Character Development: Working In Complicated Issues.

[Iesha (In east shade house at...)]

yay me

[ᑕᗢᗝᒪḰᓮᖙᖇᗢჯ123 ☆*･゜ﾟ･*\(^O^)/*･゜ﾟ･*☆, Harry the potter XD XD TOTTER (:3)]

:P

[Phoebe, TheInvincibleRabbit]

Darn. :P

[Robb]

I just finished a prologue I think I like for my umpteenth attempt at the cyber-punk/occult-horror story I'm working on.
The prologue mostly gets into the character development of someone who dies by the time its over and then foreshadows some of the antagonists and just sort of mentions the protagonist.

Now... what I need to do is make the protagonist likable before I start torturing and tormenting her and making her cry (the interesting thing about horror is that you spend a lot of time doing awful things to characters you like... reminds me of the Old Testament). I'm afraid if I don't make her likable first, people will see her as "whiny and weak" (because normal people regularly go through horrifying traumas and supernatural horror and smile through it, amirite?) and won't take her suffering seriously or care about her safety.

I'm thinking that because I threw an intrigue-packed scene in as a prologue, I earned the good will to slow down the beginning and maybe give the protagonist a little time to go about normal life before releasing all the horrors of Hell upon her.
Does this seem like a good approach?

Another method I use, accepting that I cannot change cultural biases and must instead manipulate them, is trying to describe her in ways that make her more a "little sister" or even "daughter" than a "dream girl" or whatnot. I think that in general girls who fit the "little relative" template are more easily feared for when in dangerous situations (plus it makes their sex scenes nauseating, which can occasionally be a plus).

[Iesha (In east shade house at...)]

You could make her the girl that cares a lot for her friends and will do whatever to protect them at the expense of her self-allowing her to put up a good fight before she dies-showing her as a strong woman thus allowing her to cry toward the end of her trauma or crying all the way thro just not speaking.

[Robb]

She's a loner, and while she does ultimately do some brave stuff, she's not supposed to be selfless or tough. She's actually supposed to be kind of weak and vulnerable, like real people.

The problem is that, for whatever reason, readers psychologically hold people who act as real people would in disdain.
My theory is that I can short-circuit this bizarre inner-hypocrite within us all by allowing the reader to get to know her as a good-hearted, witty, goofy girl before introducing all the things that break her down and make her act "weak" (I'd like to see the average reader do better).

The problem is that I'm basing this on theory (some study shows that you can make people sympathize with people they would normally be bigoted against by withholding the relevant identity until later) and I haven't really seen it work in practice.

[Julius, He Who Arises in Might (:D)]

I think that, indeed, you'll want to give her some history and a little time to be known by readers. If you want them to feel for her you'll need to at least get them familiar with her.

[Damyanti]

Go "on the body", to quote from ChucK P, one of my fave authors and teachers:

" In fiction writing, there’s an old saying: When you don’t know what happens next, describe the inside of the narrator’s mouth.

Or the soles of their feet, or the palms of their hands. Any physical sensation that can evoke a sympathetic physical sensation from the reader.

It’s one thing to engage the reader mentally, to enroll his or her mind and make them think, imagine, consider something. It’s another thing to engage a reader’s heart, to make him or her feel some emotion. But if you can engage the reader on a physical level as well, then you’ve created a reality that can eclipse their actual reality. The reader might be in a noisy airport, standing in a long line, on tired feet – but if you can engage their mind, heart and body in your story, you can replace that airport reality with something more entertaining or profound or whatever.

Note, this doesn’t happen with abstract words that describe pain or pleasure. You can’t just order a reader to feel a sensation. It happens when you create a tangible situation, detail by detail, and let the events happen in the reader’s mind.

Words like “searing pain” or “sharp, stabbing pain” or “throbbing headache” or “ecstatic orgasm” don’t evoke anything except some lame-ass paperback thriller book. Those are the cliches of a cheating writer. Little abstract short-cuts that don’t make anything happen in the reader’s gut.

No, you want the pain – or whatever physical sensation – to occur in the reader, not on the page. So un-pack the event, moment by moment, smell by smell. Make it happen, and let the sensation of pain occur only in the reader."

I guarantee you once the reader feels what your character feels, they will root for her no matter how whiny she is. Also, give her at least one strong redeeming characteristic (surely she can have just One?) and you'll have the reader eating out of your hands, and crying at your character's pain.

Hope this helps.

[Jonathan , The Wise]

D. wrote: "Go "on the body", to quote from ChucK P, one of my fave authors and teachers:

" In fiction writing, there’s an old saying: When you don’t know what happens next, describe the inside of the narrat..."

That's a great comment!