GETTING YOUR STORY WRITTEN PART 3:

By this time, the expectation is to be well engaged in creating the beginnings of “Getting Your Story Written.” In doing so, there will be a moment to go over character creation.  As the story moves further along, the foundation of the characters must first be complete when inventing unforgettable characters.   So what makes a character intriguing and memorable?  It is the way the author describes and builds the role which is vital to story creation. 

Characters are very complex, and writers create them with different methods, but all characters have four main details given, Physical Traits, Personality Traits, Character Types, and Character Roles.  With understanding how to apply those four main details to a character, Inventing Unforgettable Characters gets a lot easier.  The most important characters get backstories, which adds to their luster.

Writers create some characters during the brainstorming of story creation and others while writing the story.  In the “Instruction of Getting Your Story Written Part 2,” eight characters were invented while brainstorming.  We gave each character a role and a name.  From that, came the creation of an Antagonist and Protagonist but nothing further as of identifying traits.  When Inventing Unforgettable Characters, the author must first apply the traits, roles, and types to all key characters.

PHYSICAL TRAITS

Physical traits are the visually defined features of a character represented by the author’s written description. The writer’s description leads the visual representation a reader gets when introduced to a character.  The underlying physical traits of a character are:

• Name
• Age
• Height
• Weight
• Sex
• Race / Species
• Hairstyle & Color
• Eye Color
• Skin Color
• Physique / Body Type

However, there are more than just these physical traits, all of which physically describe a character. Furthermore, these are significant baselines that do not tell people who they are.  Many people stop here when creating a character, not understanding that personality traits are pivotal in creating that “Unforgettable Character.”

WHAT IS A CHARACTER

Before we get further into inventing an unforgettable character, let us first understand a character’s importance.  A character is an entity that guides readers through a story while helping them understand plots and themes.  Therefore they are the driving force of a story.  Depending on the story created, a character can be a teacup like in Beauty and the Beast.  However, it can also be a dog, like in the film Beethoven or the personification of electricity, like in the 1988 film called Pulse.  Without a well-invented role, people do not seem to connect with the character or story.  People may become unattached or uninterested, even if the plot is flawless.  

PERSONALITY TRAITS

People love great stories, but it is the character we invest in when uncovering the plot.  They are the ones we idolize, desire to emulate, and wish to personify us.  They are also the ones we root for when the chips are down or the ones we hate, eagerly anticipating their downfall.  No matter the character, if they make us feel similar to this, the story is alive with our invested emotions awaiting the next page.  Without personality traits, we cannot get a character to make us feel this way.  Here are a few essential personality traits when Inventing Unforgettable Characters:

• Ambitious
• Courageous
• Honorable
• Loyal
• Fearless
• Decisiveness
• Arrogant
• Cowardly
• Malicious
• Self-centered
• Sarcastic
• Unfriendly

Personality traits go as far as to identify the motives of a character’s actions.  When building a character personality, there must be an understanding of what type of character has these traits.

CHARACTER TYPES AND ROLES

There a few types of characters created for a story; primary, secondary, and tertiary.  Within these types are roles.  Key roles are mostly the protagonists and antagonists, which are primary character types.  Therefore, depending on the type of story written, the most notable role is usually the protagonist, the main hero, good guy, or persona whose fate is closely followed by the reader or audience.   Also, the Antagonist is the entity that opposes or creates conflicts, obstacles, or challenges for the protagonist in the story. 

The side or supporting roles are mainly secondary characters.  They are just as crucial as primaries, do not require as much complexity, but still need a backstory.  Functions like The Mentor, Love Interest, Comic Relief, and Sidekick, to name a few, are different roles of secondary personality types that help the story along with subplots and primary character interaction.  Supporting characters enhances information about leading roles and storylines. 

Tertiary characters are the extra fluff in the story and have little significance at best.  Though, At times, they move a scene along, add to a narrative, or bolster the comic relief.  Roles like a barmaid, bartender, taxi driver, valet, server, judge, neighbor, or best friend are all tertiary types necessary for story progression.  Depending on the style of the story written, they never surpass their scope of role or significance unless made into secondary or primary characters. 

COMBINING IT ALL

With four main details discussed, we can now invent that unforgettable character.  We have physical traits, personality traits, types of characters, and roles.  So, weaving the physical and personality traits together with the proper roles and types of characters, and creating a compelling backstory, are what invents that unforgettable personality desired.

A backstory is essentially the history of a character that helps to explain their current personality and motives within the story.  Therefore, backstories help to reveal important information about a character as well.  With the four main details, it is easier to invent a narrative that explains it all.  How?  Well, let us take a look.

CREATING THE BACKSTORY

Character development is a significant part of a story, so each main character should have a detailed background and past. Support characters can be less complicated but not less important. How much of a character’s background the writer puts into the main story is entirely their choice, but when Inventing Unforgettable Characters, it is a driving point on the character’s actions, behaviors, speech, and motives.

In the “Instruction of Getting Your Story Written Part 2,” Minnie Clarke is the Antagonist in the story we have written. “A Murder at a Party” is the main idea.  Minnie has no backstory, so let us give her one now.  We will start by adding key point bullets then combine it into a full narrative:

• Minnie was smitten by the allure of Marcus Williams when they first met.
• She harassed her husband to befriend Marcus and his wife in hopes of stealing Marcus away for herself.
• Marcus retired and was moving away, but an enraged Minnie killed him first.
• Minnie is the reason that she and her husband Jason, do not have many friends.
• She steals husbands and kills anyone that she cannot have or gets in her way.
• Minnie suffers from Bipolar Psychosis. 
• Minnie was born as Mary Hart; her biological mother was sexually abused while a patient in a psychiatric hospital. Her mother committed suicide after the hospital took Mary after birth. 
• Two aging parents that could not conceive adopted her, and they died when Mary was in her early teens.
• Minnie developed a mental disorder at a young age and may have been the cause of her parent’s death.
• With her adopted parents gone, Minnie fell in love with an abusive older man whom she had to fake her death to get away. 

THE UNFORGETTABLE CHARACTER

Positive Features: Entertaining, Affectionate, Outgoing, Energetic, Passionate, Intelligent, Resourceful.
Negative Features: Reclusive, Psychotic, Manic, Manipulative, Murderer, Sadistic, Devious, Malicious
Triggers:    Hyper-Aggressive Men, Rejection, Abandonment
Strengths:   Calculated, Chameleon, Survivalist
Weaknesses:  Impulsiveness, Impatience

THE BACKSTORY

Minnie Clarke was born as Mary Hart in a psychiatric hospital.  The birth of Mary Hart is the result of the sexual assault on a woman with a mental health condition inside the psychiatric hospital.  The authorities took Mary from her mother at birth.  The inability to handle the stresses of these unfortunate events caused Mary’s mother to commit suicide.  The authorities placed Mary in social services where an aging couple who could not conceive, adopted her shortly after. 

Growing up through the years, Mary was so obsessed with a television character named Minnie Violet that she gave herself the nickname Minnie.  At a very young age, Mary had a bipolar disorder and began to display concerning behaviors.  Mary’s difficulty concentrating, and reduced social contact worried her parents, unknowing of her disorder, they believed she would grow out of it.  At the age of fourteen, Mary excelled in her school studies but struggled profoundly to form personal relationships. 

One day riding home from school, Mary requested that her parents explain why she is so different from them.  They reluctantly told Mary the truth in hopes of giving her peace and closure.  Unfortunately, this news unsettled Mary, and one day on a ride home with her parents, they got into an argument. Consequently, they had a deadly vehicle accident, with Mary severely injured as the only survivor.  Orphaned again, a few years later, Mary fell in love with an older man and decided to move in with him.  With no one to turn to, Mary was isolated and unimaginably abused by this man.  After years of torment, Mary had enough, faked her death, changed her name to Minnie, and ran away. 

THE CURRENT STORY

Many years passed since Mary ran away, and today she is known as Minnie Clarke.  She married Jason Clarke a few years earlier after he divorced his first wife.  One day out on a date as newlyweds, Minnie and Jason met a married couple, Marcus and Debora Williams.  Minnie was immediately fascinated by the commanding presence and charm of Marcus.  She then urged Jason to befriend the newly found couple since they had no decent friends, and so he did as requested.  Minnie Aimed to steal Marcus for herself as she has done many times over the years with other husbands.  After years of trying to steal Marcus, Marcus was retiring and leaving, so Minnie poisoned him in retaliation of rejection. 

Minnie now suffers from Bipolar Psychosis.  With her bipolar disorder untreated, and living through such traumatic early life struggles, the manifestation of her psychosis is the result.  After Minnie ran away, she sought men that could protect her from her ex if ever he should find her.  Minnie is in constant search for strong men, but because of her condition, violence and death meet rejection and abandonment.  Over-aggressive men are an immediate trigger, and anyone interfering is met with extreme prejudice.  She killed many people over the years, and no one is the wiser. 

REVIEW

An unforgettable character is born.  Everything written about that character does not have to be in the story.  Some information about a character may only ever be known to the writer.  However, it is for the writer to take the information created, and use it for the character’s reactions, motivations, speech, behaviors, responses, and more.  Moreover, a writer highlights key moments from a character’s life in order for the reader to understand that character’s point of view or motivations.  The more mysterious a writer wants to make a character, the less they share.  However, the more they want a reader to connect with the character, the more they share.  

Here is what a character profile can look like after putting everything together while Inventing Unforgettable Characters: 

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There is no one way to create a profile, and there are many different formats, therefore make sure to include everything about the character.  Primary characters get a full workup like Minnie Clarke.  However, secondary characters get less of a back story and fewer personality traits but the same attention during creation.  Furthermore, tertiary characters would get simple physical traits and enough personality traits to carry out their roles. 

Always remember, including the four main details, is the blueprint when Inventing Unforgettable Characters. So if you find that you would like to have more help in getting your story written, Ty Bear Books Publishing can help.