Characters
#3 of The Art and Science of Writing
The three parts of a story are Characters, Presentation, and Plot.
As a rabid role player, characters and their personalities are the most important part of any of my stories. Get a couple of well-defined characters into a room together and let them talk ... you will be amazed what comes of it. Your characters are alive, in your mind, and should make decisions for you, sometimes.
I did not decide to have Selena change her name to Faolan, she made that choice on her own. I did not decide to have Faolan's vision trips be so interesting ... they just sort of happened. Selena was almost raped as a child? I didn't know that! I just got into the part where she was talking about it and it appeared!
Our media and our history are FILLED with characters which we can base ours off of. As a role player, I have hundreds of characters which I have made for D&D games. These characters get to live again in my stories.
Little Red Riding Hood: A little girl who goes off into the woods and gets into trouble for not doing what she is told ... a hunter ... the tomboy hunter is my Little Red ... the red cloak is a magical thing ... the Big Bad Wolf is a werewolf ... Beauty & the Beast style sexual tension.
Goldilocks and the Three Bears: Anthropomorphic bear family ... Cynthia grows up with them and falls in love with baby bear, who is still her age, mix in Hansel & Gretel for her back story ... base her physical appearance and part of her personality off of my wife ... Ursa Major and Ursa Minor ... Polaris is a star in the Ursa Minor constellation ... he can see the future.
Rapunzel : Ellora has grown up in the care of a Baba who gave her a lot of books to read and educated her as a noble. Baba Gothel is an over protective witch of a mother who is pretty devious and willing to kill for her little princess. Prince Charming is pretty generic so I invented a crazy back story for him and allowed Ellora to manipulate him. After all, he thinks he knows what is supposed to happen.
The Billy Goats Gruff: Instead of a troll I use an ogre. Also I introduce the idea that Selena and Cynthia are illiterate. Also, Selena has guts ... lots of guts.
The Medusa from Greek Myth: While looking through a D&D monster manual I stumbled upon a picture of a fairly attractive Medusa and her young Medusa daughter. Instantly Baba Saphronia and _Thalia_were born. I turned to Greek Myths for the mother's personality and a few teenage girls I know for Thalia's.
Blue Beard: Blue Beard (Maximilian) is scary as hell and took me months to flesh out. Marion was born from a cool picture I once saw and the mansion took months to craft as well. The axe, Angra, was taken out of random Mythology book # 123 and his motivation was based on a follower of Korhn (BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!!!)
Baba Yaga: Baba Asagi, Baba Hulda, Baba Ginger, Baba Gothel, and Baba Saphronia are the witches of many different fairy tales. I made them into a society of wise women. According to my professor, men generally have one mentor but women have a female community ... so I made a female community for my hero.
Old Mother Hulda: A wise and motherly old woman whom humbles young women by having them do menial chores. Also the recreation of an older legend of a Santa Clause character who favors tailors.
Hansel and Gretel: Cynthia was turned out into the forest because her family was starving. ALSO - Baba Ginger lives in the Gingerbread house.
Jack ... and the Bean Stalk ... Jack be Nimble Jack be Quick ... 7 in One Stroke ... This character is all of these people rolled into one. His super power is insane luck. This character was created when my good friend Hillary almost throttled me for ignoring a romantic moment. In order to learn to create and use this romantic plot line, I read the book On Writing Romance, by Leigh Michaels. I would like to thank Hillary for shaking me like a British nanny because out of that scene came one of my favorite characters.
A Midsummer Nights Dream: Oberon, Titania, and Puck all make fantastic characters which have helped me to forge my version of the fairy realm. By mixing these characters with D&D lore, I crafted Adara the Nymph, Dewdrop the Pixie, and a host of other characters I have yet to make.
Unknown Internet Story: I stumbled upon a tale of a fairy queen who blackmails princesses into giving up their first born by holding their entire family for ransom. This became the basis for my main villain.
An amazing array of literary characters is out there and they tend to fall into certain arch-types. Out job, as writers, is to create our own characters from these building blocks and breathe life into their nostrils so they might live in ink.
Fleshing Out Characters: Some characters burst into our minds fully formed ... and others need a little work. Generally we need to work with a character for a time in order to learn about them. But I have found another technique that I like to use when I get stuck.
Introduce Yourself: "Hi! My name is Zinako! I'm a gnome ... or I was ... I'm a troll now ... and well ... it's a long story. But if you have time I'd love to talk about it! I was trying to make the ultimate peanut butter and jelly sandwich maker, and it was brilliant. The devise would read your brain and figure out which receipt would be the best for you. Never a mistake ever again! But there was an accident and well ... here I am ..."
What does this tell you about Zinako? She's brilliant, a bit insane, and needs to cut back on the sugar. This introduction can be a whole lot longer than I have it here but as long as it creates a person for your book, but you will be amazed what your characters tell you about themselves.