Very Young Writers: What Characters Do

Hello again, VYWs (and all other writers)!

This is totally unrelated, but  do you remember Ship’s Log by Brandis, that little Alen’s War fanfic I wrote (except it’s canon because I wrote it and I’m the author)? Well, school is done, and I finally wrote part two on Figment. Go check it out.

Now, let’s talk for a minute about characters. You probably know by now that I like ranting about what makes a good or bad character, but writers rarely talk about the basics. However, the question is worth asking: what jobs should characters do in a story?

That depends on many things. Characterization has a lot of sub-categories and requirements, and not every character adheres to every one of those requirements (after all, sometimes we break the rules).  There is so much more to writing characters than I can put down here… but it can be simplified. You can find a few components in almost every single character ever written, and those components just depend on what role the character plays in the story. For now, let’s look at the two most basic roles: the protagonist and the antagonist.

The Protagonist (usually, the good guy)

The protagonist is the main character (who is probably also the hero and your viewpoint character). A protagonist should do three things:

1. Be likeable
2. Work to reach a goal
3. Have a “eureka!” moment where they discover the truth

Now for some explanation. Being likeable just means that readers have to like the character; otherwise, they won’t stick around to see what happens to him. A good example is Gru from Despicable Me (who isn’t actually a good guy!). He may be a cruel, mastermind-y sort, but he’s likeable because he wants to prove himself to his mom and, later, to his little girls. That’s something with which we can all identify.

Having a goal means that the protagonist doesn’t sit around and do nothing, but stands up and tries to get the thing that she wants. For example, Heidi (of Heidi fame, obviously) has one goal: to make people’s lives better, and she works toward it no matter where she is. She makes friends of the goatherd Peter, encourages Clara to learn to walk, and brings her grandfather back to God. As a reward for working toward her goal, Heidi ends up with a group of lifelong friends.

The “eureka” moment is a scene that happens somewhere between the middle and the ending of the story, when the protagonist has to realize the truth she has been missing all this time. Rapunzel from Tangled is a good example. She thinks her dream was to discover what the real world is like, but at last she realizes that she was really searching for her true family all along. And she finds it, with the king and queen and with Flynn/Eugene.

Antagonist (usually, the bad guy)

An antagonist, usually a villain, has a few different requirements:

1. Be understandable
2. Cause trouble for the protagonist
3. Be a different version of the protagonist

Being understandable means that while we don’t necessarily have to like the bad guy (although likeable bad guys are fun too), we should understand why he does what he does. For example, nobody actually likes the Elvenking from The Hobbit book. He’s generally nasty and not very helpful to Thorin and Company. But we do understand why the Elvenking wants Thorin’s gold: he thinks that the dwarves of the Mountain had stolen some gems from him, and he wants them back.

Causing trouble means that the antagonist’s goal is totally opposed to the protagonist’s. For example, in the movie Brave, Queen Elinor (who is an antagonist, but not really a bad guy) wants Merida to marry into one of the clans to preserve peace. That’s opposite to what Merida wants, namely, to stay single and let her hair flow in the wind as she rides through the glen firing arrows into the sunset. (Did you see what I did there??) Neither of those goals is absolutely wrong or absolutely right, but they are completely opposite to each other. This is what causes the conflict.

Being a different version of the protagonist means that the antagonist should be like the hero in some way, only gone wrong. This is a little harder to do, but it adds depth to a story. Star Wars is a spectacular example. Luke and Anakin both have the chance to be the Chosen One, the one who would restore balance to the Force. They both save the galaxy multiple times, they both train as Jedi with Obi-Wan/Ben Kenobi… they even use the same lightsaber. But Anakin chooses the Dark Side and becomes Darth Vader, while Luke chooses to do the right thing. Same character type, different decisions- like two sides of a coin.

So that sums it up.

There are many more ways to characterize the protagonist and antagonist (like backstory ghosts, character moments, and quirks) and many more kinds of characters (like antiheroes, impact characters, and love interests), and obviously I can’t list them all here. But the protagonist and antagonist are a good start. Characterization is complex, but it doesn’t have to be. Ultimately, your characters should seem real enough for the reader to go on the journey with them, and if these lists of three components help you do that, awesome.

Now get back to writing!

The Nitty-Gritty of Alen’s War

Here it is: the Big Blog Post about my upcoming novel, Alen’s War. And this one will be fun.

Let’s begin with the updated blurb. Which is probably the strangest word in the English language. This is likely the version that will end up on the back of the book, but suggestions are welcome before I finish the final cover design:

Alen, the son of the king of Agran, is given a simple secret task: find an insurrectionist named Galer and bring him back quietly to the capital for trial, but in a series of tragic mistakes Alen sets off a full-blown civil war. Now Agran is out to have Alen’s head for a wereguild. To save himself and his homeland, Alen and a small group of fighters  must capture Galer once and for all. Yet their own dark secrets haunt them at every turn and foil their plans.

What else can I explain here? I find it hard to classify this book as anything beyond the generic “fantasy.” It has a young protagonist on a quest, and much of it takes place on beautiful pirate ships and frozen seashores. However, the whole plot revolves around a war that began as a rebellion. So what do I call it? I call it my fantastical YA war story that feels like historical fiction about vikings.

And now for the real cast of characters. Some of this might be a repeat of my introductory post, but there’s also some new stuff, so stick around. Oh, and I’m doing the dream cast this time, too.

Name: Alen
Personality type: ISFJ
Dream cast: …Alas, I could not find the perfect actor for my young protagonist!

     The prisoner lifted his head, the deep look of hurt still hanging in his eyes. “Then what will you do to me now?”
     Alen grinned. “I hope to save your life.”

What can I say? Alen may be a son of the king of Agran, but he’s by no means a normal prince. He is adorable, but not too soft; uncertain, but not a chicken; fierce, but not too impulsive. In short, he is every “good kid” when he or she was sixteen years old. Strangely enough, loyalty is simultaneously his strongest asset and his worst fault. It is the quality that propels him forward to accomplish his mission and yet holds him back from truly achieving the truth. Alen feels that letting go of the past is disloyalty, so he has to keep everything inside of him, pushed down where he cannot forget it.

Name: Brandis
Personality type: ISTP
Dream cast: Richard Armitage

That torch, though. (credit)

     “Do you believe we will win?” Alen asked.
     Brandis turned sharply, as if surprised and even offended. “Do you disbelieve it?” he returned, and Alen nearly withered at the frown that Brandis gave him. Then Brandis laughed. “Well, so do I.”

Okay, I admit it: Brandis the raider is my favorite character I have ever written, and that’s coming from an author who has written over thirty unique characters in one fantasy world. He is (dare I say it) Long John Silver, Coriolanus, and Faramir all rolled into one- although I wasn’t thinking of all those characters while I wrote him. To be honest, I wrote Brandis specifically with Armitage in mind. Brandis is the enigma that refuses to be solved: the friend who betrays and then apologizes; the killer who rescues people from fires; the raider who speaks like an English professor. And all that is resolved in his dark secret.

Name: Turomar
Personality type: INTJ
Dream cast: Harry Lloyd

I know… another Robin Hood actor. If only he would lose the mustache. (credit)

Still Turomar stared out at the grey sea. “I do not need love.”

Ah, my resident Mastermind. In many ways, Turomar the strategist is me gone wrong. That is, if I had been abandoned and rejected for all of my life, I would have the skewed worldview and priorities that Turomar does- all of which may explain why he’s a close second for my favorite character. Turomar may have a few acquaintances, but he refuses to let anybody into his life for fear that he will be written off as worthless or rejected altogether.

Name: Galer
Personality type: ENFJ
Dream cast: Matthew Macfadyen

Just ignore the gun. They haven’t invented that kind yet. (credit)

“Each of us failed Agran once, whether in word or in deed, and even after all the good we could do, there is no going back. Never.”

My sister teases me about the central antagonist, calling him “Enjolras,” and I can admit that there is some resemblance. Galer does serve as the hopeful leader of a revolution who gets himself into serious trouble. Yet he is also incredibly intelligent and crafty, having many more resources at his disposal than Marius’ college friends ever dreamed of, and his influence only expands as the war rages on. In short, Galer has a chance of winning, and he desperately wants to do just that.

King Reyis
Personality type: ISTJ
Dream cast: Liam Neeson

Ah, you knew he would turn up in one of my dream-casts someday. (credit)

“Whoever promised that life would be easy?” Reyis stood up and straightened, looking again like a tall king with steely eyes and grey hair. “Certainly not me.”

Good ol’ Reyis. He is Alen’s father and also the king of the second-largest kingdom in the world, so despite playing a relatively small role in the story, he was a great deal of fun to write. He’s not exactly the most touchy-feely parent in the world, but he always does what he knows is best, and if he doesn’t know, he will find out. I can appreciate that kind of attitude.

Arila
Personality type: ESFJ
Dream cast: Lily James

Of course it’s Cinderella. (credit: IMDb)

Alen felt the dagger at his side. Maybe it had no real magic, but Arila surely did, and it was enough for him to keep fighting.

You knew I couldn’t write a book without any estrogen, didn’t you? Not, that is, without getting complaints from my romantically-minded mom. Again, as a bookkeeper at the capital, Arila has a relatively small role in the story. However, while she does play something of a love interest (at least at the beginning), Arila mainly serves as a sort of impact character, the one on whom the message depends. And she is really quite a sweet girl, which makes for a sweet subplot.

That’s all, folks! I’ll be doing some interviews at other blogs as the big day approaches, so keep an eye out for those. You can also preorder the Kindle version of Alen’s War or hold out for the paperback in July.

What Marvel Taught Me About Writing, Part Two

Attention readers!

If you have not read Part One of this series, do so by clicking here. This post will make very little sense until you do.

If you have read aforementioned post… good work. I’ll shut up and let you read this one now. 

If the intended audience would want it bleeped out, don’t write it.

And all the movie reviewers immediately subtracted five points. (image credit)

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I wince every time I hear a profanity and squirm every time an… er, steamy scene comes on. That sort of content is expected in films made for adults, and I can accept that fact. But do those elements have a place in family adventure movies? Come, now.

Of course, this problem isn’t specific to Marvel movies, but Marvel certainly does a fine job of  squeezing non-family-friendly stuff into allegedly family-friendly films. I can recall my dad muting at least one whole scene with Nick Fury in The Avengers thanks to swearing. I winced multiple times at the violence in even the mildest of the series, Thor. From what I’ve read, certain you-know-what scenes in Iron Man would have made it unacceptable even for adults sixty years ago. Deadpool was the culmination of this pattern, earning the first R-rating ever for a Marvel cinematic film. So much for family-friendly, Disney.

The result is that a lot of kids don’t get to watch these films. I know that most of my siblings don’t, and I can point to many other families who hold to the same standards as us. Let me tell you, Marvel loses a good percentage of its intended audience every time it chooses to write in a swear word, and so will you. Know your audience, fellow writers, and respect their values.

Don’t stress over the outline; go where the story takes you. 

Honestly, this would be a great ending shot for any movie. (image credit)

Marvel is so dedicated to the Big Outline that it’s not even funny. By sticking to that outline, they have deprived fans of some really great movies. Including a certain movie called “God of Mischief”…. but again, that’s for another time.

Take the example of Captain America: The First Avenger. That was a credible, enjoyable story with round characters and a clear message- even for me. I could get over the fact that Steve was using steroids (come on, he’s Steve), and I could even tune out for the four minutes of USO girls and annoying parade music. In fact, when Steve crashed that plane into the ice, my cold INTJ’s heart felt the tiniest twinge of grief. You know that shot near the end of the movie with the little boy holding Captain America’s shield? That would have been such a perfect way to end the story.

And then they blew it with that last scene. Steve wakes up in a hospital in modern-day New York. He didn’t die after all- but the movie did. The message’s power rested in the fact that Steve died protecting the people he cared about. To turn around and say “Oh, but Steve didn’t actually die” is to take away that power. Sure, he gave his all for his country, but he turned out to be just another invincible superhero who did another superhero thing. His story no longer makes a difference in the real world.

The writer would never have ended the movie in such an awkward, crushing way if Captain America had been a standalone movie, but he had to keep with Marvel’s all-powerful outline. Lesson learned: don’t be a slave to your outline. Branch out and take a few risks with writing. As Pixar says, “Story is testing, not refining.”

So perhaps Marvel’s escapist films earn a lot more money at the box office than slower, more thoughtful films like Les Miserables. As my dad says, Marvel offers “leave-your-brain-at-the-door humor,” and sometimes people just want to laugh and give their brains a break. But that doesn’t mean the storytelling is of higher quality. In fact, the underlying problems in the movies can be downright frustrating.

(credit)

By all means, go and watch a Marvel movie- preferably a PG-13 one. The acting is usually excellent, some of the jokes are downright funny, and I won’t deny that a few of the movies teach good lessons. However, when you watch these or any other movies, try to learn something. Think about what is going into your head! Otherwise, you become content with leaving your brain at the door, and none of us should do that. Very dangerous.

What’s your take on Marvel movies? Whether you love them or hate them or couldn’t care less, I want to hear what you have learned from the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Top 10 Villains

Last week, gretald tagged me for the Top 10 Villains post. With cheering and trumpets moderate excitement, I now accept. And, Greta, in the words of Bilbo Baggins, thag you very buch.

So here are the rules. (Because what is fun without rules?)

1. Post the button.
2. Thank the blogger who tagged you.
3. List your top ten favorite villains (they can be from movies or books).
4. Tag ten other bloggers.

I will probably end up breaking #4, but so did Greta, so I am not too concerned about that one. One more thing you should know is that I am terrible at making “top ten” lists like these, as my favorite kind of anything tends to change weekly. I will probably reread an old favorite book next week and smack myself for not putting that particular bad guy on this list… but here it goes anyway. In no particular order, here are my top ten villains of all time.

Spoilers will necessarily follow…

Morgoth from The Silmarillion (J.R.R. Tolkien)

If you see this guy on the street… run. Just run.

Tolkien knows how to write Dark Lords. As bad as we thought Sauron was, his boss Morgoth is even worse.  He is evil personified. Dragons? Spiders? Balrogs? Torture chambers? You name it, he has it. Darth Vader and the Emperor have nothing on this guy- and he is dead set against the free peoples of Middle-earth. He is the villain, and he wants Silmarils! (history geek reference)

Richard from King Richard III (William Shakespeare)

“Villains, set down the corse; or, by Saint Paul, I’ll make a corse of him that disobeys.”

Leave all historical debates aside on this one; Shakespeare’s portrayal of Richard is terrifying. Hunchbacked and hated, Richard believes that his only chance of fulfillment lies in the throne of England. A terrifying yet understandable villain drawn from English history? Duh, yes. Besides, I appreciate his dark sense of humor, which is much like my own.

Gru from Despicable Me (2013)

“Pause for effect…”

I’m chuckling evilly to myself as I type this. I. Love. This. Guy. He’s been equipped with gadgets and weapons and cool cars, more dark humor, a bizarre accent, many layers of complexity, and backstory which never fails to elicit an “aww, poor Gru.” Plus, he is one of those few sympathetic INTJs like me. So he doesn’t exactly play the role of Bad Guy in the story, but this a list of “villains,” not “antagonists.” He deserves a place with the best of the best.

Gollum from The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)

And he loves games!

What can I say? Gollum is simply adorable, and half the time he’s nothing worse than a Stinker. All he ever wanted was his Precious. I think we can all see a little bit of ourselves in Gollum sometimes: we all want to do good, but we have to fight with our darker side to do it.

Brian de Bois-Guilbert from Ivanhoe (Sir Walter Scott)

Hey- there is a movie?

You cannot possibly understand the depths of my hatred for de Bois-Guilbert. The overweening Templar tries to seduce and then abuses the Jewish girl Rebecca while she is a prisoner in his buddy’s castle, only desisting when the house is burned to the ground. And even then he drags her off into the forest so that Ivanhoe can’t get at her. What sort of horrible person does that?

Loki from Thor (2011)

It seems he has an affinity for glowing blue things.

As overrated as the film itself may be, Loki is a believable, even sympathetic baddie. He starts out as a friendly little brother, and then his world is shattered by the news that he will never be a king, only “the monster that parents tell their children about at night.” You might say he was just a victim of bad parenting- even if the horns and super glowstick are a bit much.

Ra’s Al Ghul from Batman Begins (2005)

I recently discovered Christopher Nolan’s film. Let us just say that I now have another favorite movie.

Ninja swords, tragic backstory, and Liam Neeson. ‘Nuff said.

Simon Legree from Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe)

FYI, finding a picture of this guy isn’t the easiest task in the world.

Ugh, just thinking about wicked Simon Legree makes me shudder. I hate him for all the reasons I hated de Bois-Guilbert, except that no chivalrous knights stopped him from destroying the lives of two young girls and killing his other slaves. No wonder Stowe’s novel had such an impact in the 1800s; Legree is one character that you can never forget.

Baroness de Ghent from Ever After (1998)

She had a snazzy sense of fashion, too.

I hated the stepmother from the original Cinderella because she was so irrationally evil, but I loathe the Baroness even more because she has reasons for being so terrible. Her husband died and left her with a headstrong daughter who threatens the wellbeing of her own children. Who wouldn’t turn a little bit nasty about that? And she is indeed nasty. Sometimes it almost seems as if she wants to love Danielle as a daughter, but she suppresses that tenderness and instead punishes the girl as a wicked servant.

Scar from The Lion King (1994)

Scar is not impressed. He is never impressed.

As terrible as it sounds, I identify a little bit with Scar- that is, his cynical humor, meticulous mind, and unforgettable lines. He is never at a loss for words and always has a plan. And of course he is evil; Scar has no qualms about wreaking havoc on the whole kingdom so that he can take over it. Just like Richard III, and Loki, and Morgoth, and Gru… maybe I do have a favorite kind of villain after all.

Now for the tags. I don’t know many other bloggers who do villain posts, but, like Hans, I will do what I can.

• Olivia at A Great Reader
• E.J. W at Chokmah&Kishron
• Sarah at A Well Cultivated Mind. Hopefully book bloggers talk about villains, too…

Finally, if you are a blogger and want to take the tag, go right ahead- just let me know so that I can read about your top ten villains. Let’s see what y’all come up with. 🙂

How to Use MBTI for Writing Characters

Note: If you are unfamiliar with MBTI – the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator – or missed Part 1 of this series, click here. Once you’ve read that, this post will make much more sense!

Once upon a time, there was a young author named Hannah who never had any struggles with characterization. She had in her head a wide array of staggeringly diverse characters, each with their own imagination, goals, and personal history, and even a few annoying habits to make them stand out. You see, she was one of those obsessive plotters who writes a biography for every one of them.

Yet when Hannah sat down at her desk, armed with a laptop and her favorite peppermint coffee, and wrote the story for real, all the characters’ individuality was gone! They fell flat. She couldn’t put her finger on the reason, but her characters lacked that all-important sense of realness. No matter how much she rewrote and edited, they all just felt the same. So Hannah finished her peppermint coffee and buried her head in her hands, thinking, “I am a horrible writer.”

The end.

Now if this has never happened to you, amazing. You no longer need to read this post. If, however, you are the kind of writer who struggles with characterization, I’d like to encourage you that it’s a normal problem. The problem isn’t a lack of imagination. The problem is the writer’s own personality filter. Every time you sign up to write a character with a different personality from your own, you are agreeing to take on a whole new set of traits, values, and thought processes. And most writers don’t even realize it.

Here’s an example for all of you Sensing types. I plotted one of my protagonists, Elkay, as an ESTJ: a tough, steely leader with a sense of duty. However, by the time I finished the story, Elkay had morphed into an INTP: an objective puzzle-solver with big dreams. What facilitated such a change? It was myself; the ESTJ in my imagination had to go through me before he reached the paper, and I rubbed off many of my own traits to make him an INTP. Slightly different…

How on earth do we avoid this? I have a few suggestions:

Get familiar with various kinds of personalities. The truth is that you can’t write a different kind of person accurately until you get to know that kind of person. So spy on people. Talk to people. Analyze people. Be it an official temperament test like Myers-Briggs or simply an informal people-watching experiment, you must find some way of understanding how other people work. Read 16personalities.com and learn how people think, and then get to work applying this new knowledge.

Decide on an inspiration for your character. It’s permissible to have some sort of real-life basis to which you can refer as you write. Is your protagonist like Abe Lincoln? Read a book about him and get that character into your head. Find out his personality type. Is a villain like your sister? Take your sister’s personality and just transfer it to the villain (but be tactful about that one, my friend).

Write one scene over and over until you know what your character is really like. Try writing one scene multiple times, giving a different voice, worldview, goal, etc. to your character each time. It need not even be a scene that you will use in the final draft. Just play with the character, tweaking, rearranging, flipping him on his head until you find the essence of the character.

Rethink and rewrite. Sometimes a certain personality just doesn’t work for a character. Looking back, I realize that making Elkay an ESTJ would not work well at all with my plot, and it was for the best that he changed. Be flexible. You have to write more than one draft anyway; you might as well experiment with different personalities while you’re editing.

Has MBTI helped you write “real” characters? Let me know in the comments.

MBTI: The Good Kind of Four-Letter Words

I feel that the time has come for an explanation. Characterization is a strong suit of mine, as you might have guessed from reading my very first post, and even beyond my writing, I have a fascination for how people think. Therefore, when I discovered a tool called MBTI that shows how different people are wired, for me there was no going back to pantser characterization.

What is MBTI? It stands for Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a personality assessment that gives you a four-letter acronym (yes, more letters!) according to your personality type and temperament. Using these acronyms, people can study the different personalities and gain a better understanding of how their friends (or characters) think.

Does that sound like a lot? It’s really not that hard. All you have to do is take an in-depth online test… or just answer four simple questions below.

Well… this explanation works, too.

Are you an Extrovert or Introvert? In other words, how do you get energized- by being around other people, or by being alone? What makes you tired- being alone, or being around other people? Extroverts (E) get energy from others, while Introverts (I) get energy from themselves.  For example, I can only do one or two social events a week without burning out; I am an Introvert.

Are you Sensing or iNtuitive? Are you a big-picture person, or do you focus on details? Do you visualize the future, or do you keep your attention on the here-and-now? Sensors (S) look at what is, while iNtuitives (N) see what could be. Personally, I see big picture possibilities- after all, I write fantasy- so I am an N.

Are you Thinking or Feeling? Do you make decisions based on the end result, or do you consider the human side of things? Are you unemotional, or do you cry during movies? Thinkers (T) make decisions objectively, while Feelers (F) make decisions subjectively. I am more objective than not (most days of the week), so I am a T.

Are you Judging or Perceiving? Do you like schedules and planners, or would you rather improvise? Are you a control-freak, or are you messy? Judgers (J) are routinized, while Perceivers (P) are more spontaneous. I make plans for almost everything, so I am a J.

Now just put those four letters together. For example, my four-letter combination goes like this: Introvert + iNtuitive + Thinking + Judging=INTJ.

Once you know your type, go ahead and read about it! You can find accurate descriptions of each personality on this page. Then take some time to read through the other descriptions, and you are well on your way to typing your own characters. Of course, once you get into MBTI theories, you may start analyzing your friends to figure out their personality types, and in extreme cases you may end up typing the characters in your favorite movies. I’ve done it, and believe me: it is perfectly fine. Anything that makes you a better writer is a worthwhile exercise… right?

Now all we have to talk about is how we use MBTI for characters. But that must wait for next week’s post…

Have you ever heard of MBTI before? Tell me your personality type in the comments!