1.00 Character Overview
Characters are the vessel through which to tell your story.
In any discussion of fiction writing, I always like to begin with characters as they can be a surprisingly underdeveloped area for many writers starting out. It’s an understandable dilemma! Writers have so much to worry about, from establishing the world of their story, to devising large-scale problems that often affect large populations in the hope of drafting sweeping plots with world-ending consequences (deep gasp to catch your breath). In the case of science fiction and fantasy, there is even more work to do. Rules of gods, science, magic and secondary universes that all abide by their own laws.
With all of that noise, one could see why it might be easier to start with a glass shell of a character. Others opt for the “self-insert” protagonist. And why should that be a problem? After all, isn’t the saying, “write what you know”?
There are risks, however, to the self-insert character, and I don’t mean the risk of sounding cringe. When I worked on films as a composer, I saw just how many elements are woven together to bring a story to life: the acting, the script, shot composition and color corrections, then of course the power of the score itself to bring emotion. An entire team of people behind and in front of a camera. Writers have nothing else to fall back on; their book has its words alone, which makes it an incredibly vulnerable thing to share with others. Getting that first dose of feedback might sting no matter how thick your skin. Readers don’t usually assume the character is the author (unless explicitly stated), so to base fictional beings off of yourself puts you in danger of getting your feelings seriously hurt each time that story is criticized. This is a subject I’ll excavate later on.
Beyond that, it tends to make for better writing when you take the time to develop a character who is completely enmeshed with their world. And they’re worth the time it takes to develop them, because again: Characters are the vessel for your story. You may have the most intricate, interesting world, a crazy unique magic system that gives calculus a run for its money, whip-smart prose and snappy dialogue, but if you don’t give your reader someone interesting to follow, a good many of them will close the book prematurely.
Notice how I don’t say they must be a good character, as in a heroic character. Your main character (or “MC” as it’s often abbreviated), is under no obligation to be moral, gentle, or kind—I, for one, tend to prefer characters who are a little messy—but they do have to be interesting.
There are good and heroic characters who are hopelessly boring.
There are brusque characters who are so caustic and unlikable, it puts the reader off.
Does that mean you’re not allowed to make heroes and bastards? Of course not. Fiction lives and breathes such things. The key is offering balance and nuance so that the viewpoint of your story isn’t coming off as a cardboard cutout.
In this character unit, I’ll be tackling a wide scope of character-based subjects such as:
Crafting compelling character arcs
Establishing a character’s morals and convictions
How to choose your protagonist
How to create multi-dimensional antagonists
Establishing character motivations (the real heart of a plot)
Creating love interests
And many more.
Now a disclaimer: as with any subject I tackle in this blog, this not a hard science. I’m not giving you answers so much as suggestions that you can take or leave, formulated from on my own tastes and research, and what I’ve found works broadly across genres and writing styles. It’s not my goal to make you write books as I would write them or to make you sound like anyone but yourself. The takeaway should certainly never be that these are Rules that you must follow Or Else.
The best part about learning the basic rules is then knowing exactly when and how to break them. It is my hope that you will.