Character!

So you got the idea and concept for your story, you may even have a character or two in mind. Now it’s time to think about your characters or in creating them. Who they are and what they look like. There are tons of ways to do this, for me it’s one of the fun aspects of creation.

However the characters need to be interesting in the service of your story. In other words, dependent on your narrative and plot your characters major and minor need to have a purpose or reason for being in the world you created. Where your characters start gives us the reader an sense of the world as they see it. In the end a noticeable change for better or worse is shown to us to indicate growth, resolution or stagnation. All 3 have to fit your story idea and are a result of your plot.

One thing I struggled with is creating characters that didn’t feel like a copy of other existing stories. So how do you get passed that? Don’t over think it, try to make sure that your characters have a fresh and distinct mix of attributes to separate them from everyone else. For example DC has Superman, Marvel has Hyperion. Hyperion has basically the same powers and background, even down to the exploding planet and cape! Marvel has Spiderman and Man-Thing, DC has Sideways and Swamp-Thing.

All are very similar, but vary in origin, power, motive and personality. These subtle differences and variations make them different and unique. In the next post I’ll get into plot development.