Is it possible to know your characters too well? I think it is. In my current project, I'm so familiar with my female lead's personality that I'm not giving my reader a chance to get to know everything about her. It's all in my head, and somehow I've got to translate it to paper.
It's tough when you have a character with a strong personality because you have to be true to their nature without turning off the reader. It's a fine line to walk. I've put down many books in the past because I couldn't relate to the main character and their motivations.
In my work-in-progress, I'm trying to convey the contrast between the heroine's tough veneer and her uncharacteristic vulnerability around the man she's attracted to--the hero. Showing her qualities should be easy for me because I've done all the background for her. I've decided her physical description, I know her history and all her strengths and weaknesses.
But, despite all the information I have about her, I'm still struggling to disperse this information to the reader without overwhelming them or being too terse. Always a balancing act.
My strongest (and most favorite) tool is dialogue. My goal today is to get the right level of banter going between the characters so that she is revealed through her actions and reations during their conversation.
We'll see how it goes. In the meantime, I think I'll refresh myself with some of these articles about characterization:
Characters Make Your Story by Millie Criswell
Character Building Workshop by Writer's Village University
Writing Dialogue by Elizabeth Rose