Revealing Deep Character

I’m sending this Newsletter out because one of my private writers is currently having trouble working through the difference between SUPERFICIAL CHARACTER and DEEP CHARACTER. It’s a common issue. In our own minds, we know our characters extremely well. Unfortunately, our readers have not yet been properly introduced to them.

There are lots of ways to reveal deep character, but today I want to look at a few techniques that have worked well for many Art of Writing writers over the years. This is also another way of learning how not to tell the reader what a character is like, but to show what they’re like. I call it BRAIN CHAT. In other words, getting inside your character’s head and writing about it.

When you understand your character’s internal world, your baby flies! Your character stops being a person who simply does stuff like move through important events. They become someone with thoughts, doubts, memories, and emotional reactions. Showing the BRAIN CHAT, that inner life is one of the places where deep character lives.

This works so well for Memoir too! And sorry the Memoir Zoom on Tuesday night is booked out. There are still a few places left in Your Major Dramatic Question and Character and Conflict. But keep in mind that BRAIN CHAT is essential in Memoir too.

---

So let’s talk about BRAIN CHAT and how to bring your reader inside your character’s mind.

Superficial Character: a flat person who only has external stuff going on. Like their surface qualities, visible attributes, and obvious actions or responses. Flat characters have stereotypical qualities. You can predict what they will do because their actions are nothing out of the box. These characters have classic problems, normal fears. Sometimes their past life does not reflect their current life. Sometimes they don’t have a past life, or backstory (yikes!). Very little is going on between their ears or in their heart, as in, there is little inner reflection and subsequently no inner dialogue. There is no BRAIN CHAT, as I call it. They need more brain chat! With emotional conflict and doubts and worries and complexities.

Our internal brain chat is going on all the time. You know what it’s like, you think of this, you think of that. Thoughts are constantly pinging in your brain. And thinking of this or that makes us feel sad, or good, or elated, or connected to my friend, or satisfied with work -- whatever. We all have constant BRAIN CHAT.

Your character must have BRAIN CHAT too. Because those internal thoughts help your reader understand your character’s deepest concerns in a more emotional way. BRAIN CHAT is how you show your character’s internal conflict. You can only show your character’s fears up to a certain point. Then you must go inside their heads so that we can listen to their thoughts.

Some ways to do this? A tip or two on getting into your character’s BRAIN CHAT?

Trying giving your character a morning or evening ritual. A regular routine, that is almost ritualistic, shows exactly the kind of person they are. Fill in their movements with internal dialogue, or an internal monologue. 

What are they reading? Give them something out of character. They’re trying a different genre. Go into their heads about why they don’t like it or do and didn’t expect to. Remember your goal is to reveal deeper character with this BRAIN CHAT.

Make them listen to music. What do the lyrics make them feel? Or think? Or remember? Maybe they are tone deaf and sing loudly. Every now and then someone calls out ‘oh, please be quiet,’ or ‘SHUT UP!’ or ‘For the love of God, give us a break!’ Who do they live with? Does your character stop singing? How does singing make them feel? Why? Are they introverts who never sing in public? Or are they extraverts?

Please think of some deep ways to show your character’s BRAIN CHAT. 

If you’ve got a good idea of how to bring in BRAIN CHAT, ping it to me by email and I can put it in the next Blog. Let’s share our ideas and help each other.

What am I reading?

SHAME by Joseph Burgo because it’s helping me understand how powerful emotional drivers shape a character’s life. Some characters are motivated by ambition, love, fear, or loyalty. Others are driven by shame. Burgo writes about how shame can sit underneath a person’s decisions, relationships, and sense of self, often without them fully recognising it. As writers, this is exactly the sort of deep trait we need to understand about our characters. When we dig beneath the surface and begin to ask what emotion is truly driving someone, their behaviour makes much more sense! Their choices become more complex, more believable, and far more interesting to read.

Also reading:THE NEW MRS CLIFTON by Elizabeth Buchan because I always need a novel, about anything really, to keep me company. This is a lovely historical novel about the tensions and secrets that erupt when a British intelligence officer returns to post-war London in 1945 with a mysterious German wife, forcing those around him to confront prejudice and the emotional wreckage of war. One of those books you pluck off the library shelf and say yeah, I’ll give it a go and then really enjoy it.

IN OTHER NEWS

The Sydney Story Workshop runs for 3 days in August. It’s 3 days of deep learning and deep thinking and deep talking and deep writing and deep listening. Yeah, all very deep. That’s the way we like it! 

Running Friday 21 to Sunday 23 August 2026 at Woollahra Library, Double Bay, The Art of Writing: Sydney Story Workshop. Seven masterclasses. Five extraordinary teachers. A literary agent Q&A so you can present your précis to an agent. Lunch included because thinking is hungry work. 

Our panel of career writers on our final day is now finalised! Drop me a line for the program to find out more and we can figure out a deposit or payment program tailored especially for you. Clifford.lisa@hotmail.com

The Art of Writing is an international circle of serious, curious writers. We don’t chase quick fixes. We roll up our sleeves, ask better questions and stay with the difficult drafts until they become something worth keeping.

Places are limited. Book your place now or write to us about a payment plan to secure your spot.

There’s Rome too. Super special. One place left!

Timeless Craft
Rome
8 to 12 November 2026

Lisa