Creative Writing

Types of Basic Characters:

Below are several types of basic characters. There are many, many more!

Protagonist: The main character

• A story typically tells the point of view from the protagonist(s) perspective

Antagonist: The one(s) who are in conflict with the main character

• The antagonist opposes the protagonist in some way

Deuteragonist: the second most important character in the story

• might be a secondary main character, or a sidekick

Sidekick: typically someone who assists the protagonist

Secondary Characters: Reoccurring characters who may help or hinder the protagonist

Creating Characters

Creating characters is similar to World-building. Each writer may decide how much information is needed to create a character(s). Character information may range from a few key traits (tall, dark, handsome) to pages of highly detailed information (favorite brand of yogurt). Some information may never be mentioned in a story, but that information may be useful to the writer when writing about the character.

Example: In a writer's personal detailed notes, Character E is allergic to eggs. Although the allergy is never revealed in the story, hints about the allergy add an additional level of detail to the story and character's behavior. For example, Character E avoids egg and egg byproducts when ordering food, visiting a farm, shopping, etc. Character E may carefully read ingredient labels to avoid having an allergy attack.

Tips for Creating Characters

• Pick a real life person to physically model a character after (ex movie stars, people in random photos, etc.)

• Create a collage from magazines to physically model a character after (ex. Person A's haircut, Person B's eyes, etc.)

• Create folders for reference pics for characters, scenery, locations, etc.

• Let a character's actions speak louder than words (ex. a character may say they are unreliable...but are always on time for work, keep appointments, remembers birthdays, etc. So, is the character unreliable, or is that just something they believe?)

• Allow each character to keep a little mystery or secret. This may or may not be relevant to the plot.

• Let any descriptions unfold naturally

• Let characters have different opinions. This can be about serious or casual things.

  • Ex. Character A really likes fudge. Character B doesn't like or dislike it. Character C thinks fudge tastes terrible.

Questions to ask:

What are the goals of the different characters?

Are any of the goals in opposition?

• Ex. Character A's goal is to sleep after working all night. Character B's (the next door neighbor) goal is to mow the lawn early in the morning. The goals are in opposition with each other because mowing the lawn disrupts sleep.

What are the characters willing to do to achieve the goal? What do they refuse to do?

(sometimes, what a character doesn't do is just as important as what they do)

• How far will they go?
• What will they sacrifice?
• What will they not sacrifice?

What are the characters' quirks, eccentricities, behaviors, routines, etc.? Do any of these compliment or clash with each other? Do the characters learn to tolerate, enjoy, or aggravate each other? In what ways?

• Ex. Character A speaks to all animals in babytalk. Character B checks the mail at exactly noon. Character C only buys Brand X apple juice.
• Remember: one person's normal may be another person's abnormal

Point of View: the perspective from which the story is told