[Note: I’ve updated this post and changed the dialogue example]

In Part 1 of this post, I mentioned that a fictional character is shaped by his or her words and actions, and that for this reason, plot and dialogue are the sine-qua-non of character development. The following, then, taken from an actual book (written in first person), is an example of how this is so:

I drove us to my trailer in Metairie.

“This is where you live?” she said.

“Shut up.”

That’s how it actually appears in the novel. Now read it this way:

I drove us to my trailer in Metairie.

“This is where you live?” she said.

“Yes.”

It’s only a one-word difference, but note how much that one word changes your view of the character.