Authors seek out others’ writing processes to hone their own writing abilities, get ideas, and be inspired. One typical conversation around writer’s tables is how planned a character’s decisions are. Some authors describe careful crafting of their characters; other authors are helpless as their characters drag them along for the ride. John Wilkerson, sci-fi author, journalist, and ghostwriter, has a hybrid approach to creating a character. In the clip below, he explains the character development for his Rye Ironstone sci-fi series. The main character, Rye, surprised Wilkerson from the moment he showed up on the page. Wilkerson discovered a compelling character that had potential but wouldn’t quite come to life. In a few drafts of the first chapter, Wilkerson played with various techniques to craft Rye in the most effective way. It wasn’t until Wilkerson altered the narrator’s point of view that the novel lifted off. From there, the character’s internal monologue dominated the rest of the book. Watch the clip below to hear the rest of Wilkerson’s character development process!