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Originally Posted by KellyC
Martian, that's what I did with the second scene. I tried to imagine how much "more" of a Mariners fan he can be and what interesting habits he would have as a Mariners fan. So I added his "unique" habit of collecting signature baseballs from Mariners.
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That's sort of missing the point. Defining him by one trait (Mariners fan) is by definition making him one-dimensional. We know he's a Mariners fan. That's already apparent. What else is there to this guy? Where's he been and where's he going? What makes him different from every other Mariners fan out there?
Looking at his obit, we can see that there was a lot more to Bill than baseball. Reading between the lines a bit, we can see that he was something of a family man. He worked for Boeing. He had an early career in pro ball. He served in the navy. He was a member of the Lions Club. These are all things outside of him being a Mariners fan that defined Bill as a person. To make him a more rounded character, you'd do well to explore some of this. Does he miss his first wife? How did he come to work for Boeing? Does he enjoy his work? Was he greatly affected by his military service? Does he have any regrets (particularly about his missed chance at the majors)? Does his love of the Mariners stem from nostalgia at his own missed chance? How does he relate to his children?
There's so much more here aside from Mariners fan. Focusing on one trait is a good way to create a flat character, but in order to cause him to be well rounded you need to include more, and in order to write a compelling piece of fiction you need to add some emotion to the piece as well. I would suggest exploring other aspects of his life outside of his interest in pro baseball to try to create a better developed character.
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Originally Posted by Augi
Like mentioned before, rounded does not apply to details of the character. What matters is did the character grow or personally change in any way. Is there a human being there that we can understand?
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I disagree with this. The humanity of the character is in the details. Growth through conflict is one way to bring that out, but there isn't really room to explore that in a one page character study. Other literary techniques will be more effective for a piece of this nature.