This weekend I’ll be participating in the Writer’s Digest Annual Science Fiction and Fantasy Virtual Conference. My topic is on character development. Usually, before I pull together the PowerPoint presentation or develop a panel topic, I write several articles and take a deep dive into the research. This topic is particularly fun and interesting for me because I’m almost always looking at the world through a writer’s lens. I find myself thinking that everyone has a story. Their unique story informs their character development, and in turn their quality of character helps write their story.

It’s interesting to think about the nature vs. nurture debate when considering personality and character. What innate traits drive us toward our chosen careers? How deeply do childhood experiences impact our day to day decisions? But one of the most revealing questions I ask when developing my cast of characters is - what do they fear? The answer to that question is revealing. Perhaps a childhood fear, like never having enough to eat, informs a person’s drive to become an aid worker, or perhaps instead it drives them to steal. Perhaps an experience of being bullied in school influences the choice to become a teacher, or perhaps it causes them to lash out violently.

As I explore this idea for my presentation, I am watching it play out in the world. Fear is everywhere, and understandably so. Our fears run the gamut from worry that we can’t pay the bills to panic that someone we love will get sick and die. This fear can push us to say or do things we wouldn’t ordinarily, for good or for bad. Some of us lash out when we’re afraid. Some become paralyzed. But many accept that fear is part of the human experience, push onward, and try to do their very best to take care of themselves and each other.

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”
— Nelson Mandela