Andrew Jack Writing

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Who Is That Mysterious Stranger?

Posted on | September 30, 2009 | 1 Comment

We need heroes. Real and imagined the heroes around help make the world, which can be pretty awful at times, seem like a better place. In yur writing, no one character will have as much impact on your work as your protagonist.

Villains can be more fun to write, especially those that can find time in their day for an evil laugh, but more on those later.

Your protagonist says a lot about your story. Got a wise cracking, yet dark and powerful wizard as your main character (ala Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden) then chances are the tone of your book will be dark, intense with moments of levity spun into the work like hidden candy (can you tell I like the Dresden files?).

Is your protagonist more like Rincewind? Terry Pratchett’s bumbling wizard sets the tone for his books as being funnier and less introspective than Pratchett’s other protagonists, especially the aging Commander of the City Watch, Sam Vimes. The Vimes books are still funny, I don;t want to give you the wrong idea, but they;re not as light and breezy as the books where Rincewind stumbles from one disaster to the next.

I’m running up character history for my protagonist at the moment, and I’ve taken a hint from my old role playing days to do it. Every character that has more than a passing affect on the book gets their own character sheet. It details not only what they look like and what they’re good at, but little things. The main protagonist’s name is Michael Ginlink, and despite being a hardened former Army medic, he’s got a soft spot for animals of all kinds. His apartment contains three cats, a turtle, and iguana and a document chewing bird named Lizzie.

The animals may not have a great bearing on the novel, but no matter how bad things get for Michael (and they go south for him in a big way), that he will always look out for his pets, even over and above people, tells us more about his character than straight description can.

If you’re struggling to flesh out your protagonist, give this a try: put together a character sheet for them. Don’t just list their stats, get detailed. You should have at least two pages of history for your main two or three characters. You might never use this stuff, but the fact the the history is there will create tiny changes tot he way you write that will help the characters feel “real” to the reader. I’ll let you choose the big things, but try to answer these three things about your main character:

“What’s their favorite snack?”

“Favorite movie?”

“If they’re in trouble, and they can’t reach the person that they call in your book, who will they call?” (Chostbusters?)

“How much sleep do they get each night?”

“Favorite hot beverage?”

These small things can get left out while you’re doing the big things, so take a few minutes and answer these and another five little questions you make up yourself, you’ll end up with a more rounded character to show for it.

Category: advice
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Comments

One Response to “Who Is That Mysterious Stranger?”

  1. CarrieNo Gravatar
    October 3rd, 2009 @ 3:20 am

    1) Twizzlers
    2) Battle Royale
    3) Depends on the problem… I can name 4 people who would be on her emotional speed-dial…
    4) Usually 8 hours
    5) Hot cocoa

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