On writing: Protagonist #2
You can check out all my posts on writing through this link.
If you’ve been following my posts up to this point and you’ve done the necessary work, you should have ended up with a killer concept and a promising premise. Congraturation! But this story is still far from its happy end. The following notes, gathered years ago from many books on writing, focus on creating a worthy protagonist that will endure the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, and that in the end will either emerge victorious or fail spectacularly.
-Who is your protagonist before the story changes him? Change him from what?
-What is your protagonist’s flaw or flaws?
-Is there a notable event in his past that has traumatized him?
-Does your protagonist have an inner problem that’s impacting his life or the lives of people he loves?
-In some cases, a protagonist’s flaw could be seen as a lie that hurts him, caused by a traumatic event that explains that character’s motivations.
-Examine the premise to see if the lie/problem/flaw might already be evident in the conflict.
-How “big” is your character’s flaw/misbelief? If you made it bigger, would you end up with a stronger arc?
-How does the flaw or problem of the protagonist relate to the story at large?
-How does the flaw prevent the protagonist from immediately solving his problem?
-Could the flaw be exactly the opposite of the final self-revelation and/or moral change?
-How have you transformed this person from a generic “anyone” plunked into a dicey situation, into a specific someone, who brought the situation on himself? Not “brought on” in the finger-wagging sense, but because it’s all the things we’ve already done in our lives that have, for better or worse, landed us where we are right now.
-How is the “new world” of the story designed to bring the protagonist’s flaws to the surface?
-How does he get worse regarding the flaw before he gets better?
-How does his desperation to beat the oponent bring out the worst in him?
-What makes your protagonist unique?
-Have you created a protagonist who is in some respect larger than life?
-Is there some quality or talent that will allow the character to do what others do not, to succeed where others would fail?
-Does the hero use pre-established special skills to solve problems?
-Ask what does the person, usually the protagonist, want, what he’ll do to get it, and what costs he’ll have to pay along the way.
-Is the hero’s primary motivation for tackling this challenge strong, simple, and revealed early on? In high-jeopardy stories, the size of the motivation must match the size of the problem. The bigger the problem, the bigger the motivation required for the hero to tackle it, and the bigger the risk of not tackling it. Ideally, the reward for doing it and the risk of not doing it will both be high.
-How is what the character wants (conscious desire) versus what he needs (subconscious) at odds?
-What conflicting emotions tear your protagonist apart? How could it be considered an interior war?
-Could his inner conflict be way bigger than the outer conflict, acting as an amplifier to the outer conflict and making it much more significant?
-What is the central inner conflict your protagonist is dealing with as it pertains to your concept? Can you increase it?
-What would the protagonist have to overcome internally to achieve the goal?
-How would your protagonist go through painful dilemmas?
If you’ve been following my posts up to this point and you’ve done the necessary work, you should have ended up with a killer concept and a promising premise. Congraturation! But this story is still far from its happy end. The following notes, gathered years ago from many books on writing, focus on creating a worthy protagonist that will endure the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, and that in the end will either emerge victorious or fail spectacularly.
-Who is your protagonist before the story changes him? Change him from what?
-What is your protagonist’s flaw or flaws?
-Is there a notable event in his past that has traumatized him?
-Does your protagonist have an inner problem that’s impacting his life or the lives of people he loves?
-In some cases, a protagonist’s flaw could be seen as a lie that hurts him, caused by a traumatic event that explains that character’s motivations.
-Examine the premise to see if the lie/problem/flaw might already be evident in the conflict.
-How “big” is your character’s flaw/misbelief? If you made it bigger, would you end up with a stronger arc?
-How does the flaw or problem of the protagonist relate to the story at large?
-How does the flaw prevent the protagonist from immediately solving his problem?
-Could the flaw be exactly the opposite of the final self-revelation and/or moral change?
-How have you transformed this person from a generic “anyone” plunked into a dicey situation, into a specific someone, who brought the situation on himself? Not “brought on” in the finger-wagging sense, but because it’s all the things we’ve already done in our lives that have, for better or worse, landed us where we are right now.
-How is the “new world” of the story designed to bring the protagonist’s flaws to the surface?
-How does he get worse regarding the flaw before he gets better?
-How does his desperation to beat the oponent bring out the worst in him?
-What makes your protagonist unique?
-Have you created a protagonist who is in some respect larger than life?
-Is there some quality or talent that will allow the character to do what others do not, to succeed where others would fail?
-Does the hero use pre-established special skills to solve problems?
-Ask what does the person, usually the protagonist, want, what he’ll do to get it, and what costs he’ll have to pay along the way.
-Is the hero’s primary motivation for tackling this challenge strong, simple, and revealed early on? In high-jeopardy stories, the size of the motivation must match the size of the problem. The bigger the problem, the bigger the motivation required for the hero to tackle it, and the bigger the risk of not tackling it. Ideally, the reward for doing it and the risk of not doing it will both be high.
-How is what the character wants (conscious desire) versus what he needs (subconscious) at odds?
-What conflicting emotions tear your protagonist apart? How could it be considered an interior war?
-Could his inner conflict be way bigger than the outer conflict, acting as an amplifier to the outer conflict and making it much more significant?
-What is the central inner conflict your protagonist is dealing with as it pertains to your concept? Can you increase it?
-What would the protagonist have to overcome internally to achieve the goal?
-How would your protagonist go through painful dilemmas?
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