Creating Your Character’s Overview
Congratulations! You’ve continued forward to the next step of creating your characters.
The next step we will take is creating a basic overview of your characters. We will talk about your character’s role, which side they are on, their name, and their gender.
Alright, let’s get to first step one of outlining your characters.
READY! SET! WRITE!
The primary tool that I use to create my characters:
The primary tool I use to keep all my world-building references together and straight is Notebook.ai.
Notebook.ai is a website that is a virtual writer’s notebook. It was created for writers by other writers. This virtual notebook acts as a continuously growing reference page with the information about your story that allows you to plug in information as you go along. They have pages for your characters, locations, magics, governments, and many others. You can use the limited version of the program for free or pay for the unlimited version which costs $84 yearly. This is personally my favorite tool.
I am not paid or compensated for mentioning them in this blog. Notebook.ai is just a tool that I have used for almost five years and love!
What is your character’s stance in your story?
Two things you must have in every story is a protagonist and an antagonist to create the conflict which your story will follow.
Protagonist:
The protagonist is the main character, often the hero of the story that your reader will follow throughout the book.
Antagonist:
The antagonist is someone who is going to be an opposing force against your protagonist. When looking at your antagonist, one thing to remember is that they are not necessarily villains in the comic book sense.
Side or Supporting Characters:
Once you know who your main protagonist and antagonist are, you will need to fill up your story with supporting characters.
Side characters will follow either the protagonist, or the antagonist along their journey through the book.
What is your character’s role in the story?
Characters Archetypes:
Archetypes are a grouping of characters’ behaviors that are readily identifiable to the readers as a specific type of character. For example – The hero, the best friend, the mentor, the teacher, etc.
It’s easier to have in mind what your character’s basic role in the story is and build on top of that to make a round, detailed character.
Note – You can mix multiple archetypes to make a multi-faceted character that encourages your reader to dig deeper into your characters to learn more.
The “Chosen One”
This archetype is the most common hero character in stories. Some wise one, item, or prophecies choose an individual out of everyone else and will be the only person who will break a curse or fight an evil.
The Explorer
This archetype is known for the characters that aren’t happy staying in one place, so they seek new worlds, experiences, and adventures.
These people are great travel companions to your main characters who will help guide them on their journey.
Another archetype that can be combined with this kind of character is a guide.
The Good Guy and/or Traditional Hero
This archetype is a hero that is the person who is going to fight evil with good and save the people from the villain.
Jester and/or Jokers.
This archetype is the character that acts as comic relief in your story. They are the characters that are the lighthearted, fun-loving characters that lighten a darker scene.
These characters might even be the ones that point out the other character’s flaws and insecurities.
The Leader
This character is the person that commands respect from the people around them and does their best to make decisions based on other’s best interests.
The Love Interest
This character stands beside another character with the hope of wooing the other character by the end of the story.
The Mentor
This character is an older character that acts as a person who teaches, inspires, and encourages the main character through their journey in the story.
Evil Incarnate
This archetype is one of the characters under the villain archetypes.
This kind of character is the kind of person that is an evil personification. This archetype has very little development or backstory that comes out through the story.
The Outcast
This character is the character that doesn’t seem to fit in anywhere in particular.
The interesting thing about this archetype is that they can be on the good, bad, or neutral side.
The Warrior
These characters are the fighters and protectors known for their strengths, skill, courage, and integrity.
The kind of character that can come from this archetype is a knight, soldier, etc.
These are sampling of the archetypes I love to use in my own stories, there are many others, and I’ll link to additional websites with lists of archetypes in the sources below.
Build onto Your Archetypes to Fit Your Story
Once you have a general idea of your character’s archetype or archetypes, build upon it in a way that connects their role into your personal story.
For example –
Archetypes: The Warrior
The Character’s Personal Role in the Story:
Rebert is a knight, one of the personal guards of the royal family, and is charged with protecting the king’s daughter, who is setting out on a journey to another kingdom to meet her new suitor.
This brief bio that you have created of your story can help you understand where your character may go throughout the story. It can also help you brainstorm the plot lines for your story that your characters will be a part of.
Your Character’s Name
Name them whatever you want. Please don’t listen to people who say that your names have to be easy or that it has to match your genre.
Just name your character.
If you want to name your character Sally, name her Sally.
If you want to name your character Azriel, name him Azriel.
If you want to use a cool-looking typo as a name, use the typo as a name (I speak from experience on this one).
You’re the writer; you get to create the final truth.
Choose Your Character’s Gender
It is your choice to decide what gender you want your main character to be; antagonist, protagonist, or side character.
Some genres prefer a particular gender for the main character.
Honestly, I have never paid much attention to what gender was more popular in a genre. I just write the character that will best do the story justice.
This Week’s Action Steps.
Decide which side your characters are on: Protagonist, Antagonist, Side Characters?
What is your character’s gender?
What archetypes does your character fall into? Here are some links that you can use to help you.
Create a bio for your characters based on the archetypes you have chosen for your characters.
Name your characters. Pinterest has a great list for that.
Good Luck, and I will see you next week.
Sources
https://lonerwolf.com/archetypes-ultimate-guide/#h-what-is-an-archetype
https://self-publishingschool.com/character-archetypes/
https://industrialscripts.com/archetypes-of-characters/
https://blog.reedsy.com/12-common-character-archetypes-every-writer-should-already-know/
http://susannacarr.com/2019/08/28/hero-heroine-archetypes-the-best-friend/
https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-write-different-types-of-villains#8-villain-archetypes
©All writing property of R. M. McDermott LLC