How I Create and Understand/Learn About My Characters (Part 1)
So this will be my first real post (if you haven’t seen my previous post introducing myself please go check it out on my profile!) and I thought I would start with some writing advice since that is what I wanted this entire blog to be.
After trying to write different short stories or trying to start projects that have failed or I am still working through I have found some things while writing my characters and have realized that there are a few important and small “rules”, if you will, to creating characters that come to life. Most characters in novels or any sort of creative writing have a “type”. This type can range from anything such as a strong warrior to shy and insecure, which mostly depends on the genre or piece in particular. This is important to keep in mind, though, while you write your characters out. I like to create an outline for my character, which I can post later if anyone is interested, and it really helps me to get to know my characters as if they were a real person that you could learn about.
Understanding how to make a good character “type” is simple as long as you have some idea of what a good and not so good type is. I’ve listed a few examples below of some good and bad character’s that I believe are very unique or not unique at all to their Character “Type”.
1. The Good “Type” of Character, Well Written and Unique To Their Type
Katniss Everdeen in the series of the Hunger Games has a very original personality. It’s not often that we see an almost “father-figure”, female character, but Katniss fits this type of character very well. Not only is she like a parental figure to her younger sister, but she hunts and uses a unique weapon of the bow and arrow. Her entire character type is quite unique to who herself is, but fits quite nicely into the idea of a warrior character. This type can feel played out or like it’s over-used but Suzanne Collin’s has created a character that her reader’s love and feel like they understand, which as a writer should be your main goal. While the warrior type is somewhat overplayed in many novels, Katniss Everdeen is a very interesting character with a personality and her personality is not just based on her warrior characteristics that Collin’s tries to create in her character.
2. The Bad “Type” of Character, Overplayed and Just Unoriginal or Bland
Most of you may be familiar with the series of Twilight, and many would say that honestly it wasn’t that great of a series, as the characters were fairly bland. Even the movies portrayed a dull and gray sort of appearance, which is how the books feel. The main character, Bella Swan, is probably one of the most bland character’s I’ve personally seen. She has never been my favorite character as she takes on the much overplayed “damsel in distress” and is quite reliant on her love life more than she is on herself. There’s not much to say about her character and her love life is completely her personality. While the idea of her character may have been a good idea, she wasn’t the most unique to the “damsel in distress” and to be completely honest most reader’s don’t enjoy reading a bland character whose personality is their Character “type”.
While all character’s can show the good and bad of their type some show more than other’s and if you are trying to write a character that is different from all the rest you cannot make their character type such as a warrior or a love obsessed girl their entire personality. You have to have depth in order to understand and learn to love a character!
Please remember these are my own personal opinions and not at all a professional view point, as I do not have a degree in writing. This is just for fun and some writing advice for those who may be struggling and want some mediocre advice!
Thanks for reading if you got this far!
