Got stuck on a character for a sci-fi story and tried something dumb

I was writing about a detective on a space station, but he felt flat. My cat knocked a jar of pickles off the counter, and for some reason I wrote 'what if his secret vice is craving Earth pickles?' It gave him this weird, specific longing that actually made his dialogue way more fun to write. Has anyone else fixed a boring character by giving them a totally random, petty obsession?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_alex10d ago

Pickles: the secret to good character writing, apparently.

the_beth10d ago

My old space smuggler draft got saved by making her obsessed with collecting ugly ceramic mugs from every port. She'd have these tense trade negotiations while mentally judging their dishware. Those small, weird wants do all the heavy lifting. The pickle thing works because it's not a tragic backstory, just a dumb human habit that survived lightyears.