the reader to look back at the story to come up with an answer themselves.

I disagree. Knowing a choice but having little information on how or why it was done can leave as much ambiguity as not knowing the choixe taken at all, and feels easier to do naturally than relying on The Unreveal.

One trick to develop characters is to deliberately contradict their established personality. For instance, establish a character as being a confident, take-charge kind of person. Then write a dramatic scene where this character is scared and doesn't know what to do. This helps flesh out the character as it gives the audience a scenario where their confidence is shaken.

I know this is an old thread, but it brings up a point I want to discuss. Ambiguity only works if readers are invested in a character. No one is going to spend time analyzing and discussing a character if they aren't invested in them. So I think a good question to ask is how is it possible to get an audience invested in a character when one has only a few pages to work with?