Creative Writing

Types of Basic Characters:

Below are several types of basic characters. 

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.

• Pick a real life person to physically model a character after (ex movie stars)

• 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

• 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

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' 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

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

• How far will they go?
• What will they sacrifice?

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