Characters make a story work. Characters interact with each other and with their environments. A character has three, core psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Exploring those needs develops the story. A character needs to feel autonomous - that they are choosing things in their life and are not being controlled. They need to feel effective and competent, doing things that they initiate and can achieve successfully. And they need to satisfy their social mandate by having close relationships.

For example a character can feel he is acting autonomously when he is working, making decisions about his skills and his knowledge. He may not feel that autonomy when he is home responding to family needs, but that may be part of his social mandate to which he is dedicated. If a member of his family dies or is threatened, it challenges the character's core needs. How the character responds to that challenge can be a tale worth telling.

It is sometimes easier to develop these concepts for a fictional character than it is to find them in yourself.