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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Thrust and counterthrust
August 23, 2008
When the main character attempts to take charge of a situation and overcome his central problem, the author has created a scene in the rising action. This effort by the main character is called a “counterthrust.” In many ways, a story’s rising action is a series of thrusts and counterthrusts – the antagonist attempts to create an intolerable situation, or makes a thrust, and the protagonist (the main character) counters to restore a tolerable order. Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell
Tags:
antagonist, counterthrust, plot, protagonist, rising action, thrust
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Focus character
July 26, 2008
If you’ve done any reading about story writing, you’ve probably noticed that there are quite a number of terms for types of characters. As stories can be constructed in many, many different ways, several terms are needed to describe a specific kind of character unique to a way of telling a tale. Sometimes when analyzing a story, a special term is needed to so a character can be understood within a certain context. One such term you might run across is “focus character”. This is the character for who the readers most care, even when he’s not in the scene. It’s a term used in critiques and writers workshops, most notably the Cambridge Science Fiction Workshop. Focus characters usually are the story’s main character, protagonist or hero. Luke Skywalker is the focus character in “Star Wars IV: A New Hope”. Hiro Protagonist is the focus character of Neal Stephenson’s novel “Snow Crash”. However, a focus character doesn’t always have to be the main character. In ensemble casts, such as “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, the viewer cares for Data, Riker, Worf and others just as much as they do Captain Picard, who usually is the story’s traditional hero. In many episodes, Picard is the not the main character at all. Like most main characters and protagonists, focus characters possess three traits: n They have distinct personalities - Luke Skywalker, for example, longs for adventure and meaningfulness in his life during “Star Wars IV”. In contrast, Princess Leia would like nothing more than peace and stability in her life while Obi Wan Kenobi already has a purpose and Han Solo has not desire for it. n They further the story’s themes - “Star Wars IV” theme of gaining maturity (and hence success) through purpose and self-discipline is played out by Luke’s adventure. n They interact with other focus characters in the story -Viewers also care about the fate of Princess Leia, Obi Wan, Han Solo, Chewbacca, R2D2 and CP30 in “Star Wars IV”. Luke’s quest involves his cooperation with each of these characters. You Do It
Have your focus character write a letter of introduction to the reader. What is the inner struggle that the character faces? What are his motivations in this struggle? Who are his allies in his cause? Be sure to give him a distinct personality and to make him likeable.
Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell
Tags:
character, hero, main character, protagonist
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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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Hero
July 7, 2008
“Once again, we've saved civilization as we know it." - James T. Kirk, “The Undiscovered Country”
Most main characters in science fiction stories also are traditional heroes, or larger than characters who serve as the tale’s protagonist. Obvious examples are Luke Skywalker, Captain Kirk and Indiana Jones. Such characters become “mythic”, especially after several stories describing their adventures. The advantage of using such characters as that they are good fun. Not surprisingly, the memorable heroes mentioned above all appear in motion pictures, which typically serves as escapism rather than high art. But you do your readers a disservice when your main character is the stereotypical hero. Such characters, after all, aren’t real. After awhile, you have to ask, “How many times can James T. Kirk save the galaxy?” In addition, heroes often are just clones of heroes who came long before them. Skywalker, Kirk and Jones all are strong, respected, admired, clever, brave, intelligent, natural leaders and usually can have any woman. So were Theseus, Horatio Hornblower and Robin Hood. Ultimately, heroes limit your plot. One notable way is that heroes typically collect “plot coupons” in each scene. In such a plot, the hero gains some knowledge or gizmo that ensures he can solve the problem by the story’s climax. The story really is just a clever game of how he’ll gather all of these coupons, for the story’s outcome never is in doubt. A more rigorous character – and hence a more rigorous story – should involve placing an ordinary person in an extraordinary circumstance. Ordinary people possess flaws, and the extraordinary circumstance provides an opportunity for those characters to grow and develop.
Because some of the tales involving Skywalker and Kirk do show them overcoming their flaws (Skywalker learning to control his fear and anger; Kirk sacrificing the love of his life for the future), they probably are more memorable heroes than Indiana Jones, whose only real Achilles’ heel is a fear of snakes. In short, if you do stick with a hero character, don’t make him “too cool”. He needs to be vulnerable or he’ll be too superhuman and hence not very interesting. For example, a hero shouldn’t be fearless but instead someone who performs his duties - such as protecting or rescuing others - despite his fears (which is why Indiana Jones’ fear of snakes makes him so endearing).
You Do It Create a hero character that is rigorous. Begin by writing a list of all of his heroic qualities. Now write a list of his vulnerabilities that counter each of his heroic qualities. For example, perhaps he’s physically strong (a heroic quality) but is fearful of using his strength because he once physically hurt someone close to him (a vulnerability).
Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell
Tags:
character, main character, plot coupon, protagonist
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First-person objective
June 30, 2008
When the main character narrates your story, you’ve selected the first-person point of view. But when the narrator but gives only the cold, hard facts as telling us what people said and did, you have a specific kind of first-person, known as first-person objective. An excellent example of first-person objective is Jules Verne’s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea”. The story’s main character/protagonist, Dr. Pierre Aronnax, tells what occurs to him as he goes on an expedition to the ocean and his subsequent capture by Captain Nemo. Here’s an excerpt: What had he seen? Then, I know not why, the thought of the monster came into my head for the first time! But that voice? The time is past for Jonahs to take refuge in whales' bellies! However, Conseil was towing me again. He raised his head sometimes, looked before us, and uttered a cry of recognition, which was responded to by a voice that came nearer and nearer. I scarcely heard it. My strength was exhausted; my fingers stiffened; my hand afforded me support no longer; my mouth, convulsively opening, filled with salt water. Cold crept over me. I raised my head for the last time, then I sank.
Notice how Arronax sticks to a blow-by-blow, almost detached account of what occurs, even when he is a frightening, perilous situation. “Cold crept over me” suffices where other narrators would be more prosaic in their description. Because of this, first-person objective sometimes is called “detached autobiography”. First-person objective is suitable to science fiction because of the types of main characters that usually appear in the genre. Scientists, for example, often describe the world around them in a detached manner when writing journals. Indeed, Aronnax is a naturalist. The “tough guy” character also often thinks in a similar way when observing the world. For such a character, there’s little room for sentimentality and metaphysical reflection, just the hard reality of the here and now. Because of this, first-person objective offers a major disadvantage: the detached, objective narration can undercut the intimacy readers feel with the main character. Because of this, characters like Arronax are hardly as memorable as H.G. Wells’ The Time Traveler, who tells his tale in the more congenial first-person limited. Still, first-person limited offers a number of advantages. First, it creates a sense that the narrator is more reliable. A risk of first-person limited is that the narrator may come off as unreliable (and a few “sequels” to Wells’ story often present The Time Traveler as an obsessed, borderline madman). Secondly, first-person objective allows for a unique narrative voice that some readers find appealing. The tough guy character, for example, often is memorable, especially to male readers, because he represents American culture’s ideal of maleness. Because of this, first-person objective is a great voice to use if parodying the tough guy. You Do It
Look back at one of the piece you wrote for the “Inciting Incident” entry. Rewrite the piece so that it is in first-person objective. How does this change the feel and flow of the story? Is it a more appropriate perspective than the one you originally chose? Why or why not?
Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell  
Tags:
first-person limited, main character, narrator, point of view, 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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Main character
June 5, 2008
Typically a story is about a single character who must overcome some problem. This player in your story is called the main character. Common examples in science fiction are Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars IV: A New Hope”, Ender Wiggin in Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game” and Neo in “The Matrix”.
Main characters usually are the hero of the story. The tale often is told from their viewpoint.
Quality main characters typically: n Possess likeable traits but also have a major flaw - Your main character may be brave, intelligent, a natural leader and handsome, but he also ought to be indecisive, obsessed, or hold some other negative quality. Your character runs the risk of being melodramatic (or too perfect) if he doesn’t possess some flaw. Such stories may be fun for kids to read (and possibly even instructive for them) but is not a believable story for an even slightly discerning adult reader. n Faces a challenge that attacks him at his weakest point: his major flaw -To succeed, the main character should must grow and develop in such a way that he confronts and overcomes his major flaw. Oftentimes, to overcome his major flaw, he must surrender something of “inestimable value” to himself. In exchange, by overcoming this inner conflict the main character should gain something of inestimable worth. Such challenges maximize tension in a story and allows the reader to take something with him when he’s finished the story. n Overcomes conflicts that allows him to grow - All conflicts the main character faces should serve to point or direct him toward ultimately overcoming his major flaw. By overcoming such challenges, the main character inches closer to realizing what he must do to solve his major flaw, which in turn allows him to overcome the problem that set the story in the motion. n Don’t give up - Main characters almost always fight to main control of their lives. They want to determine their own destiny.
You Do It
Create a main character by opening a magazine to a random page and writing about the model on that page as if he/she were the hero facing a major problem. Give the character a major flaw that would make solving the problem difficult. For example, to overcome a villain, the main character must address his major flaw of not believing his involvement can make a difference.
Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality. (c) 2008 Rob Bignell
Tags:
hero, main character, protagonist
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