Creative
Writing Tips - Have You Established Your Main Character
At The Start?
by: Nick
Vernon In the beginning of your story
you have to grab your readers' interest and sustain
it till the end. Our hook is our character. Readers
keep on reading to find out more about the character.
To see what he'll do in the story; how he'll solve
his problems. What his goals are and whether he'll
achieve them.
And because our character is the reason readers
become hooked on our stories, establishing him
at the start is a must in a short story. And it
is essential to establish him at the start because
we don't have the capacity in our limited word
length to introduce him at our leisure.
The bond between readers and character has to
be developed almost immediately.
You might have a few characters though. How do
you decide who your main character will be? A
main character is one that drives the story.
Think of it this way. If we were to take him
away, there will be no story because it's his
story we are telling. The story will unfold by
what is happening or what has happened to him.
When you establish who your main character will
be, the next thing to do is to find which of your
characters is in the best position to tell the
story. Will your main character tell his story
or will you give that role to another character?
This is what we call Viewpoint and what we'll
see in more detail in proceeding chapters.
Your main character isn't necessarily the one
who is telling the story; he might not even appear
in our story 'physically' but will be there through
the thoughts of others. So the viewpoint character
might be a secondary character.
Whoever is telling the story is the viewpoint
character.
The viewpoint character gives the coloring of
the story. Whatever this characters says, we will
believe. It may or may not be true, according
to the main character, but because he isn't there
'physically' to voice his opinions, we will have
to take the viewpoint character's word for it.
In a novel you can play around with viewpoint.
You can have several viewpoint characters. In
a short story it works best with one.
So your main character, whether he'll be telling
his own story or someone else will be doing it
for him, has to be established at the start of
your story.
Having said that, let's see the reasons why the
main character may not be telling his own story...
- Perhaps our main character is one that readers
won't sympathize or empathize with.
- Or the main character will not view highly
with our readers
- Or the viewpoint character knows all the facts
and can tell the story better
- Etc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let me give you an example of a secondary character
telling the story of a main character.
Let's say your secondary character is a psychiatrist
and the main character is the patient. Depending
on what's going to go on in the story, we'll have
to choose who's in a better position to tell it.
In this case, I will choose the psychiatrist.
I've done this because the patient is confused,
being the one with the problems. The psychiatrist
knows all the facts and his opinions will make
things clearer to readers.
So, as the secondary character (the psychiatrist)
unravels the story, we'll become involved in the
main character because it's the main character's
story that is been told.
This may get a little confusing to the beginner
writer. As they write they will have to keep in
mind that the secondary character, although he's
telling the story, is NOT our main character.
The secondary character is there to do perform
a task. He's only the voice. It's the main character
we'll become involved with.
A secondary character doesn't play such an important
role as a main character does. Therefore, information
about secondary characters should be kept to a
minimum. It's not his story - it's the main character's
story and the spotlight must, most times, be kept
on the main character.
Take the above example for instance. It's no
relevance to the story how the psychiatrist started
his career or where he received his diploma -
what's important, is what he has to say about
the main character, his patient.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Introduce your main character straight away,
as close to the beginning of the story that's
possible. Enable your readers to form a bond and
that will keep them hooked.
Is your main character established at the start
of your story? |
