When I was young, maybe five or six, my father’s boss told me he didn’t like my name. Looking back now, I think that was probably a horrible thing to do to a child, but I love my real name now, so no big deal. However, the desire to please the adults around me (like the man who signed Daddy’s paycheck), led me on a search for a new name.

That name was Kelly. I insisted he call me Kelly. He didn’t. He called me Lucinda Allameda. Also a horrible thing to do to a child 😛

I liked the name Kelly, though. I decided if I could pick any name for myself, that would be it. So when it came time to write my first novel, that was the main character’s name. She even looked like me. Except she was an inch or two shorter (because at 5’10” I thought I was way too tall), and thinner.

And I made myself my first real main character. She had similar hobbies, insecurities, and flaws. But she lived a very different live than me. She’s been through a lot since then. She’s had boyfriends cheat on her, her best friend tell her he loves her, her other best friend propose and then dump her for being indecisive, and she was in the very unfortunate position of being sexually abused by her uncle as a child.

A lot of things about her at the core of her being have stayed the same, though. She’s still the same character I created twenty years ago. Just a lot more experienced with life. Unfortunately for her, I’m not the same person I was twenty years ago. That means those flaws I used to see as strengths have negative connotations now.

Now Kelly…dear, sweet, my sort-of-namesake Kelly, is the antagonist for the story I’m currently working on. And she’s a bitch. Story opens with her publicly humiliating her boyfriend when he proposes to her in front of thousands, and then selling her shares of their company to the highest bidder, leaving the two guys in the midst of a nasty hostile takeover and her making bank.

She’s not the only character I have who’s evolved. If you’ve read any of my guest posts with Scott, he’s the same. Biggest difference between the two is the evolution. For Scott his character has actually changed. For Kelly…it’s been mostly (not completely, but mostly) my perception of her character.

Both are effective methods of character development. Sometimes you watch a character become someone else as trials and tribulations alter their perspectives of the world. Other times, the reader isn’t told everything up front about a character, and the more they learn, the more their opinion of that character changes.

How have your childhood and other life experiences altered the way you act and react to the world and other people around you?