Making a Character Unique

Something I've learned during character building is that it normally takes one or two unique traits to help me make them unique characters.  Once I have those few traits, I can build off of them and learn about the other personality traits a character has.

I've really realized this while writing In Chaos Forged.  As the story has grown, I've been dealing with more and more characters.  I think I'll soon be juggling as many if not more characters than I did in Founders.  The biggest challenge has been the main character, Jivasi.  He's naturally very curious and hates to rub against authority (although in strenuous circumstances, he will), but at the same time very loyal to himself and to those he thinks he can trust.  However, I have to be very careful not to deviate from the core of his character and make him sound like other characters, like his cousin, Ndegana, for example.  Ndegana is outspoken, and is normally very good at forgiving himself.  He doesn't like to dwell on past mistakes, although some come to haunt him quite a bit.  I have to be careful not to mix up Ndegana's outspoken personality with Jivasi's quiet curiosity.

I've jumped back into revising Gift Search, and a character I've had the opportunity to explore more is a villain named Uty, who didn't get much air time in the original Sunstone manuscript.  She had more show time in the Revisited manuscript, and she's getting even more in the beginning of Gift Search.  She's such an actress, I've discovered.  She knows how to put on a royal air, but at times her temper shows.  She can switch back and forth between royal serenity to venomous cruelty.  Like all characters, it's been hard really writing about her starting recently, but it'll be interesting to see how things turn out with this character.