Stock characters
March 11, 2009
Not every character in your story needs to be fully developed. Sometimes you need characters who engage in readily recognizable relationships and actions simply to keep the story moving. Such a person is known as a stock character. The personality and manner of speech for such a character already has been set down in the genre by previous writers – set down over and over, in fact.
In science fiction, a common type of a stock character is the absent-minded professor. A genius of sorts, the absent-minded professor’s focus on his academic research often causes him to be unaware of his surroundings or to forget some important, non-academic matter. Other kinds of science fiction stock characters are robots and Star Trek’s infamous redshirts.
Though stock characters can be degrading stereotypes (the scientist’s beautiful daughter, for example), if instead used as an inoffensive minor character they’re often necessary to a story. In Star Trek, for example, characters may need to die to show an alien’s maliciousness and the direness of the situation. The main characters can’t be killed, so the alien instead murders a stock character such as a security officer (also known as a redshirt).
Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell
Tags:
absent-minded professor, characters, redshirt, robot, stereotype, stock characters
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Referents
February 18, 2009
Have you ever wondered why some television characters always wear the same clothes? Gilligan of “Gilligan’s Island” always dons his red shirt and white cap while Fred Flintstone always wears a spotted leopard’s wool. Such characters appear less real because in the everyday world, people wear different clothes from day to day. Likewise, you don’t want your characters to always refer back to one another with the exact same word throughout your story, particularly in a novel. Such a word is called a “referent”. In the real world, different people refer to us in different ways. Suppose your name is Amanda Philips. Your co-workers might call you “Amanda”, your close friends “Mandy”, your significant other “Snookums”, your professional contacts “Ms. Phillips”, your kid sister “Manda”, etc. Consider how “Star Trek: The Original Series” handled referents for its characters, particularly Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott. Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy refer to him as “Scotty”. Mr. Spock calls him “Mr. Scott.” Others call him “Engineer Scott.” This is a realistic way of handling referents. Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell
Tags:
characters, dialogue, referents, style
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Stakes
January 16, 2009
The plot of a story is more interesting and exciting if the characters have something to gain or lose. Because of this, the characters in your story should something at stake, or some personal interest or involvement in solving the story’s conflict. Establishing what these personal interests or involvement are early in the story and then returning them through the rising action generates reader interest. The “stakes” always revolve around two basic questions: “What does the protagonist want?” and “What if the protagonist fails to get it?” For example, in Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation,” the character Salvor Hardin wants to ensure his home planet of Terminus (one of two depositories of scientific knowledge and reason in which humanity’s future depends) survives the collapse of the Galactic Empire, which is fragmenting into several war-like kingdoms. If he fails, Terminus will be taken over by the warrior kingdoms – and humanity will fall into a dark ages that lasts thousands of years. Those are high stakes. Remember that virtually all stories center on a character that possesses some want that if unfulfilled means some disaster. The plot of the story is little more than the obstacles that the character must overcome as trying to fulfill this want. Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell
Tags:
characters, conflict, plot, protagonist, rising action
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Dialogue: Making it realistic
January 9, 2009
Since dialogue in fiction is contrived, a challenge facing authors is to find ways to make it sound realistic. Try these techniques: n Pay attention to speech rhythms – Read the dialogue out loud to see if it sounds natural. If it sounds like you’ve written a homework assignment or like the characters are too dumb to say more than a couple of words at a time, then it probably needs to be revised. n Create generational tags –Each new generation creates its own slang that separates it from those who came before. Your characters, even if living in the 26th century, probably will do the same. n Devise local tags/slang - Colonists on other worlds will have specialized slang that arise out of their new surroundings; just think of Australians. Mark Bowman in his short story “The Drop” uses such future slang words as “spliced “touching down” and “cropping the juice” and aphorisms such as “Time is energy” in light of their technology that allows space travel. n Develop economic class tags - People of the future, if there are economic classes, will have ways of identifying themselves as different from one another, merely based on their lifestyles. Perhaps the wealthy will be able to travel between planets while the less fortunate are “grounded” to never leaving their world. n Build a lexicon of shop talk - In-group jargon of specialized professions will be used with even greater frequency that today as we become more dependent on technology. Warp drive engineers must use some jargon and have some inside jokes down in the engine room. n Minimize mannerisms – Stutters and spelling words to match the pronunciation of dialects only forces the reader to pay attention to individual words rather than the story. Save mannerisms for special occasions. Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell
Tags:
characters, dialogue, jargon, mannerisms, slang, tags
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Dialogue
December 26, 2008
No doubt your novel will include dialogue in which characters speak to one another. Unfortunately, too many beginning writers drag their story into a furrow of tedium by poorly handling dialogue. The problem is that their characters’ dialogue mirrors actual conversations too closely. Realistic dialogue in a story isn’t a copy of how we really speak in everyday life. Our daily conversations are filled with niceties, formalities, repetition and the mundane. They often are tedious and even banal. Writers can’t afford to waste a word of their story on such dialogue. Instead, they should keep in mind that dialogue in a story – unlike real life – always must have a conversational goal. Dialogue is a means of characterization, a way for characters to push forward their agenda vital to the plot. Characters engage in competition and verbal combat via their dialogue. Consider the following dialogue examples. This attempts to mimic real life conversation:
“You know, Upir, I’ve changed. I just can’t help you.” The alien raised his hands. “But what of Ala and I? It took all three of us to lure the human spacecraft to that asteroid.” “But two of the humans died when the spacecraft crashed! I was the test subject for us; I volunteered so you would not die if it didn’t work!” “Well then, why did you leave us there?” “It was the jump, it made me mad, you know. I did not know what I was doing!” “You do now, right?” “Yeah, I do. But I am powerless. You see, once human, you no longer can jump.” “Yeah, I know.” “You do? How?” “The humans sent a rescue craft. Ala was near death, so he jumped.” “Oh, I see.”
The following example, however, indicates the characters have goals to achieve. They use their conversation to further their personal agendas:
“I’ve changed, Upir. I can’t help you.” “You know what will happen if you don’t do as I say.” “I’m not cold anymore, Upir.” The alien raised his hand like a cat ready to strike. “Yes, Raphaelie, I can see that. You’ve got what you wanted. But what of Ala and I? It took all three of us to lure the human spacecraft to that asteroid. You will make amends for what you did.” “But two of the humans died when the spacecraft crashed! I was the test subject for us; I volunteered so you would not die if it didn’t work!” “Then why did you leave us there?” “It was the jump, it made me mad. I did not know what I was doing!” “But you do now.” “I am powerless. Once human, you no longer can jump.” “I know.” “How?” “The humans sent a rescue craft. Ala was near death. He jumped.” “Why didn’t you?” “Because I wanted you.”
Which one was more interesting to read?
Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell
Tags:
characters, dialogue, plot
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Villains
July 19, 2008
Every story’s protagonist faces conflicts, and often they are with a special type of antagonist called a villain. A villain is an individual character or group of people who oppose the story’s main character. Often the villain creates the situation that forces the main character to address the tale’s central problem. Villains are well known - sometimes as much so as the main character: Darth Vader in “Star Wars: A New Hope”, the Klingons in “Star Trek: The Original Series” and Kahn in “Star Trek: The Wrath of Kahn”. Sometimes science fiction villains are referred to as “dark lord”. The advantage of using a villain in your story is that such characters are great fun. Villains can be over the top in their evil and powers. And while your main character is “limited” to behaving in an ethic and responsible manner, the villain can be as devious and frightening. He’s Id unleashed.
But villains often are poorly constructed antagonists, created purely to be representatives of evil. Such characters aren’t real; they’re flat characters. Indeed, one of the reasons Worf was created for “Star Trek: The Next Generation” is because series created gene Roddenberry felt the Klingons of “The Original Series” were unreal villains. Another problem with villains is that they’re often just clones of established villains - they’re usually deformed, a paragon of evil, reside in a lair, wear black and laugh maniacally whenever something bad happens to someone else. Ultimately, such cliché villains diminish plot possibilities. The only outcome that the reader can expect is that the story’s hero will defeat the villain.
If using a villain in your story, always ask what is the villain’s motivation? Just how did the villain come to embrace evil? After all, if the villain is real character, from his viewpoint he isn’t evil but merely meting out justice.
To avoid creating a cardboard villain, construct him as if he is a hero – but give him a motivation for which the reader isn’t likely to feel sympathy. In short, make a good man who has fallen into a bad cause. A good example of this is the Romulan Commander in the “Star Trek: The Original Series” episode “Balance of Terror.” After years of duty and loyalty, he begins to question the need to start a war with the Federation; ultimately, though, as protagonist Captain Kirk succeeds in defeating him, he performs his last duty, of blowing up his own ship. The struggle between Kirk and the Romulan commander becomes more intriguing because the commander is a real person, not just an aggressor bent on destruction.
Another way to make your villain real is to create a “transformed villain”. In such a character, the villain’s inner turmoil still calls out for our pity despite the great cruelty he’s caused. A good example is the X-Men’s Magneto .
In science fiction, a special type of villain is the mad scientist. We’ll discuss this kind of character in a future blog entry.
You Do It
Create a villain that is three dimensional. Explain his motivations for being evil/taking the wrong path. As part of this, explain his emotional attributes and give examples of good that he has done in the past. Describe how he game to embrace evil and why he feels that he’s meting our justice.
Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell
Tags:
antagonist, characters, flat characters, protagonist
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Antagonist
June 29, 2008
In most stories, someone causes the problem that vexes the main character. This character is called the antagonist. Examples of well-known antagonists include Q in “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episodes, Darth Vader in “Star Wars IV: A New Hope” and the Lunar Authority soldiers in Robert Heinlein’s “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress”. Usually a story is not told from the antagonist’s perspective. In fact, often the antagonist is a flat, cardboard character whose sole reason for existence is to cause trouble. This was one of the complaints “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry had of the Klingons in “The Original Series”. Obviously the main character needs to be the focus of your story, and so the antagonist in contrast will not be as developed. Still, you want to think a lot about the antagonist and give him more a deeper motives than green, lust or evil. He’s arguably the second most important character of your story, after all, the reason why there’s even a story to tell. By developing a backstory for the antagonist’s motivations, you can create thematic tension. The antagonist’s motivations can be paralleled with and contrasted to the protagonist’s motivations and decisions. As with the main character, you should know what your antagonist looks like, his strengths and weaknesses, his likes and dislikes, what motivates him, his parents and schooling, who he’s dated throughout his life, the foods he enjoys and hates, what he does during his free time, how his apartment is decorated, places he’s visited and places he yet wants to go, and more. You should know you’re antagonist almost as well as you know yourself. Sometimes, the antagonist is not a “real” person but an element of nature or some competing idea in the main character’s internal conflict. Often these antagonists take on a life of their own, however, and become characters in their own right. You Do It
Look back at the piece you wrote for the "Inciting incident" blog entry. Create an antagonist for the main character. Now write a 250-word biography of that piece's antagonist. How does this differ for the protagonist entry you wrote for the “Protagonist” blog entry? Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell  
Tags:
characters, protagonist, villain
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Characters: The center of your story
May 28, 2008
Your story's characters are who the story is about, who the plot is happening to. They are the players that act across the stage of your setting. Arguably, they are the center of your story.
A great variety of characters can appear in your story. They include the story's hero (such as Captain Kirk or Luke Skywalker), the hero's sidekicks (such as Mr. Spock and R2D2), the hero's nemesis (such as the Klingons or Darth Vader) and the characters we just see in passing (such as crewmen in the rec room or a squad of stormtroopers marching in the background).
Generally speaking, the more developed the characters in a story, then the bettr the tale will be. That's because successful stories involve drama, which arises from tension between character and the situation in which they've been placed. That situation is your story's plot. The more developed the character, the greater the drama for more tension can arise as your heor can interact with the situation in more varied ways.
For example, if your story's hero is just a strongman, then there's really only one way for him to deal with any situation: blast his way through. But if he has self-doubts or a sense of ethics that is at odds with the solution to solving a problem, then he has to come up with unique ways to get out of jams. That's far more interesting them just blowing up every bug he encounters.
To create more developed characters, consider their motivations. Ask what is a character’s passion, desires and fears? These motivations allow for conflict – and hence your plot – to occur.
You Do It Browse through a magazine and find a picture of a person in a tense situation (no smiling models, please). This person is a character in your story. Now imagine that they have a problem to overcome (hopefully your picture hints at that problem). What passions, desires and fears does your character possess that makes solving this problem difficult? Spend 10 minutes writing a scene in which your character grapples with this problem given their motivations.
Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell
Tags:
characters, elements of fiction, motivation
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