My Writing Guide

Strong Friendships

Anonymous: "How can i develop the friendship of two characters that starts out strong from the get-go? (for plot-related reasons) it's a friendship that is incredibly important to the story, so i feel like i should have it develop over the course of the story, but i don't know how to make their strong friendship stronger. " 

Strong friendships! My favorite thing!

Let's start by thinking about a few things that friends might share:

- Interests
- Hobbies
- Opinions
- Dislikes
- Experiences/memories
- Schedules
- Proximity/physical space
- Trust
- Ability to work together
- Conversation
- Friend circles
- Secrets

People can have a very strong friendship that only includes a few of those elements. So, I suggest you start by thinking about the relationship that your characters currently have. What is their relationship built on? Then, think about what in their situations would change over the course of the story.
For example- let's say that characters A and B have been friends for years because they share interests- they like the same movies, the same books, the same music, and they share these things, talk about them, etc. Cool. Now, imagine that during the story, the two of them go on a daring and dangerous adventure. The two of them find themselves relying on each other, and realize that they would risk danger to protect the other- and their relationship expands.
We could also imagine characters that have known each other for a long time, but don't know small things about the other. For example, childhood friends who attended school together could have a very close relationship, but one that was defined by their proximity- they're friends because they grew up and spent time together. Over the course of the story, they might get to know each other outside of that context, creating a different but also strong relationship.

Long story short: Human relationships are varied and unique to the people in them- and they shift and change all the time. Bonds can always get stronger, or weaker, or just shift into something different from before. Think about the relationship that your characters have, and then think about the development that it would go through over the course of your story.

-Evvy of fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment.