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Character development is creating a real person. When you know more than just what appears in the story. This is their background, wants and fears but more importantly, their view. Their best memory, how they feel about different things. You should know their answer to any question you could answer about yourself. I did a character development quiz with 200+ questions. I didn't answer ALL of them- but my character felt so much more rounded. I didn't include most of it- but it just made everything the characters did more believable.

Characters develop the same way people do: they have an experience that changes them. It could be anything from losing a loved one to discovering they're a super human. Give them experiences like these that make your characters rethink themselves and where they're headed. Experiences like these really do change people. Robert Downy Jr. had a burger so bad it "made him rethink his life" and stop his drug addiction. If our world were fiction, that would be character development.

To expand your character's personality and development you have to have your own method. I struggled with this myself until recently, I didn't take in this idea myself but it sounded reasonable. Just make a spider diagram with the character's name in the middle, draw arrows coming out with bits of information which you think are necessary for your story to work. It didn't work for me like I said before but it has been suggested on many websites to do with writing stories.

I like to present my characters like a profile, so like this:

Name:

Age/Birthday:

Traits/Personality:

Hobbies:

Looks:

Weaknesses:

Family:

Occupation:

Where they live:

Past:

There are many more so if you have an idea write a catagory for it.