Welcome back, everyone! This is now part 2 of God-knows-how-many of my blog! Last time, we got started with how to set up a story. The idea, the setting, the characters, and the conflict. Now let’s talk a bit deeper about the characters, because honestly, it’s sort of important. I mean, I’m sure there’s someone out there that will disagree with me but characters are kind of a necessity. If you don’t agree, just humor me.
There are four kinds of characters, each with their own role and level of importance. The first one is often the character the whole shebang is based around, the protagonist. Now, the definition of a protagonist according to the highly reputed site, Dictionary.com, is “the leading character, hero, or heroine of a drama or other literary work” (Source: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/protagonist). Now, that opens up some implications. One, is the protagonist the hero or the villain? Generally the term, protagonist implies heroes but I’m sure we’ve seen enough media where the villain or at least an anti-hero has the leading role. Two, people also often think it relates to the person you sympathize with the most. Now that opens up more implications. For the sake of simplicity and to make sure I don’t cause you to have a breakdown while re-assessing everything you’ve ever seen or read, let’s just assume it means good guy since that is in fact the vast assumption.
The antagonist is the character created to oppose the protagonist. Generally, it is the villain and they stand in the way of the character either through malevolent intent or simply by their ambitions and choices. The term, antagonist has just as many implications as protagonist. But the key thing to remember is that this is the character we have to make the audience hate to love, and love to hate. They are everything the hero doesn’t stand for, or at least doesn’t try to stand for (hypocrites are fun).
Next is the deuteragonist, the person, or even people, that the second-most importance to the protagonist. Any characters that are sidekicks, motivations, damsels-in-distress (outdated but still at large), and generally always there for the protagonist. Common roles for the deuteragonist are comic-relief, the voice of the audience, and the aforementioned sidekick. The John Watson to your Sherlock. Never disvalue your deuteragonist. They can make or break your hero and by extension, your story. They are the character foils for many characters, which means they compensate for the protagonist’s weaknesses and bring light to their strengths. They are what carry your characters through their weak moments. A weak deuteragonist becomes stale and useless to the story very quickly and often your audience will demand their head on a pike by the end of the book.
The last type of character is the supporting roles. Those extra characters that provide guidance, clues, humor, and realism to your story. J.K. Rowling, who in case you didn’t know, wrote the author of the immensely popular and back-breaking series, Harry Potter, creating intensive back stories for each of her characters, even ones that were in there for a chapter or two, even less, leading to very believable and exciting characters. I’m not saying you should have a biography planned for each character, but know where they come from and what their role is in your world. That way, their impact on the character, the story, and the audience, will be doubled.
So now, you got your main characters, the villain, the sidekicks, and a plethora of lovable supporting characters. Next time, we do one of my favorite topics, the plot. Because who cares about the characters and sex appeal! Everyone watches and reads for the plot! See ya then!
Tell Me a Story 