When character development begins with a knock on the door

Sometimes it happens quietly, almost like a whisper.

Other times it's as if someone steps right in and sits down at the table.

This month I'll take you into the magical moment when a character knocks on the door. And how characters come to me – not as plans, but as presences that want something.

Maybe you've felt something similar? A little knock. A feeling you don't quite understand. Maybe it's the start of a story. Or of character development – ​​in them, and in you.
What happens when you open it? Maybe both the story – and the character development – ​​begin right there.

It doesn't always start with an idea. Not with a plan or a plot. Sometimes character development starts with a knock.
Not loud, not violent – ​​more like a gentle sound on the edge of consciousness.
As if someone is standing there, waiting.

Not for coffee. Not for a party. But for being seen. For being allowed in.

I don't know how it is for others, but for me, the grades don't come because I've decided to make something up. They come when I'm listening. When I'm taking a walk and my thoughts are flowing. When I'm in the middle of doing the dishes or on my way to bed. When I'm not trying too hard.

At first it's just a glimpse. A glance. A sentence.
A feeling, maybe.
A “I think there is someone who wants to say something”.

And then I know – now it's knocking on the door again. Maybe it's the start of a character development that I don't yet understand.

Have you ever known that?
Maybe not as a character, but as a little idea, a scene you imagine, a name you can't get rid of? Maybe you didn't think of it as a story at all – just something that popped up and wanted to stay with you. Something that asked: Do you want to hear?

I believe character development can come from silence as much as from structure. When a character comes to you – unsolicited – the development has already begun.

For me, it's never as easy as finding someone . It's more like meeting someone I already know, but who I just didn't know existed yet. They show up – with their own voices, their own stories, and often with a restlessness in them. A longing. Something they carry. Something they want to show me.

Character development can start with a picture:
A child sitting alone on a staircase.
A girl with a blue scarf in the wind.
A boy with a look that knows more than he should.

Sometimes there is a sentence that comes, without context:
"I know it's dangerous, but I'm going anyway."

Or:
"They called me too much. But I think I was just right."

And then I start listening.

Not as a writer with control over a narrative, but as a kind of way station. Someone who gets to borrow a voice, and who tries to be responsive enough to write it down. Character development often happens in silence – long before you understand what story you are actually telling.

It may sound strange. A little floating. But that's often how creation works. Not as control, but as contact. And character development, to me, is just that – a contact with something that wants to be told.

I don't think you need to write books to recognize the feeling.

Maybe you've had a dream you can't forget, a thought that repeats itself, or a name that suddenly just appears .
Maybe there's a character inside you that's just waiting for you to sit down and ask:
Who are you? What do you want from me?