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Writing: Creating Your Main Character

thewritinghole

Ah, the main character. If your story were a ship, they’d be the pilot. It’s their job to incite, propel, and solve the plot, all while making the readers laugh and smile and cry and get frustrated, and oftentimes they carry with them the moral lesson. This is a pretty tall order for one character, and deciding what kind of main character you’re going to have can be very stressful. Hopefully this list will help you with this process.

The main character can determine the audience.

This isn’t always true, but usually the age, gender, moral compass, and sometimes even physical appearance of the main character decides what kind of people are going to read the book. A book about a 14-year-old female fashionista usually attracts different readers than a 50-year-old FBI director. Don’t let this scare you, because there are outliers depending on how the character is written, but bear in mind that people of like-minded interests usually read books with main characters that share some of those traits, so plan accordingly.

The main character’s personality traits should coincide with the plot and theme of the novel.

High-fantasy and adventure novels are usually headed by strong-willed, talented, reckless characters. (Think Luke Skywalker or the Winchesters from Supernatural.) Realistic fiction, however, are usually home to goofier, more human characters (such as Greg and Earl in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl). While your main character doesn’t have to be the cookie-cutter model of the “normal” protagonist for genre and theme, they should exhibit at least some of the traits. Give some of the entertaining, off-color traits to supporting characters if you can’t live without them.

Make them human.

Real people are complicated. Their emotions and actions are driven by complex, sometimes misguided desires. Real people make mistakes for much the same reason. Real people doubt themselves, and they have low and high points. Real people change over time based on the people and circumstances they surround themselves with. Real people sometimes lie to others and themselves about their true motivations. Real people need help and support from others to reach their goals. Sometimes, real people never reach their goals at all. Characters should reflect all of this in their stories, especially main characters, with whom your readers should identify with and root for the most.

Make them likable.

This doesn’t mean they have to be perfect by any means, nor do they have to be friendly and sweet 100% of the time. Your main character can actually be a total asshole but still have readers like them or be entertained by them. The main thing is that you have to make sure that the reader roots for them, because if the reader is hoping the main character will fail or loses interest in them completely, you haven’t done your job as a writer. Beta readers can help you by telling you whether or not they like the main character and agree with their actions.

Make them fit their story.

Characters are TOOLS, just like every other story element. They are there to ad to the reader’s experience, and whatever triumph or turmoil they go through is so that the reader can be entertained and enlightened by their story. That’s why it’s important for them to be treated as such, and NOT like friends or ways for the author to live vicariously through their own story. We have fanfiction for that. When you’re writing, if it seems like your story is revolving around amking your main character happy, or that they’re becoming just too perfect to be entertaining, you may need to step back and re-evaluate their score on the Mary Sue litmus test and see if you’re writing a character or a mannequin doll.

Some helpful links I found.

Fuck Yeah Character Development’s masterpost of character creation and development templates and websites.
My personal favorite character template sheet, written by Dehydromon on Deviantart. It’s the first link on FYCD’s post and has 370+ questions to answer about your character. (For a shorter version, go here.)
Writerswrite’s how-to-create-a-character guide. (It’s basically another template, but I thought I’d include it in case someone didn’t like the others I provided, and also because it comes from a more professional source than Deviantart and Tumblr.)
Wikihow’s tips on creating a fictional character from scratch. Their tips are very broad, but they leave a lot of room for interpretation as well, if you prefer that.
Thecreativepenn’s 5 tips for creating interesting characters. This article seems to be geared towards screenwriters, but the tips apply to all forms of creative writing.

Source: thewritinghole

word-nerds-united

A list of things Steve Rogers would historically be unfamiliar with:

buckobarns

I fell down a rabbit hole of research about inventions circa the 40s and was surprised by a bunch of things that have been around way longer than I thought and some that are strangely reccent, and compiled them into a list. Aka, a resource for fic writers.

Bananas (or rather, the ones we have today. The ones he’d be accustomed to, the Gros Michel, a sweeter, creamier species, went extinct in the 50s and was replaced with the bland Cavendish banana.)
High-fives (the low-five was actually invented first, around WW2, and he may have been familiar with that)
Buffalo Wings (invented in the 60s)
CPR (not really used until the late 40s, not widely known until the 50s)
Tiramisu (invented in the 80s)
Big Macs & McNuggets (while McDonald’s was founded in 1940, the former wasn’t introduced until the 60s, and the latter, the 80s)
Seat belts (the first car to have one was in the late 40s, and only became mandatory to wear them in the 80s. holy shit.)
Walmart (invented in 1962. Or really, the large-scale supermarkets as we know them today really)
Yellow tennis balls (prior to the 70s they were usually black or white)
Panadol (first sold in the US in the 50s)
The smiley face aka :) (popularised in the 60s)

Now alternatively, here’s a list of things Steve WOULD (or possibly would) be familiar with:

I’m not sure why some of these surprised me.

Modern Sunglasses (have been around a lot longer than I thought, and were mass produced in the 20s)
Nokia (was first founded in 1865. I’m not kidding. They began as a pulp mill and moved into making rubber respirators for military from the 30s onwards)
Nintendo (been around since 1889 as a toy company, during the 40s they made playing cards. Wouldn’t be implausible that he knew about Nintendo, perhaps from Morita)
Krispy Kreme (opened in 1937, didn’t spread widely until the 50s however)
Kool-Aid (introduced in the 30s)
Oreos (introduced in 1912)
Printed/graphic tees (didn’t become a trend until the 60s-70s, but they certainly existed in the 40s)
Hoodies (originated in the 30s, worn by workers in cold New York warehouses. Meaning, it’s entirely plausible Bucky could’ve been wearing hoodies in the 40s)
Malls (they weren’t called that back then, but they certainly had shopping centres or plazas since the 1800s)
Converse sneakers (invented in 1908 and have barely changed since!)

buckobarns

I didn’t expect anyone to really reblog this wow! Here’s a couple more things to add to the list:

**Would not have known about:**

Velcro (patented in 1951)
Modern Sunscreen (in 1944 they had ‘Red Vet Pet’, used by soldiers it was described as a “disagreeable red, sticky substance similar to petroleum jelly”)
Bubble Wrap (1957)
Slinkies (Not sold until 1947)
Microwave oven (invented just a year after he went under)
Frisbees (invented in 1948)
Acrylic paint (not sold commercially until the 50s)
Roller blades (1979)

Would have likely known about:

Reeses’s Peanut Butter Cups (introduced in 1928)
Mountain Dew (introduced in 1940)
Twinkies (1930)
M&M’s (1941)
Lay’s Potato Chips (1932)
Tootsie Pops (1931)
Levi’s Jeans (been around since the 1850s!)
Duct Tape (been around since the early 1900′s, at this time it was called duck tape)
3-D movies (the first 3-D movie with the red/blue glasses was in 1922!)
Monopoly (1935)
Nescafe coffee (1938)

buckobarns

Coming back to this because I found out a few more!

**More things he would likely not be familiar with:**

Butter chicken (1950s)
Wireless TV remote (invented 1955)
Superglue (not sold until 1958)
Saran wrap (1949. ok and cool fact, the name Saran comes from the combined names of the creators cat and dog, Sarah and Ann!)
Colour TV (invented in his time, but not broadcasted until the 50s)

Things he would possibly/likely be familiar with:

Electric guitars (invented 1931)
Electric washing machines (as early as 1904. Although they look nothing like they do now though and I doubt he could afford to own one.)
Laundromats (since the 30s or earlier)
Electric razors (produced in 1937)
Air conditioner (invented in 1902)
Pop up toaster (1919)
Robots (in 1928 the humanoid robot Eric was created. Funnily enough around that time the word ‘robot’ was pronounced as ’row-bit’)
Pez candy (1927)

doesnotloveyou

Things to remember:

some things (like McDonald’s) were so localized he wouldn’t have heard about them (except possibly from a news article)
some things he would’ve missed out on due to the Depression, being stuck in Brooklyn, and other character specific circumstances
but a lot of things would’ve shown up in World’s Fairs held in NYC, and Bucky would’ve dragged him to any of them

Also:

“Countline” candy bars full of nougat, peanuts, caramel, etc. were popular during the Great Depression because they were cheap, meal-in-a-bar type foods. Young Steve could’ve been chowing on Butterfingers (1923), Snickers (1930), and Baby Ruth (1932) bars, though their modern-day recipes taste slightly different I’m sure.

orangesplorange11

I hate to be that one writer but this would be great to use in period pieces

heywriters

that exactly why i reblog it, bro

Source: frobow

thatsthat24

Source: babyanimalgifs

word-nerds-united

Source: being-john-malkobitch

word-nerds-united

carrieonwriting

some highlights from my writing seminar with honestly one of my favourite authors of all time who shall remain nameless bc i dont want her to know i was spilling her secrets online

The first trick is to detach yourself from your idea. You don’t have just one novel inside you, and it’s not a big deal if you don’t finish this novel.
She was skeptical of the common advice “just write!!1!” - she talked about how long ideas for her most popular novels were marinating inside her before she properly wrote them
As a continuation of that, she was a big believer in knowing what you want to write before you write it. Not what you’re going to write, what you want to write.
The first thing she decides about a novel is what the mood is going to be, and this informs every other decision (e.g. the mood for Shiver was bittersweet)
Ideas should be personal, specific, exciting and they should exclude secondary sources. A personal idea isn’t necessarily autobiographical (which should be avoided), but it speaks to your emotional truth.
She said she had been read Ronsey fanfiction and she couldn’t view her car in the same way since.
Story is the thing that seems most important to reader but is most changeable to the author - story is subservient to your mood and your message. Change what you like in the plot as long as your book retains its sense of self.
Story is conflict, exploration and change. A good story has active tension -the characters want something, instead of just wanting something not to happen (e.g. wanting to kill an enemy instead of simply defending a stronghold against an enemy)
A story needs to have a concrete end, something to be done.
Satisfaction is important - deliver what you promise to the reader. The other shoe has to drop. Ronan Lynch doesn’t ever talk about his feelings, so its rewarding when he does.
Earn your emotional moments (she threw shade at Fantastic Beasts lmao)
Forcing a character to be passive is dissatisfying to the reader.
Characters are products of their environments, consistent/predictable, nuanced and specific, moving the plot, and subservient to other story elements.
She always starts with tropes for ensemble casts like sitcoms. Helpful for building good character dynamics.
Write scenes with characters saying explicitly what they’re thinking and then go back and make them talk like real people in the edit.
An action can also prove what they’re thinking, instead of making them say it or another character guess it (e.g. Ronan punching a wall).
Move the reader’s emotional furniture around without them noticing.
All her books follow the three act structure. Established normal -> inciting incident -> character makes an Active Decision -> fun and games -> escalation -> darkest moment -> climax.
Promise what you’re going to do in the first five pages.
Read your book out loud. Record yourself reading it.
If you have writer’s block, it’s because you’ve stopped writing the book you want to write. She likes to delete everything she’s written until she gets back to a point where she knew she was writing what she wanted to write, and then carrying on from there.

Source: carrieonwriting

fuckyeahcharacterdevelopment

Invaluable writing tips (From Blake Snyder’s “Save the Cat”)

thatwritergirlsblog

I just finished this book on screenwriting and have highlighted some amazing advice for novelists as well:

1. Save the Cat

This refers to a scene at the beginning of yoru manuscript in which the main character does something that makes the reader root for them them i.e. saving a cat.
This doesn’t have to be something altruistic - it can include smarts or humour or naivety - just something that will make the reader want to follow this character through the story.
Without this scene, you’ll probably end up with a boring character. And no matter how amazing your plot, you need a “followable” character to carry it.

2. The Pope in the Pool

This refers to a scene in which necessary exposition is given whilst the audience is distracted by something more entertaining i.e. having the Pope explain important backstory aspects whilst doing laps in the Vatican Pool.
This is the best way to give readers the information they need whilst still keeping them engaged. Something funny/interesting/moving should happen whilst this necessary exposition is provided.

3. Double Mumbo Jumbo

This refers to the mistake many writers make in asking readers to believe in more than one type of magic/miracle. This suspends reality too much and causes the reader to lose faith in the realism/probability of your story.
So, if you already have magical fairies, don’t throw aliens into the mix as well.
ONE magical element is enough.

4. Laying Pipe

Another error often made is writing a story that needs too much set-up. This means that so much backstory must be explored in the first part of the novel that your catalyst only occurs at page 100 or so.
This will cause readers to lose interest long before they’ve reached the inciting incident. If you don’t get the beginning right and move on the exciting stuff as soon as possible, it doesn’t matter how great your ending is, since few readers will get there.

5. Watch out for that Glacier

This is when the danger in your novel takes too long/perhaps the whole book to get to your characters/to threaten them. Therefore, the reader is aware that there is some eventual threat, but the characters aren’t affected by it throughout the story.
It’s a glacier coming for them rather than a missile. And it dampens the tension.

6. The Covenant of the Arc

Every somewhat important character in the novel should change, except for the bad guy. This is what will ultimately distinguish your good guys from your villain: moral change.
So, take a look at the journey of every primary and secondary character in your manuscript and ensure that they grow/experience some for m of change that is brought about by the events in the story.

7. Keep the Press Out

This is the tip I think should be used with the most circumspection. It’s for you to decide whether you want to follow this piece of advice or not.
This tip calls for leaving media coverage/the press out of your story. If some supernatural/extraterrestrial event occurs in a secluded neighbourhood and remains a family secret, it’s much easier for your reader to believe that it could really have happened than if the whole world is supposedly in on it.
Like I said, use with discretion.

These are all Blake Snyder’s tips (not mine) and are explored in greater detail in the book. So, if you would like more information and more great advice, I suggest grabbing a copy.