He is Quite the Character

I was a little bummed out that I wasn’t able to teach my Story 101 class this last summer (thanks, COVID). Thankfully, I have a platform I can use to share my lessons on! At least on here, I don’t have to limit my rambling and vocabulary for grade schoolers.

The two most important ingredients for a story are Character and Plot. Some authors build the world and story first, while others delve into character development before the plot. Personally, most of my ideas start from a single scene or concept, and then I build plot and character up in tandem. However, going over both in a single editorial could get a tad overwhelming for writer and reader alike. I will split these core Story 101 topics into multiple entries, so be sure to check in later for the next one. Today, we’ll cover Character.

The technical term for your main character is the Protagonist, derived from the Greek words protos (first in importance) and agonistes (actor). They are the Who of your story, the one whom your audience watches the most. I give my younger students two things to come up with for their protagonists: something interesting about them and their personal goals. For the more advanced students, I tack on a third assignment: backstory.

Every character needs a standout quality, something that draws audiences in through awe or relatability. Protagonists come in all shapes and sizes, from farm boys turned space wizards, to femme fatales raiding ancient graves, to sentient trash compactors who pull romance tips from reruns of Hello Dolly. They can be athletic or misunderstood or suddenly endowed with superpowers. It doesn’t have to be extravagant, just something to help us pick them out from all the other notable characters.

Along with standout qualities, the most important thing a protagonist needs is a Goal, something to strive for. This singular goal dictates the protagonist’s choices and drives the story forward. It should be pretty clear what a Protagonist wants early on in the story. Frodo was given a ring to destroy, so his goal is to get to Mordor and throw it into a volcano. Orcs show up to stop him? Fight and flee. Suspicious creature offers to guide him through Mordor? Ignore best friend and follow him. These goals, which motivate decisions, create endearing characters and interesting plot points.

Keep in mind, a protagonist’s personal goal does not always have to be the same as the story’s end goal. Carl Fredricksen from Up wanted to go to the place he and his late wife always wanted to go, but the story’s end goal was for him to be the father figure that Russell never had. These differences allow for hijinks, conflicts of interest, and character growth.

Growth is another dynamic element for protagonist creation. Stories have evolved from simple tales of knights slaying dragons to deep character studies. Audiences love watching characters overcoming massive hurdles and learning from their experiences. It, literally, builds character. Sometimes, a protagonist will never reach their goal (personal or narrative) until they have grown as a person.

I had a 2nd grader who came up with a character idea in one of my Story 101 classes. His protagonist’s goal was to slay a monster. Simple, right? Then I read what he placed for the interesting fact: his protagonist was scared of the dark. BOOM! I immediately knew how the story was going to play out. This kid wanted to slay a monster, which was no doubt going to live in a deep, dark cave. How would he accomplish his goal? By overcoming his fear.

We’ve got our protagonist now. We know what they’re like and what they want. We can start writing now, right?

Before you go, I’d like to up the ante a bit. Taking the time to write out a character’s backstory, their personal history, will help you solidify your concept of that character, maybe discover something you never thought about when you first came up with them. It can be as detailed or as sparse as you wish. Some protagonists have a very storied past that slowly gets revealed in the main narrative. Others have simple beginnings and don’t need to dwell too much on where they came from, more on where they’re going.

Backstory will further help you narrow down how a character will react. It generates the Why behind their choices. Much of my writing (though not all of it) is seat-of-the-pants. I’ll have the major plot points outlined and structured, but getting from Point A to Point B is usually improvised. I cannot tell you the number of times I’ll come up with what I think is a great idea, only for me to realize, “Oh, wait. He wouldn’t act like that at all because of what happened to him before.” I’d have to scrap or adjust the idea until it fell more in line with that character’s, well, character.

Character Journals are another good tool to use when developing your protagonists. I got this idea from a writers’ conference I went to back in 2012. Basically, you take your character, pick a scene from your story, and write a journal entry from your character’s point of view. I did that for the protagonist from my old high school novel. The scene in particular was when the he discovered that his parents’ deaths may not have been accidental.

In the original story, he was calm and collected. However, as I tried putting myself into his headspace and reflecting on that moment, I realized he was anything but calm. He was hurt. He was angry. He may have responded rationally, but that was only because he held back and chose to give an answer that would cause the least amount of trouble to the people around him. It brought new light to a character I thought I was familiar with.

Characters have grown more and more dynamic over the years. To make yours memorable, you need to make your characters interesting. Give them goals, determine how they’ll grow. Write a backstory that justifies their actions. Look at the world through their eyes. With vibrant, well-developed characters, your readers, listeners, and watchers will be drawn in and engaged in the story you have to tell.