Allison Symes's Blog - Posts Tagged "stand-out-characters"
Memorable Characters
One of my favourite aspects to any kind of story are the characters but they have to be memorable to me.
It can be I remember their witty dialogue. It can be I remember their attitude, whether I like it or loathe it.
But there has to be something about them that makes them stand out to me. I try and do this for my own characters. If I don’t find them memorable, why should anyone else?
When you think back to stories you’ve loved from the past, it will be the characters you remember. You will remember how X did this, then that, and finally Y happened. You focus on the character you care about.
That is a challenge to me as a writer. What is it about my creations which will make readers care about them? Why do I care enough about the character to put them in a story at all? There has to be something.
This is where reading widely helps a writer. You can work out what it is about the various characters you love and loathe and deduce why that is and then apply what you‘ve learned from that to your own creations.
It can be I remember their witty dialogue. It can be I remember their attitude, whether I like it or loathe it.
But there has to be something about them that makes them stand out to me. I try and do this for my own characters. If I don’t find them memorable, why should anyone else?
When you think back to stories you’ve loved from the past, it will be the characters you remember. You will remember how X did this, then that, and finally Y happened. You focus on the character you care about.
That is a challenge to me as a writer. What is it about my creations which will make readers care about them? Why do I care enough about the character to put them in a story at all? There has to be something.
This is where reading widely helps a writer. You can work out what it is about the various characters you love and loathe and deduce why that is and then apply what you‘ve learned from that to your own creations.
Stand Out Characters
I’ve always thought characters make or break a story. If a character grips me, whether it’s due to my being sympathetic to their cause or because I want to see them fail, then I will read on and find out what happens.
The challenge for me as a writer, of course, is to create stand out characters of my own but given I’ve always loved inventing fictional characters, this is a joy.
It doesn’t matter either what format the story is in. I’ve recently seen my local excellent amateur theatre company stage a thriller where, throughout, I was routing for one character to succeed but didn’t know until the last minute whether I was right to think that way or not.
Kept me glued to my seat and I wasn’t the only one. You couldn’t hear a pin drop in that hall. Now that is wonderful characterisation and acting for you.
But it’s true for books too. The classics are the classics because we remember their characters (and thus their stories).
I don’t need to add anything if I say Oliver, Jeeves, Frodo, Hamlet, the Bennets, Harry, Aslan, and so many more I couldn’t list them all here, do I?
You will recall their stories immediately and maybe think it’s time for a re-read!
The challenge for me as a writer, of course, is to create stand out characters of my own but given I’ve always loved inventing fictional characters, this is a joy.
It doesn’t matter either what format the story is in. I’ve recently seen my local excellent amateur theatre company stage a thriller where, throughout, I was routing for one character to succeed but didn’t know until the last minute whether I was right to think that way or not.
Kept me glued to my seat and I wasn’t the only one. You couldn’t hear a pin drop in that hall. Now that is wonderful characterisation and acting for you.
But it’s true for books too. The classics are the classics because we remember their characters (and thus their stories).
I don’t need to add anything if I say Oliver, Jeeves, Frodo, Hamlet, the Bennets, Harry, Aslan, and so many more I couldn’t list them all here, do I?
You will recall their stories immediately and maybe think it’s time for a re-read!
