City of IF

[Fats_Masterson]

Hi all, this is the first part of a larger Idea I will be starting in the next couple of months, Masterson Incorporated. This will, hopefully, be a resource on If that will help all Ifians improve their skills. What I want to do here is simply talk about characters.

Hope you enjoy!

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Characters

Characters, the moving parts of your story. Without them nothing would work. There'd be no reason to change from one scene to another, or really any reason to read pages of description either. Characters are what makes it fun for us, as the audience, to interact with the world of your story. As you can easily see they are a very integral part of any story or storygame.

Alright, so now I've convinced you all that characters are necessary, we get to the fun stuff... what characters do I use?

Again, I'm sure everyone has had this trouble, where you can't think up a character, or the one's you have seem drab and lifeless. Or maybe there's nothing wrong with the character, you just have him/her in the wrong place.

The most important thing to remember when developing a character is the characters purpose. What do you as the author need this character to do. Are they going to be moving parts for your set, or are they going to affect your plot at some point in your story. This is the basis of the first division I make for characters. Main characters are the focus of your plot, they control things in your world and most importantly have some interest in the plot you create. Supporting characters fill some other role. We'll look at Main Characters first, and then move onto some of the different types of Supporting Characters.

Main Characters

This may mean a few things to a few people so to be perfectly clear, when I talk about Main Characters I am only talking about characters that are the focus of the events in your plots. They have a stake in whatever plot you are weaving, and are willing to do something about it. I personally feel that the fewer Main Characters the better, it keeps things less complicated for your readers to follow and, more importantly, keeps things easier for you.

Now, a lot of different types of characters can be the focus of your events. To make things easier, again I've divided this section up into the following groups; Protagonists, Antagonists, Viewpoint, and the Anti-Hero. Let's take a closer look at each of these character types.

The Protagonist

Otherwise known as the Hero. This is the good guy of your story. It is someone your audience relates to because the story revolves around him. It is quite possible to have a story without a Protagonist, but you must devise some other way to push your plot forward. I can't stress enough that your hero must be someone with whom your audience can relate. Otherwise, they have absolutely no reason to read your story and trust me, they won't.

Another thing you should remember when developing your Protagonist is that stories are about conflict, and how people deal with that conflict. You should decide what conflicts you plan on introducing to your story and figure out how your Protagonist would deal with them. If you find that your Protagonist can handle all of your conflicts effortlessly, you may want to rethink either your conflicts or your Protagonist. People want to see a struggle, a quest, a descent into madness. They don't want to see a man going through his daily life.

A lot of this applies to all characters, but I find that it is most important to remember when developing Protagonists. It is too easy to make the good guy too good, you need to reign yourself in and allow him or her to get dirty, or captured, or any other manner of unpleasantness, that's what we as readers really want to see.

The Anti-Hero

This leads us to another category of characters that's really just a special form of Protagonists, the Anti-Hero. The Anti-Hero fills all of the same roles and purposes as your regular Protagonist, however, they are flawed in some meaningful way. They are dark, they can be downright evil, but they are still the focus character and they are the ones following your plot. The Anti-Hero allows us, as authors and readers, to explore ideas and concepts that we would not normally encounter. It allows the voyeur in all of us to experience the gritter side of life.

The Antagonist

Or more commonly known as the Villain. The bad guy, the guy opposing your Protagonist, probably the main plot motivator in your story. A very important guy. I think that everyone knows what an Antagonist is, so instead of trying to re-describe it here I'd like to bring your attention to some stylistic tricks that you can use with your Antagonists.

Think about what your Antagonists purpose is, do you want him/her to stand out immediately as a Villain, or do you want them to hide for awhile before being realized as the Villain. Each requires a different approach when dealing with that Character in your story. When Darth Vader appears in the first scene of Star Wars, you know he's the Villain. Why? Simple his appearance, he's black, mechanical, all sharp lines and abrupt corners, and he is starkly contrasted in every single scene he is in. Kaiser Soze, on the other hand, isn't revealed until the last moments of the film, ìThe Usual Suspectsî, yet in hindsight you see where the Villain emerges from. (If you haven't seen the film ìThe Usual Suspectsî consider this your first homework assignment. Watch it.)

Another trick I like using is symmetry and balance. The mind trusts things that have symmetry and are balanced, it distrusts thing that are asymmetrical or, interestingly enough, too symmetrical. For example, to hide your Villain dress him in a simple cut black suit, with wide sharp lapels and a single red rose on the left breast. What we've done here is associated the Antagonist with the color black, and a few sharp corners and a simple asymmetry (the rose), then balanced this with an overbearing symmetry. There's nothing overtly malevolent about this character, yet when his true nature surfaces no one will be surprised.

That's what us writer types call... ìforeshadowingî (10 Points if you guess this quote!!)

Viewpoint Characters

This may be a new term for some of you, so let me briefly explain what I'm talking about. Your Viewpoint character is technically a Main Character, but they don't have to follow any of the other tendencies of any of the other Main Characters. These characters are the eyes and the ears of your story, essentially the narrators. Now you may not use a narrator, or a character, but whatever it is you use to tell your story to your audience, that is your Viewpoint character.

A Viewpoint character will be telling your story to your audience, as such your Viewpoint character must relate to the audience and almost be a part of your audience. In many cases your Main Character will also be your Viewpoint character, but sometimes this can lead to problems. To cite a perfect example, remember Sherlock Holmes. Holmes always knew who the killer was, or could be, long in advance of the resolution of the plot. He needed to, someone needed to know where to look for clues. He was always looking for proof to support his intuitions. Now imagine that same story where we are privy to Holmes inner thoughts, instead of filtered through Dr. Watson. All it would be is a list of predictions that we're proved correct. Boring. By making Dr. Watson the Viewpoint character Holmes, was allowed to be smarter than the audience, we could be surprised by things that he knew he would find. Creating a better story because of it.

Supporting Characters

This is it, last but not least, Supporting Characters. Supporting Characters are really anything that isn't a Main Character, as such there are far too many different types to try to list here. I am considering doing another Essay specifically about Supporting Characters, if you'd be interested simply send me a PM to show your support.

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OK, that's it. Watch for more Masterson Inc. projects in the Future.

[sir wax]

Nice guide Fats, hope it garners the interest of some of the writers on this site that need it (all). :smile:

Fats_Masterson wrote:
That's what us writer types call... ìforeshadowingî (10 Points if you guess this quote!!)

I'm not sure if it's the one you are referring to, but i have heard this exact same line in The Maxx, mini-series.

Sincerely,
SirWaxaLot

[Fats_Masterson]

:shock: Wow, less than an hour and someone got it.

10 points to Sir Wax

I am humbled in your TV Trivia, sir.

:lol:

[sir wax]

*spins remote controllers like daggers in each hand, then sheathes them*

Indeed.

If it be great cinematic stimuli ... i will find it. :smile:

Sincerely,
SirWaxaLot

[Black Hawk]

Quote:

People want to see a struggle, a quest, a decent into madness.






Descent maybe?

[sir wax]

Black Hawk wrote: Quote:

People want to see a struggle, a quest, a decent into madness.






Descent maybe?

No, no, no black hawk. He meant a decency into the madness. As in, a decent reason for it. :P

[Black Hawk]

you are kidding right