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Characters are fundamental to a story and may be classified as ‘good’, ‘bad’ or ‘neutral’.
A ‘good’ character does what is right or tries to. A ‘bad’ character causes the needed conflict in the story usually because of their selfishness. A ‘neutral’ character is often a combination of the two and readily changes depending on the circumstances.
The dishonest, morally corrupt, manipulators, and the indifferent, are just as important to the story as are the fair, compassionate, protectors and supporters.
The writer cannot create characters to be solely perfect, villainous, or stagnant because that is not realistic. Each character must have a range of emotions, thoughts and reactions.
By placing characters in bad situations, the writer allows the reader to discover how the characters will react. Will they be cowardly or brave? Will they be selfish or do what’s right?
A writer needs to ‘get inside’ the head of each character in order to understand their motives and perceptions of events because they will all think and react differently.
Remember, one person’s molehill is another’s mountain.
So true. And characters is one of the main reasons us writers love to write! Creating characters is so challenging but when you come up with a good one... it's so rewarding!
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by :)
ReplyDeleteNice blog! I found your great blog through the WLC Blog Follows on the World Literary Cafe. Great to connect!
ReplyDelete--Jan Moran, author, at JanMoran dot com
I've been struggling with making an evil character that changes by the end of the story. I want the reader to hate him at first and then start to feel an attachment to him. It's been a challenge!
ReplyDeleteJim
I've been working with a character that's evil but by the end of the story changes. I trying to have the reader hate him and then slowly change their feelings toward him.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a challenge!
Jim
@Jim showing a character's vulnerability and reason behind bad behaviour often endears them to readers. Good luck and thanks for visiting :)
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