How to write characters presentation3

CREATING
CHARACTERS for
FICTION

Goals
 To acquire better tools to create “original,” complex
characters in our writing

 Better understanding of the structure of fiction writing

 Start creating our own original character to build on

Excerpt reading from Jacob Safari

PROTAGONIST
the main character/ “hero”
Goals: What does the character want to achieve
&
What is preventing the character from achieving it?

Examples
Protagonist: Goals: Obstacles:

Man meets the woman of his dreams

Woman is chased by a horde of zombies

A boy witnesses a murder

? Brainstorm

Have an ending in mind
For protagonist could be the goal:
Protagonist Obstacles More Obstacles Final Obstacle GOAL!

Change and Growth
 Visualize the character at the beginning of the story, and visualize them at the end.

 Character Arc: how does the character change from the beginning to the end?

Are they naïve and inexperienced? What do they learn?

Emotionally damaged? How do they find happiness or
ways to cope?

Selfish? How do they learn to
give?

Down on their luck? How do they find
success?

Sometimes, it’s best to give the character what they need as oppose to what they wanted in the
beginning

 Have a Protagonist with a goal in mind
 Create obstacles making it harder for character to
achieve their goal
 Know how the story will end
 Visualize how the character is different from the
beginning of the story as they are at the end

WHAT DO YOU WANT THE
READER TO KNOW ABOUT
YOUR CHARACTER(S)?

Excerpt reading from Jacob Safari

What do we know about the characters?

Inference
Reveal or INFER things about the character without stating them bluntly.

Example: if your character has committed a crime, don’t say

“John was a criminal who did time for robbery.”

INFER it instead by saying

“the sandwich reminded him of the prison food he never quite got used to.”

we know now that “John” is an ex-con and it leaves us asking WHY?

Each scene should leave at least one unanswered question.

Impressions
What sort of impression do you want your character to
give to the reader?

Richard Cory by Edwin
Arlington Robinson
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him:
He was a gentleman from sole to crown,
Clean favored, and imperially slim.

And he was rich - yes, richer than a king -
And admirably schooled in every grace:
In fine, we thought that he was everything
To make us wish that we were in his place.

So on we worked, and waited for the light,
And went without the meat, and cursed the bread;

And Richard Cory, one calm summer night,
Went home

and put a bullet through his head.

Were our initial impressions about Richard correct?

False impressions can provide nice contrast to make
what’s really there stand out.

What was Richard really like?

Dialogue
Dialogue should reveal things about the character in an
interesting and indirect way.

Reinterpretations
 All stories are INTERPRETATIONS of events, real or
made up through the eyes of an individual.

 Come up with your own interpretations of something
familiar:
 Folklore, fairy-tales, myth, songs, historic events. Your
writing should be relatable in some way.

Advantages of
reinterpretation
Pros:

Familiarity and wide audience

A chance to expand a story you already like and hone your writing skills

Enough altering can turn the characters into your own

Battle Royale (バトル・ロワイアル Batoru Rowaiaru?) is
a novel by Japanese writer Koushun Takami. Originally completed in 1996, it
was not published until 1999. The story tells of junior high school students
who are forced to fight each other to the death in a program run by
the totalitarian Japanese government, now known as the Republic of Greater
East Asia.

The Hunger Games is a 2008 young adult novel by American writer Suzanne
Collins. It is written in the voice of 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in
the post-apocalyptic nation of Panem, where the countries of North America
once existed. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, exercises political
control over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games are an annual event in
which one boy and one girl aged 12–18 from each of the twelve districts
surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle
to the death.

Wicked (full title: Wicked: The Untold Story of the Witches of Oz) is a . . .

a parallel novel of the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and L. Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. . . . told
from

the perspective of the witches of the Land of Oz; its plot begins before and continues after Dorothy's arrival in Oz from
Kansas

and includes several references to the 1939 film and Baum's novel. Wicked tells the story of two unlikely friends, Elphaba
(the

Wicked Witch of the West) and Glinda (the Good Witch of the North), who struggle through opposing personalities and
viewpoints,

rivalry over the same love-interest, reactions to the Wizard's corrupt government, and, ultimately, Elphaba's public fall from
grace.

George Lucas has acknowledged influence of The Hidden Fortress on Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope,[6]
particularly in

the technique of telling the story from the perspective of the film's lowliest characters, C-3PO and R2-D2.[7][8]

Lucas' original plot outline for Star Wars also had a strong resemblance to the plot of The Hidden

Fortress.[9]

Go Beyond the Page
 Ask yourself, what is your biggest hope? What is your
biggest fear?

 Think of what your characters biggest hopes and
biggest fears are and how it defines them. This
probably won’t ever be actually written in the story:
“Shelly’s biggest hope was . . .” but you’ll know it as
the author and it will give depth to your character.

 Have a Protagonist with a goal in mind

 Create obstacles making it harder for character to achieve their goal

 Know how the story will end

 Visualize how the character is different from the beginning of the story as opposed to how they are at the end

 Dialogue should reveal things about characters in indirect ways

 Reinterpretations can be a great place to start

 Go beyond the pages of your story and ask what your characters biggest hopes and biggest fears are

Exercise
Read and listen to the words of the following song, “If I
Die Young”, by The Band Perry.

Expand the protagonist’s story.

What happened to the girl?

How to write characters presentation3

How to write characters presentation3

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