You hear the phrase "fully rounded characters" a lot, well I have (!), but what does it actually mean?  My take on this is:-

1.  You can identify with the character.
2.  The character has clear virtues and flaws.  (This is usually why you can identify with them!).
3.  The character makes mistakes and, usually, learns from them.  Often they make the same mistakes more than once before they learn from them, but then so do real people!
4.  Their behaviour and attitudes make sense, given the way the writer has portrayed them.
5.  You can imagine how this character would live outside of the constraints of the story.
6.  They interact with other characters in a way that makes sense, even if the interaction itself isn't good.  (This could be because the character really does not get on well with others or the other characters aren't great at "people skills").
7.  The character has feelings, tastes in music, food etc so you would feel they "could be" a real person if somehow characters could come to life.
8.  The character has emotional depth.  Basically this means the reader can see if the character is shallow or is capable of more complex emotions and attitudes.  Shallow characters can be appropriate to a story.  It's just their emotional depth isn't very deep!
9.  You can't imagine the story without them.  (Always a good sign).
10.  The character has real struggles and difficulties to overcome and finds different ways of overcoming them.  (Unless they are a shallow creation, they don't give up at the first hurdle).

I do love a list!  Ten favourite things I like about well portrayed characters include:-

1.  Such characters show me something about my own nature (for good or bad!).
2.  I can identify with the characters, sympathise even.
3.  I will "root for" characters and "feel" their struggles, which is not quite the same as 2 above.  For this, I have to really like the characters concerned.  With 2, I can identify with say what a villain is up to (they've been crossed once too often and are now out for revenge), but I'm not going to root for them to succeed in their aims.  I often hope ambiguous characters will not turn out to be villainous in the end or at least have motivations that are understandable.  The best of these will do both.
4.  You can "see" exactly where a character is coming from.  That leads to empathy (which I believe can encourage empathy generally and that is no bad thing).
5. Characters will show you the world they live in and how they handle it.  Is there something I can learn here?  (That includes what not to do!).
6.  For a character that's set in a historical period, you can compare how they handle their situation and ponder how you would do so.  (I love Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice but can see her situation as almost being prison like.  For her not to marry Mr Collins, when it would have meant helping her family, was a brave thing to do.  It would also be seen as selfish, especially by her mother.  Here, I am so glad I have never faced something like that).
7.  As a writer, you can put your characters through the emotional wringer!  Heartless though that may sound, it is also huge fun - and it will be where your story really is.  It is all in the conflicts.
8.  Sometimes a historical character can change your mind about a period in time or a well known historical figure.  The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey did this for me with regard to Richard III and Henry VII.
9.  Characters can show up injustice clearly.  Think To Kill a Mockingbird here or something like Uncle Tom's Cabin.
10. Characters can say things you would love to say to others but for whatever reason rightly decide it's best not to!  And I'm not saying more than that....!

My Chandler's Ford Today post this week is all about networking.  Fellow Chapeltown Books author, Mandy Huggins, and I share our thoughts on this and I hope you find it useful. But it led me to wonder what kind of networking goes on inside the world of our stories.

How do our characters meet each other?  Have they known each other for years?  What are the social networks in the worlds you've created?  What happens to those who defy convention here?

Our stories won't necessarily spell out all of that but readers should know why the characters are interacting the way they do.  If they hate each other, that is bound to be a major factor in how your story develops and the reason for the hate should be shown.  (I don't think you can ignore the fact they hate each other, it must be what is driving your story.  I can't see how it would be otherwise). 

Is there such a thing as an old boys' network in your world?  Who benefits or suffers because of it?  Is there a class system and can people/beings cross the divides?  If your world just has one major species, there should be some sort of hierarchy within it.  How does this work?

Using "dead time" in a more efficient way so I can get more writing done is something I have improved on in the last six months or so.  This is partly because I've finally got a smartphone (!) and I also use Evernote as an app to draft stories, articles etc when I'm out and about on train journeys etc.

The nice thing with this is not only do I get more work done, I haven't got the distractions of all I have to do at home getting in the way.  I can focus purely on writing for a while, which is bliss. One lovely thing about writing, which I touch on in a Facebook post tonight as well, is that whether you write fiction, non-fiction or both, there are always things to work on, edit or write! 

On my last big train journey, I managed to write at least five flash fiction stories (I admit I gave up counting after that).  So think about your pockets of time that can easily be lost.  How could you use those?  I remember being annoyed when I took my car in for service as I was happily drafting stories while waiting for that to be done.  I was well into the writing zone when they told me the car was ready!

Main task for me now here is to submit more flash fiction to Cafelit as well as get on with ideas for my third book.  My second book is in with Chapeltown Books now so fingers crossed!