When writing a novel, how can a character be developed well, but QUICKLY?

“I’m serious!” Claire said. “It’s staring straight at me.” She let the curtain fall. “Weird.”

“Perv.”

“It’s a cat. All cats are weird.” May sipped from her mug, inhaling the warmth. She closed her eyes. The room spun. She opened them again. “Ugh. I think I drank too much.”

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“Why is that always your first suggestion? I do not need some tea. It’s three o’clock in the morning! If I have tea, I’ll never get to sleep.”

Claire, one of May’s three flatmates, former university roommate, and best friend in all the world, shrugged expansively. “It’s a Saturday night. What else would I be doing?”

In the kitchen, Claire set out a battered pair of mugs: May’s black, with “PEBKAC: Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair” in white letters; Claire’s white, with “This must be Thursday. I never could get the hang of Thursdays” in dark blue. She carried both mugs into the living room. “A moggie followed you home? Is this some weird Internet slang I’m not current on?”

Why is the covert narcissist actively avoiding me when they see me everyday?

“So you didn’t meet any cute boys at the club tonight?” Claire called as she bustled about the small kitchen.

“They are! He broke the rules of the boarding house by petting this character while she was in cat form, so they invoke the ancient rules of single combat via ping-pong, and—”

“Hang on, are they playing ping-pong?”

What do people aim for when they meditate, and how do they do it properly?

Doing something they enjoy, that expresses their personality, and that is in some way unusual or noteworthy;

“Nary a cute boy in sight.”

Create a context between this character and other characters.

If Republicans say that Biden goes to shower with his daughter, how do Democrats support it?

“Cute girls?”

“Well, maybe if you’d wear more clothes, they wouldn’t feel so cold. Hussy!”

“Thanks. You’re looking pretty ratty yourself. Have you been in that bathrobe all day?”

How can I navigate a romantic relationship as a trans person, and what are some common challenges that I might face?

May studied the black and white comic panels. “Oh, my. She looks…anatomically implausible. What is she doing to that poor man? Wait, are those cat ears?”

“From the look of you, if you try to sleep now, you’ll spend the next three hours hanging onto your bed trying to stop the world spinning. Since you’re not going to sleep anyway, you might as well keep me company.”

“None of those either. Look upon the wasteland that is my sex life, and see that it is barren. Naught but a moggie followed me home.”

J.K. Rowling said that 65% of people in Britain are transgender. Where did she come up with that statistic?

The agent had only one bad thing to say (the synopsis was crap; writing synopses is hard!), but praised the characterization and particularly how well we introduced a character’s personality quickly.

“Damn straight. So get to it! This time next week, I want to hear some moans coming through that wall.”

“It’s not looking at you.”

Can a 40-year-old date a 20-year-old?

Do that and you can ground your characters quite quickly.

“Exactly.”

“I try not to, but thank you for reminding me. I know I don’t need a cat. I don’t want a cat. What would I do with a cat?”

Why are the democrats keep insisting that there are more than two genders?

“About wearing more clothes? How am I supposed to catch any fish if I don’t show off the bait?”

“Claire, I—”

“Nope, I mean a cat followed me home. A black cat, to be exact. All the way from the club. Probably still out there, for all I know.”

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“I’m glad my sex life is so entertaining.”

“Yep!” Claire chirped. “There’s this schoolboy, see, and he’s homeless, so he lives in this boarding house that used to be a hot springs bathhouse, which is cheap because it’s haunted, so he decides—”

“Fine.” May collapsed into the warm spot Claire had just vacated.

How is the story of Rukmini Devi described in the Harivamsha, Rukminisha Vijaya and Shrimad Bhagavatam?

After Eunice and I finished London Under Veil, I entered the first chapter in a contest at a convention where you could submit something and have it critiqued by a professional book agent.

Claire sat back down, legs tucked elegantly beneath her. “You are looking a bit sloppy,” she said, inspecting May through narrowed eyes.

“Tart!”

I'm looking for an answer from people who consider themselves "Gender Critical", or transphobic, or TERFs, and my question is this - Why would you refuse to use the pronouns someone wants? What does it cost you? Where's the harm?

“Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs!” Claire turned the book around.

“I’m just a fan of your catch and release program.”

May yelped. “Hey! Your feet are cold!”

Why do you think Democrat favorability ratings are so low?

“Claire! Why are you still up?”

May pushed Claire’s feet away. Claire rose to peer out the window. “Huh. It’s still there.”

“Yes way. It’s washing itself under the street light. Uh-oh, I think it spotted me. It knows I’m watching it. I swear it’s looking at me.”

Have you ever lied to your family? What were the circumstances?

“I’ll put the kettle on.”

“Number one, it’s not porn, it’s ecchi, and number two, why would I waste a perfectly good Saturday doing anything else?” Claire pulled at her tea and sighed. “The only thing that could make this day better is if you'd come home with some cute boy, so that after you kicked him out tomorrow I could live vicariously through you.”

“I don’t know. Partying. Going to a pub. Anything besides sitting on the couch reading…” She squinted. “What the hell are you reading?”

Is anal sex allowed in Islam? It's not written anywhere in the Quran whether it's forbidden or not.

“You don’t need a cat. You can’t take care of a cat. You can’t take care of a ficus.” Claire flopped on the other side of the sofa and wriggled her feet beneath May.

“No way.”

Engaging in conversation that also shows something about their intelligence, personality, wit (or lack thereof); and

If Jesus spoke against abortion and prioritized family values, how quickly would he be dismissed as a patriarchal figure by modern progressives?

“No, about the cat. You don’t need a cat. You remember what happened to your spider plant, right?”

“You know what? Never mind,” May said. “I am way, way too drunk to be having this conversation.”

They both burst out laughing. “I’m right, though,” Claire went on.

Here’s how we presented the character Claire when she was introduced, which the agent particularly singled out:

“I need to do laundry.”

“Exactly.”

“May! You’re home late! Early, I mean. Well, I mean, it’s early in the morning, but you’re home before I expected. Er, after. Before?”

“I know! That’s why I’m putting them under you!”

“You need some tea!”

“Well, maybe if you didn’t spend all day reading—” May prodded the book with its garishly-coloured cover with her foot. “Bizarre comic book porn…”

Essentially, what you do is show the character:

“But they’re cold!”