Well,
not everybody can be Batman, but everybody does need a Robin. Even Joker
has his own Robin, but that’s a far darker storyline.
With
the summary complete, we now have a better understanding of who the supporting
cast is supposed to be. In the case of Into the Dark, we want to create
eight secondary characters—sidekicks—that are going to elevate the plot,
stakes, and conflict of the story. To do this, we’ll use a reformed version of our
character outline and only use a singular approach: motivation. As in,
what is the character’s goal? What do they desire most? From there, we’ll use
this motivation to fill in fears, appearance, and general disposition.
So what is a
character’s motivation? Often, this is the opposite of fear, but not always the
case. Let’s return to the Harry Potter example we used in Fiction Character
Creator 3.0 and discuss the main characters’ fears:
·
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. I mean, think about how far this dude went to avoid dying just to die
like any other mortal man? Pretty crazy stuff.
Okay, but what
about their motivations?
·
Harry
Potter: Stopping Voldemort.
·
Hermione
Granger: Using her knowledge and training to protect her friends and family.
·
Ron
Weasley: Keeping his family safe—this becomes even more true after several
members of his family almost die. Him, Ginny, Bill, Arthur, and then—actually
dying—Fred… Yeah, I spoiled that. If you hadn’t already watched or read Harry
Potter, then I don’t feel bad—you had a decade to inform yourself.
·
Voldemort:
Not dying. That is, immortality. This one goes without saying, right?
So,
yes, some goals are mirrors of their fears, but not always. So, we’ll apply
this to our secondary characters for Into the Dark, starting with Kraig
Jones’ family.
·
Kate
Jones: Kraig’s wife
o
Motivation:
Surviving in this post-apocalyptic world, whatever it takes.
§ Meaning: Kate’s willing to kill, cheat, and
steal if it means protecting and providing for her daughter (obviously, she
loves her husband, but Kate loves her daughter even more.) This also implies
that she understands Kraig’s reason to check out the bonfire, and rather than
tell him not to go, she hands him a loaded rifle, kisses him on the cheek, and
tells him to be safe (the only reason she isn’t going with him is that she
won’t leave her daughter unprotected). When Kraig leaves, Kate locks the door behind
him.
o
Appearance:
32 years old, 5’4” tall, 130 pounds, blond hair, blue eyes, in-shape.
Could
we add more information than this for Kate Jones? Sure, but we don’t need to or
want to. This is all we need.
·
Lucy
Jones: Kraig’s daughter
o
Motivation:
Happiness for herself and her parents
§ Meaning: Lucy is stoic despite her hunger and
does her best to be appreciative and happy with what she has. She understands
just how stressed her parents are and actively tries to be upbeat and excited
to make them happier. Such is the power of childhood naivety.
o
Appearance:
(because I want her to bubbly and happy) 6 years old, 45 pounds, 3’6” tall,
blond hair in pigtails (from her mom), brown eyes (from her dad), and always
wearing pink clothes and ribbons in her hair.
Keep
in mind the fact that several of your sidekicks will have the same motivation,
but they might go about accomplishing their goals in different ways. What do we
mean by this? Well, they might have a moral compass, a line they aren’t willing
to cross, or unique trait that separates them from one another. Take, for
example, the various survivors that Kraig meets while being held captive by the
Cult of the Sun. Their motivation is to escape and return to their parents,
obviously.
·
Loretta
“Lori” Harkaway: Captive #1
o
Motivation:
To escape back to her granddaughter, which Kraig really sympathizes with (and
will later break his heart when he sees Loretta sacrificed to the demon).
§ Unique Trait: Lori isn’t willing to hurt
others to get what she wants (partly because she’s a frail, older woman and
partly because she hates hurting people especially with her Christian/religious
beliefs). Definitely feels that she needs to care for Kraig after he hurts
himself after a failed escape attempt, which surprises Kraig because he’s so
used to being the provider. Being slower and older, she also needs help to
escape.
·
Later,
Loretta reveals that she only came to look at the bonfire because she knew that
she was expendable and was willing to sacrifice herself for her family. She
does sacrifice herself to save Kraig, which hurts him deeply when she’s
sacrificed to the demon
o
Appearance:
72 years old (in good shape for her age but still frail in comparison to
somebody in their 20s or 30s), 5’3” tall, 110 pounds, hunched back from decades
of hard labor and old age. Shoulder-length, white curly hair, wears a sundress.
·
Aziz
Siddiqui: Captive #2
o
Motivation:
To escape—he doesn’t have a family but he still doesn’t want to be held
captive—which again, Kraig really sympathizes with (even though Aziz will screw
him over).
§ Unique Trait: Aziz is willing to sabotage and
abandon the other captives if it means escaping (he will totally abandon Kraig,
which ironically will cost Aziz his life).
o
Appearance:
42 years old, 5’7” tall, 190 pounds (definitely overweight), black suit with a
tie that he’s removed. He’s definitely a slimier businessman, so he’ll be
wearing a fake gold necklace and fake watch. Slicked-back hair, no facial hair,
and brown eyes.
·
George
Willis: Captive #3
o
Motivation:
To escape and protect his son
§ Unique trait: George is a strong man, former
boxer, who doesn’t have good control of his emotions (but has a good heart).
Definitely will bash somebody’s face in by the end of the book.
o
Appearance:
39 years old, 6’1” tall, 220 pounds (shredded), black shirt, and jeans.
Definitely a bald guy with a thick black beard. Brown eyes.
Could
we include pictures here and additional information? Yes, but again, we don’t
feel the need to. We can see these character pretty clearly in our heads. So,
we’re good with all of the captives now… or are we? What if we add an
additional captive whose motivation isn’t to escape? Perhaps somebody is
a spy meant to reside with the captives to make sure that they don’t try to
escape. Yeah, we like that idea too. So, let’s add a new character into the
mix.
·
Mavis
Veracruz: Captive #4
o
Motivation:
To blend in with the captives and ensure that none escape. She will definitely
disagree with whoever tries to escape and dissuade every escape plan possible.
o
Appearance:
22 years old, 5’6” tall, 120 pounds, Satan Sucks t-shirt with a coat,
and khakis. She has short black hair with pink accents. Green eyes. No makeup.
Alright!
We like this. Now time for the cultists. Considering that we already have
Mavis, Asher, and Evander as cultists, we only need a couple more.
·
Jezebel Burns:
Cultist Leader
o
Prime
Motivation: To please Evander and push away all other members of the inner
circle so that they can rule together over the Cult of the Sun.
o
Secondary
Motivation: To kill Mavis. Because Jezebel is getting older, Evander isn’t as
interested in her as he used to be, and instead he likes Mavis more now. This
will create conflict.
o
Appearance:
32 years old, 5’9” tall, 150 pounds, an elegant white dress under her black
robes. Long legs. Long black hair that cascades down her shoulders. Hazel eyes.
Definitely tries to look younger with excessive amounts of makeup. Wears an
antelope mask.
·
Gerald
Dent: Cultist Enforcer
o
Motivation:
To inflict as much pain on as many people as possible. He obeys Evander because
Evander lets him hurt and torture people before sacrificing them.
o
Appearance:
35 years old, 6’5” tall, 240 pounds, wears his white robes and an owl mask. He
doesn’t speak aloud. Huge hands. Freakishly strong.
§ He will definitely end up killing George, and
popping his head as if it were a zit.
So, with the
three main characters included, we now have a total cast of eleven characters
planned and can add further characters into the story as needed. For our needs,
this is definitely more than enough. So, all that we have left to do now is
actually write the detailed
outline.
