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

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.

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

“I’ll put the kettle on.”

Who is someone that inspires you?

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

“It’s not looking at 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 there a musician who has publicly stated that they do not want their music played by the Trump campaign or at a Trump rally? If so, who and why?

“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…”

“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.”

“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—”

Why do women need to wear bras, in spite of the fact that the breasts are an integral part of the body?

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

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

“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?”

How did you know you weren't the narc?

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

Essentially, what you do is show the character:

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

What is the dirtiest thing you have allowed your husband to do?

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

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?”

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

Romania in the past was a poor country, but last year the government announced it had 521 billion leu (113$ billion dollars) revenue. Why is so much? What's the reason?

“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.

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

“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.”

How much stronger is an average man than an average woman?

“Exactly.”

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

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

President Trump kicked Zelensky out of the White House. Is it over for a deal?

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

“But they’re cold!”

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 do men prefer low-maintanence women?

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

“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.”

“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—”

Why do some people enjoy being dominated?

“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.”

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

Create a context between this character and other characters.

I've never read the book. What did Dorian Grey do that was so immoral and sinful?

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

“Exactly.”

“Claire, I—”

Why can't flat-Earthers create an agency like NASA to explore Earth to prove it is flat? What's preventing them from doing so?

“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.”

“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?”

“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.”

Why did Mark Lane harass Helen Markham during an illegally recorded telephone conversation to misidentify Lee Harvey Oswald who she witnessed as the shooter of Tippit?

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

“You need some tea!”

Do that and you can ground your characters quite quickly.

Why do people keep denying the similarities between Latin and Italian by saying they are totally different languages when it’s obvious they sound similar?

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

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

“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.”

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

“I need to do laundry.”

“No way.”

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

“Claire! Why are you still up?”

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.

“Tart!”

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?”

“Perv.”

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

“Nary a cute boy in sight.”

“Cute girls?”