Have to be honest,
there wasn’t a 2.0… or even a 1.0…
At this stage
in outlining, we don’t need to know every character. Instead, we only need to
create the main characters who will help us understand what type of story we
are writing. So, this article will only focus on creating the protagonist, the
deuteragonist (which is the secondary protagonist), and the antagonist. To do
this, we will be continuing with the original idea of Into the Dark, shared
in the previous article entitled, Build-A-Blurb.
It should be
noted that motivation is the most powerful attribute for characters.
However, for main characters, we tend not to use motivation simply because we
already know what their motivation is. The protagonist is trying to stop the
antagonist, and the antagonist is trying to do something nefarious. While
motivation is great for developing secondary characters, we prefer simpler
approaches for main characters:
Option 1:
One-Word Concept
We tend to use
one word—or one phrase, if necessary—to express a character’s core concept. We
like doing this because it forces us to work harder to ensure that our characters
are unique while also ensuring that each character has conviction. After
all, few readers like to read about flippant hypocrites.
Though we doubt
this is how other authors approach their characters, most character ideals are
pretty easy to spot. Let’s review these used in Harry Potter:
·
Harry
Potter: Loyalty
·
Hermione
Granger: Intelligence
·
Ron
Weasley: Courage
·
Voldemort:
Immortality
Again, we’re oversimplifying,
but the point of using one-word traits is giving yourself a way to expand on
a character when you know who they’re supposed to be.
Let’s use this
concept to discuss Into the Dark. The protagonist is going to be Kraig
Jones, the deuteragonist will be a reformed cultist who helps Kraig, and the
antagonist is going to be the leader of the cultists.
·
Kraig
Jones: Provider. That is, Kraig Jones provides for his family at all
costs.
·
Dante
Lysel: Regret. That is, Dante Lysel regrets his involvement in summoning
the sun-eating monster and wants to set things right at all costs.
·
Evander
Carlisle: Control. That is, Evander Carlisle wants to maintain control
of his cult—and his monster—at all costs.
You may be
wondering why we ended all three sentences with at all costs. We do this
to illustrate the fundamental rule of a one-word concept: it is the core of the
personality. They are completely motivated by this one word, and it informs us of
what their personality is going to be. More on that later.
Option 2:
The Focal Point
If you aren’t
satisfied with the one-word concept, then another good idea is to base a
character off of a singular personal possession or physical marking that is
essential to their personality. This is something that 100% has to be unique to
their character. Returning to Harry Potter, we have a few examples:
·
Harry
Potter: the Lightning Bolt scar
·
Hermione
Granger: books—she is always holding at least one
·
Ron
Weasley: hand-me-down robes
·
Voldemort:
the red eyes
Taking these
ideas to Into the Dark, we have a few focal points for our main
characters:
·
Kraig
Jones: He has knuckle tattoos that spell out his wife and daughter’s names—Lucy
on the left hand, and Kate on the right—so he can always be with them. It
becomes a bit darker when he gets into fist fights and blood covers his
knuckles.
·
Asher
Lysel: He has a fancy lighter that looks like a fire extinguisher—shows that
Asher isn’t who he pretends to be (though he acts like a goth, he actually is a
good kid—just lost).
·
Evander
Carlisle: His pendant showing the seal of the seven archangels—it really speaks
to his vanity of being “more than human.” He freaks out when he realizes he
doesn’t have it, because (in his mind) there is nothing to distinguish him from
anybody else. He likes being special.
Option 3:
Fears
Start with
fear. What does your character fear most? How far are they willing to go to
avoid this fear? Do they run from fear or do they fight it head on or even just
throw a temper tantrum? These types of questions will also greatly help you to
understand exactly who you want your character to be. Using this example for Harry
Potter:
·
Harry
Potter: Being all alone. Makes sense considering that all of his loved ones
keep dying.
·
Hermione
Granger: Hermione is most afraid of her friends getting hurt because of her
actions and mistakes (she cares more about protecting her friends than she does
about killing Voldemort).
·
Ron
Weasley: Spiders. Definitely spiders.
·
Voldemort:
Dying. Think about how far this dude went to avoid dying just to die like any
other mortal man? Pretty crazy stuff.
Taking these
ideas to Into the Dark:
·
Kraig
Jones: He fears not being able to protect and provide for his family.
·
Asher
Lysel: He fears everybody realizing just how big of a loser he is (feels a lot
of self-loathing).
·
Evander
Carlisle: He fears losing control of his cult and being “just another person”
(is absolutely convinced that he is the “Chosen One” and can’t stomach the idea
of being an average joe).
Obviously, most
characters have more than one fear—that’s good. Having multiple fears, goals,
strengths, and weaknesses only makes a character more three dimensional. Regardless,
once you understand a character’s goals and fears, you can expand on this
knowledge to determine their personality and other detailed information.
Filling in
the Details
With whichever
approach you started with, you can now expand on your character now that you
have the general idea of who they are supposed to be.
·
Role in
the story
·
Physical
description, including height, weight, and age
·
Picture
·
Important
Relationships
·
Personality
·
Flaw,
which furthers plot and creates conflict
·
Greatest
fear, can be several but just list most important
·
Unique
trait, whether it’s a behavioral mannerism, unique clothing, or a prized
possession
For
Kraig Jones, here’s how we would fill out this information:
·
Role:
Protagonist
·
Description:
33 years old, 170 pounds, 6’0” tall. He’s light-skinned with brown eyes,
slick-back hair, a bushy beard, wiry muscles, and a rangy frame. He often wears
flannel shirts and knit caps.
·
Picture:
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/11/06/08/50116971-10170799-image-a-1_1636188601222.jpg
·
Relationships:
Kraig is a loving father to his wife and daughter, who he’d sacrifice
everything for (and will).
·
Personality:
Kraig is a quiet man (a lot of thoughts and narrative but few spoken
words—except when with his daughter) with a terse speaking voice and straight
to the point; he is a gentle man but only with his family—he is unafraid of
violence and will fight dirty (doesn’t believe in a thing called a “fair
fight”).
·
Fear: Kraig
fears not being able to protect and provide for his family.
·
Flaw: Kraig
hates waiting around and doing nothing—that is, quick-tempered and impatient
(which will be the reason he gets caught by the cult and also how Asher saves
his life)
·
Quirk: Kraig
has knuckle tattoos that spell out his wife and daughter’s names—Lucy on the
left hand, and Kate on the right—so he can always be with them. He has two full
sleeves.
For
Asher Lysel:
·
Role:
Deuteragonist
·
Description:
16 years old, 105 pounds, 5’4” tall. He’s very underweight with jet-black hair,
pale skin, rounded shouldered, a bent neck, and painted nails. He’s definitely
weak and sickly looking, slight yellowness to his skin revealing jaundice. He
wears a bunny mask.
·
Picture:
https://media.istockphoto.com/id/115885600/photo/future-viewer.jpg?s=612×612&w=0&k=20&c=ZkChreFDMVqXAERgRSrsPXCigBiu7n6qYgVR4avWIU0=
·
Relationships:
After the sun disappeared, Asher no longer wanted to be a part of the Cult of
the Sun (as he thinks they went too far), but he still remains a follower them
because he thinks he has no alternatives; Asher doesn’t have any family ties as
he ran away from home (and regrets that decision every day of his life).
·
Personality:
Asher is a goth boy who talks too much (always trying to impress people too
hard), keeps trying to pretend to look like other people, is afraid of
conflict, beats around the bush, definitely more bark than bite.
·
Fear: Asher
fears everybody realizing just how big of a loser he is (feels a lot of
self-loathing).
·
Flaw: Asher
freezes up whenever conflict occurs, which almost gets Kraig killed. Saves the
day at the end but dies.
·
Quirk: Asher
used to smoke but ran out of cigarettes—he now has the annoying habit of
igniting his fancy lighter that looks like a fire extinguisher.
For
Evander Carlisle:
·
Role:
Antagonist, leader of the Cult of the Sun
·
Physical
description: 48 years old, 205 pounds, 6’3” tall. He’s an older man with long
black hair, is in great shape, and wears a long black cloak—only the cloak. As
he’s the leader of the cult, he definitely doesn’t wear a mask. Instead, he is
sleeping with his female followers and likes being shirtless to show off his
vitality… Yeah, not a good guy, is he?
·
Picture:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/bb/df/84/bbdf84fe63d19f0dfd72afa96765637a.jpg
·
Relationships:
Evander has no family or friends, just subordinates; he wasn’t popular growing
up but learned to be a great manipulator and reinvented himself to create the
Cult of the Sun and find his willing followers.
·
Personality:
Evander is a manipulator who hides behind smiles and pretends to care about the
people in his cult but couldn’t care less; he definitely uses his female
followers to keep the males in line; he has a bombastic and overly dramatic
personality, preferring monologues to actual discussions.
·
Fear: Evander
fears losing control of his cult and being “just another person” (is absolutely
convinced that he is the “Chosen One” and can’t stomach the idea of being an
average joe).
·
Flaw: Arrogance;
Evander thought he could control the monster that he summoned and failed, which
is why it devoured the sun, now he is trying to get the sun back while
maintaining control on the monster.
·
Quirk: Evander
is always seen wearing a necklace whose pendant is the seal of the seven
archangels and carrying a summoning book, whose binding can only be unlocked
with the necklace.
Obviously, we
could write character backstories for each of these people and do a lot of
additional character work. We could even expand on each of these characters.
However, we don’t think it’s necessary. We can see each of these characters in our
minds pretty clearly. If you cannot see your characters, then you will
need to do additional work to ensure that you truly understand your character.
For the
purposes of the outline, we’re satisfied with these characters and feel ready
to tackle the next step: beginning and ending
scenes.
