Tuesday's Writer's Tip - Who - Last Bit on Character Development - Astrology #MFRWauthor #BooksWeLoveLTD #Characters #Astrology

Now you know a lot about Characters and developing them from the major to the minor characters. There are also walk-on characters, so a brief bit about them. They are usually someone like the cab driver, the man who opens the door, the waiter or waitress, these kind of people. What you need to remember here is not to turn them into even a minor character since they won't be seen again. The gruff cab driver opened the door. That gives enough of a picture.  Now it's on to the final thing I use to develop my characters. Astrology.

I'm not going to go through all the signs. There are posts on my blog that speak about the characters. Here's what I do.

The Sun sign - for me this is the character's inner nature. People may or may not see much of the inner nature. Depends on how revealing your character is. This is often the area that shows the characters secrets and desires as well as their reasons for wanting something.

The Moon sign - This is the characters emotional nature. How they react and act to things. Emotions play an important part in development. The Moon sign may be opposite of the inner nature, setting up the character's nature as one who is conflicted.

The Rising sign or Ascendant - This is the face the character shows the world. The traits here may be so different from what a person is inside. The gruff man who has a sympathetic heart. The friendsly person who is afraid of revealing herself.

Finding a good book that gives the traits for each of the signs, not only the Sun but the moon and ascendant helps develop the character who isn't flat. I use Llewellyn's Ato Z Horoscope Maker and Interpreter. Mine is quite ragged and perhaps someday I'll get a new one. I'm sure there are others but this is the one I've used for fifty years.