Curate, connect, and discover
give them a misbelief
no characters have a personality when the plot starts. all of them have backstories, a past, and a mindset that they grew up with!
basically, a misbelief is the wrong mindset that they grew up with, and is also a belief that will be restructured by the end of your novel.
this not only shows character growth and development as their mind is "restructured" or they learn their life lesson, but also drives the internal plot of your story, which differs from the external (or action) plot that most people seem to read.
+ this gives readers a deeper insight to your character!
give them a goal
every character has a goal, or something they want in their lives. having them strive for it would essentially drive your plot, and may also help you dig deeper into your character's motivations!
this goal doesn't always need to be achieved, or may be impossible to (for example, someone wanting to meet a loved one who turns out to be dead; they may have not reached their goal, but it took them on a journey)
this goal should also be concrete if possible! vague ones like "they want to be happy," isn't very helpful. what do they think will make them happy?
(side note: wanting everything to be the way that it is can also be a goal, cause they're striving to make things go back to the way they were!)
more notes / explanations here! most of these notes in this post are taken from story genius by lisa cron, and i thought they might help. please take all this information with a grain of salt, and maybe use it in a way that'll work best for you! <3