Story Building (Part II): coloring in silhouettes

Photo by Bryan Minear on Unsplash

In Story Building (Part I): the foundation, I broke storytelling into six essential elements: Change, Main Character, Story Goal, Ideals, Sacrifice, and Conflict. I’m going to switch up that order as I cover each of these more in depth because—while that order is good for understanding what is involved in telling a story—it isn’t great for beginning to write one. When I think of a story, I first think of WHO the story is about.

Today’s topic? Beginning to craft your Main Character.

Gender

Picking a Main Character (MC) is probably the most fun part of beginning a story. I’ll guess that you already have someone in mind, even if they’re just a silhouette and you can’t see all the details.

When you think about a story, you usually start with, “I have an idea for this story about a businesswoman who loses everything, but at the end finds that family is what’s important.”

Or, “I have an idea for a WWI story about a trench soldier and his horse. And it’s not a duplicate of War Horse.” That’s my next planned novel. I have more ideas for that story now, but to start, I didn’t know what “change” would happen to that trench soldier. I just knew his occupation. And that he had a horse.

Pick someone. A guy or a girl. It doesn’t matter, as long as you take in consideration what type of story you’re telling. If you know you want to write a Vietnam War story that takes place in a base hospital, you can have a male or female MC. But if you’re writing about an infantry soldier in the same war, you’d better pick a male for accuracy’s sake. The more specific you get in what you see your MC doing, the better it will help you decide what gender they should be.

I have yet to write a story with a female MC. Personally, I don’t find them as interesting, they’re often cliché, and as one who wants to write historical war novels (often taking place in combat), there’s not a lot of female activity until more recent wars. There are exceptions, of course, of patriotic women who ran as spies, dressed as men and fought, and who provided medical care on the battlefield, but I have yet to go there. To the same point, writing a female character would be a good stretch for me. It would force me to strive to write a non-cliché, exceptional MC.

Appearance

This is completely up to you, but here are some tips for creating an MC’s external features.

Don’t make them perfect. No one likes a hero with tanned skin, a chiseled face, white teeth, blond hair gelled into a wave, and blue eyes. They seem fake. Just thinking of it makes me cringe. Someone that looks like that belongs in a 1950s toothpaste advertisement. Real life heroes aren’t spectacular. They’re normal people who do great things. Even Jesus wasn’t physically dazzling; people weren’t drawn to Him for His looks.

This doesn’t mean the MC has to look like he crawled out of a sewer or that he’s ugly. He can still be “dashing” but give him some sort of flaw elsewhere that strips down his perfection. Give him glasses. Freckles. A few extra pounds. A self-loathing.

Lionel from my fantasy is handsome and athletic, but he’s terrified of being emotionally hurt. He’s addicted to a plant-based drug, is unemotional, and bashes himself over past failures. Those weaknesses offset his strengths and make him feel not too perfect.

Look at real people around you, not just actors in epic movies. Look at pictures in history books. Study physical features. I’ll admit that Lionel—in my mind—looks somewhat like Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings; not too creative since who doesn’t like Aragorn? But if you take time to study people around you, you’ll find some great inspiration. Here are some examples of people I know.

Ardene: Tall and thin with jaw-length, straight bobbed brownish hair. Probably in her 60s. She walks in a steady, measured pace, tipped slightly forward at the shoulders and neck. Her gait makes her hair swing forward and backward. She has age lines throughout her face, giving her an almost worried appearance.

Lonnie: 7 years old. Short, thick-boned, with wide-set eyes. His hair is like a wild nest of blondness ruffled on the top of his head. His eyes hold an anticipating gleam, reflective of his incredible perseverance and determination. He’s an odd mix of adorable and intense—like one of those kids in movies that would terrorize all the adults.

Personality

Personality is based on your MC’s uniqueness, as well as the circumstances and surrounding characters that have shaped him. Ask yourself questions about him.

What does he like? Hate? What does he do that drives everyone nuts?

Is he cocky? Afraid? Reckless? Crushed? Etc. What drives him? Is it revenge, hope, honor, self-hate, etc.? What life event would he say defines him? What one event would you as the author say defines him (if different)?

What does he have or do that redeems his flaws and makes the reader still care about him despite them? Are the imperfections physical or in his personality? If in his personality, how does he overcome them by the end of the story?

What does he hate about himself? What is he afraid to dream? What does he refuse to forgive himself of? Who hurt him the most? How does that affect him? What terrifies him? What does he hide and how? What addicts him? What secret does he swear he’ll take with him to the grave? What would break him?

Who are his friends? His enemies? Why?

Be careful with interjecting your own personality into your characters. Everyone does it, and that’s okay to some extent. But as Stephanie Morrill once advised, make sure that it serves the story. People don’t want an autobiography in a novel. Pick a couple aspects of yourself and focus on those things, exaggerate them, and don’t be afraid to change them to be true to your character once you come to know him better.

Remember that it’s his flaws that highlight his goodness. Nobody believes in—or likes—a perfect hero. Readers want to see people rise from ashes, not coast through life unaffected. They want to see ordinary people overcome because that says they can too.

I expand on character development in Spirituality: A Forgotten Key to Character Development and Creating Emotion: Let Your People be People. I urge you to refer to those posts as you craft your MC.

Desire

More than appearance, a person’s desire gives us a window into who they really are.

What is the most important thing your MC could want? Why does he want it? What’s keeping him from getting it? What is he willing to do to get it? Is his desire the same thing as the story goal? Or is he willing to sacrifice his desire for others?

What your MC does with that desire defines him. If he gives it up for the sake of others, we call him a hero. If he does what it takes to get it, including hurting others, he’s the villain.

The desire could be a winter home in Italy. It could be a wife. Or it doesn’t have to be colossal. He could want a football, but he’s too poor. He could want to learn to read.

Make it personal and make it the world to your MC. Then decide what he’s going to do with that wish. The more he sacrifices of himself for others, the more we’ll love him and call him a hero.

Shoot me a comment and introduce your MC to me, ask questions, or share some of your tips on building a character. I’d love to hear it.

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It’s his flaws that highlight his goodness. Readers want to see people rise from ashes. They want to see ordinary people overcome because that says they can too.

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