You know what i mean, characters with one dimension, or predictable, boring, etc. i'm writing in the mystery/fantasy/adventure kinda genre. protagonist is a sixteen year old girl who is caught up in a haunted house, a mysterious and deadly past of an abandoned town, and a destiny involving a magical war. i know, it sounds awful in those terms, but believe me, it's good. just isn't good when summarized. anyway, to the point, any tips?
2007-02-26 05:40:46 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
Sounds perfectly good to me. I'd buy it. My favorite thing to do with characters is to invent them out of a pile of quirks. Pick some of your favorite quirks in yourself and others, and build a character out of little "insignificant" things. It will make a character endearing, and feel intimate to readers. Make them do those little things that everybody does but nobody puts a name to. Please let me know how it goes, honest. I like this.
2007-02-26 05:51:54 · answer #1 · answered by Emily H 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, I think this is always a struggle with every writer and I don't know if there is a set way to solve it. However a couple of ideas to consider:
-Don't reveal everything about your characters up front (leave little secrets to be gleaned later on in the story)
-No one is completely good or completely evil. Every hero has weaknesses, pride, lust, self-esteem, etc. Every bad guy has some redeeming qualities (a desire to be loved, compassion for certain characters, etc).
-Brainstorm with friends and family. What would they do if they were in the situation your character is in (you might be surprised at some of the answers)? What would you do if you were in the same situation?
I also agree with what everyone else says about not listening to others. Don't let anyone else tell you that your story isn't good enough. Ask for critical feedback and be willing to accept it, but don't get discouraged by it.
2007-02-26 05:54:59 · answer #2 · answered by Ethan 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The best way to avoid flat characters is to give them a past. You need to know where they are coming from (what kind of family, what kind of education, etc) in order to make them come to life. For instance, a girl who is the daughter of a coroner is not going to get freaked by dead bodies. She's seen them. Cockroaches, though, might be a different matter.
Decide what really freaks her. Decide what doesn't phase her. If she watches a lot of horror movies, she might not really believe in the "special effects" the magic causes until something happens to make her believe.
It also helps if you give her a strength. For instance, in one of the Jurassic Park movies there was a teen girl who was a gymnast. That saved her life and gave her an interesting detail. Fencing, gymnastic skills, and archery are all realistic for a teen girl to have. You can then set up a situation where she needs her skill to survive.
Oh, absolutely essential for her to have a sidekick she can interact with. Where would Scooby be without what's his name? Where would Holmes be without Watson?
And the sidekick might not be such a big wimp either.
2007-02-26 06:02:49 · answer #3 · answered by loryntoo 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Before I start writing, I do an extensive character sketch. I try to figure out everything about my character before I bring him/her to life. I sit down with some notebook paper and fill it with questions: DOB, middle name, nickname, siblings, parent's names, hobbies, favorite color, favorite movie, height, weight, hair color, eye color, etc. A lot of those details have nothing to do with what I'm going to write about, but when I have all of those facts about him/her, it's totally possible to write the character's actions and responses in an interesting way.
For example, if you write a character who is walking in the woods and comes across a dead animal her reaction would be different if she was an animal-lover versus her being from a family of avid game hunters. Again, that has nothing to do with the plot, but b/c the author knows that small detail about her, her reaction can be written more vividly or colorfully.
I hope that helps! Good luck!
2007-02-26 06:25:55 · answer #4 · answered by YSIC 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
tips avoiding flat characters
2016-02-01 01:48:16 · answer #5 · answered by Dexter 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Just allow us to get inside each of the characters heads, hear their thought and emotions, keeping reactions to events that happen throughout the story as realistic as possible. I would also make the haunted house a living, breathing character in your story. How interesting! Great luck!
Blessings!
2007-02-26 05:54:57 · answer #6 · answered by taffneygreen 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
avoid the whole, "Fat character that can only thinks about food" type of things. Usually a lot of books have characters that only have one interest and they focus on mostly that. Or the brainless muscular guy. Stuff like stereo-types.
Anyways i'm writing a story too, yours sounds good so don't let people get ya down if they say it's stupid, i get that all the time and i'm pretty sure i'm going to get it published.
Good luck :P
2007-02-26 05:49:18 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wow. I love the plot. I am writing a story and i'm having trouble with flat characters to!
2007-02-26 05:48:22 · answer #8 · answered by momiji_sohma4001 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Try and get them to behave as if they're alive, create their background, but don't force anything on them. If you really let your imagination go, you should be able to breathe a sort of life into a character to keep them from getting one dimensional.
2007-02-26 21:33:47 · answer #9 · answered by Dan A 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Stopped reading 'cause you don't know how to punctuate speech. Screams amateur.
2016-03-16 01:09:44 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋