Thursday 9 May 2013

Framing Your Main Characters


Create a compelling protagonist and villain and half the battle is already won. That doesn’t mean you make the good guy absolutely good and the bad guy the worst creature to walk the planet. Characters are like people and they grow over the course of your story into well rounded beings. Conversely, not putting too much thought into them, bleeds through the page, and readers will dismiss the book even if the plot is amazing.

How do you frame your characters?

1. Keep Their Bio Data
A Snippet of My List
Before I create a character, I make a list of everything that I feel can frame a great character. Name, nickname, place of birth, favorite catchphrase, interests. You can modify the list depending on your tastes and don’t forget that this list keeps changing as your character evolves.
This list is also a good reference point if you ever feel like your character is getting away from you. Plus, this list is great because every fact feeds the other. If your character has a serious demeanor it will affect the choice of his music, which in turn will affect whether his idea of a good time is a rock concert or a symphony.

2. Decide Their Flaws
This can be part of your list in the point above but it is so important that I needed to give it a separate heading. The type of flaw, perceived or real, your character has makes a world of difference.
Dorian Gray's flaw is creates one of
the most beloved protagonists ever 
Please, don’t create a character who is too perfect to live. The reason I say is this because your readers aren’t stupid. Just because you’re telling them the protagonist has no flaws doesn’t mean they won’t be able to spot any.
I’m not too familiar with the Twilight Series, but from what I hear its protagonist is supposed to close to perfect. Yet you see enough people who rant about its stupidity. That’s what I mean. You can’t fool your audience. Then again, considering the success of the Twilight Series, I might be wrong on that.
In the same way, give your villain a redeeming feature. No one except comic book villains are purely evil and as a well developed person, your antagonist will have a soft side to him as well. Plus, contrast always heightens the thrill. If your villain wants to destroy out of retarded evilness, it won’t be as powerful as if he knows that he’s doing wrong, but sees no other alternative.

3. Times of Adversity
Death Note is all about adversity and its interesting
to see how different characters react to it. Some 
choose self sacrifice, others develop a peculiar habit 
of making their eyes glow red. Plus as far as flaws 
goes, this series does a great job of making flawed 
yet lovable characters.
It’s well known that you get to know a person’s real character in a time of adversity and a book character is no different. Look at the tense parts in your book or make up a situation and consider how your characters would react to it. Who would be the person they help? Who would they leave behind? Would they roll over and weep or would they fight the situation even if they knew they would die?
The situation doesn’t have to be life or death. It could be financial ruin or a break up, but the manner in which the character handles adversity can tell you a lot about him. 

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