Wednesday Writing Advice: Getting to Know Your Protagonist
Lesson One: Getting to Know Your Protagonist
In order to have a good story, you must first have a good protagonist. This is a character you must know as well as yourself to write out of any point of view- so that the readers may know them also.There is no special method for them to grow into their own person naturally; sometimes that is too easy and sometimes too hard.
But there are some ways to help that process along.
- Character sheet
This means writing out a basic list to fill out with the basic qualities of your character These can get extensive, so I try to keep it at eight qualities (and I use use these same lists to fill in for other characters as well).
For example (and feel free to copy and edit it according to your story and genre needs)-
Name: Alicia Ivy
Age: 13 (since second birth); 23 total
Species: Android AI
Loyalty: Her captain, ship, and crew
Origin: First created to be an assassin droid before being torn down; recreated by Orion
Goal: To protect and aid Orion and his team;
Abilities: The ability to split-screen between controlling her ship; animating her android form(s); and appearing as a hologram. Piloting, hacking, and access to the internet;
Traits (at least 2 negative with the positives): Protective; loyal; inability to experience emotions; a facade of simplicity to hide the complexity of her past; a yearning to be more human;
(filled in with the attributes of the protagonist of my WIP, Intergalactic Witness Protection)
The following tips are also useful, but be warned, they can take up much valuable time.
- Find a picture of your character, either by sketching or on the internet (I especially recommend getting at least one image of your character; creating collages is up to your own discretion).
- Find at least one theme song for your character. Creating a playlist is up to your own discretion.
Alicia Ivy's theme song is "Almost Human" by Lauren Daigle.
Comments
Post a Comment