Building Great Characters

Transcription

1 Building Great Characters

2 Remember Conflict is the heart of your story. Characters are its lifeblood.

3 Great Characters Frodo from Lord of the Rings Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games Harry Potter from, well, Harry Potter Hannibal Lector from Silence of the Lambs

4 What makes a character great? They are authentic They are memorable They generate empathy in the reader (Note this does NOT mean they have to be likeable!)

5 Authentic Feels like a real person, not a cardboard cut-out Has a Past backstory Present Preparation Phase of your tale Future Where the story goes after GCM #1 Has believable reason for doing things Motivations the driving force behind what they do Goals what they are trying to achieve/accomplish through the action of the story

6 Memorable They have unique traits, quirks, or mannerisms -- Hannibal Lector and his Fava Beans remark -- Indiana Jones and his whip -- Starbuck s sef-destructive streak

7 Empathy The reader needs to relate to the situation the character is in -- Frodo is in over his head due to circumstances beyond his control -- Katniss impulsively makes a decision with dire consequences -- Jeremiah Hunt accepts what he thinks is a bargain, only to discover he d gotten a raw deal

8 Remember The more the reader can see themselves making the same choices as your main character, the deeper their relationship to the character, and the more committed they are to seeing the story through to the end.

9 Villains are characters, too! All of these elements apply to villains just as much as they do to heroes Show your villain s power/strength Recognition of what the villain might do to the hero/world/universe of the story if successful in attaining their goal(s) is one of the ways a good writer creates tension in their plotline.

10 Don t forget The Devil s in the Details Nothing pulls a reader out of the reality you have created for them than running into a detail that they KNOW is wrong. Ex: 8 bullets fired from a revolver (which only has six!) Hero surviving five minutes of exposure to vacuum in space 25 bars of solid gold carried in a paper grocery bag

11 Character Creation Clinic Knight Commander Cade Williams Starting Notes: Main character in my Templar Chronicles urban fantasy series Former SWAT officer Mourns the death of his wife

12 Make Him Authentic Needs a Past: Boston PD (Special Tactics and Operations STOP) Wife was killed by a fallen angel masquerading as a serial killer Cade was severely injured in the attack but survived

13 Needs a Present: Knight Commander in the resurrected Templar Order Leads the Echo Team (special ops squad) Nicknamed the Heretic by other Templars Seeks vengeance against the Adversary for the death of his wife, Gabrielle

14 Make Him Memorable The encounter with the Adversary gave Cade certain abilities Psychometry the ability to sense psychic impressions on objects via touch. To protect himself, he always wears thin, flesh-colored gloves. The Sight one eye damaged, wears a dark eye patch like a pirate. Can see into the Beyond with his damaged eye. Mirror s Road can use any reflective surface to pass into the Beyond, the world between the lands of the living and the lands of the dead

15 Create Empathy How does the reader relate to Cade? Wasn t able to save his wife when it mattered most. In the end, he didn t come through. Feels guilt/shame over that fact Determined to set the scales of justice right

16 Bring it all together As a series, the Templar Chronicles tells the story of Cade s search for vengeance against the Adversary and his attempts to assuage his own guilt over what happened to his wife Cade s crisis of faith over the knowledge that the supernatural is both very real and very deadly, and his difficulties in dealing with his new abilities Cade s discovery that his wife isn t truly dead but a prisoner of the Adversary The Adversary s quest to tear down the barriers that divide the lands of the living from those of the dead

17 Remember You characters are the lifeblood of your story. They must be authentic, memorable, and create empathy in the reader. The devil s in the details so get them right!