belles-library: carmina-solis: WHY DO CHARACTERS MATTER?  I’m a big fan of characters, o

belles-library:

carmina-solis:

WHY DO CHARACTERS MATTER? 

I’m a big fan of characters, obviously. (That’s not even all of my characters. I have two BINDERS worth of character sheets.) But why? Surely other elements of story are just as important, like the plot, setting, tone, etc. And they are! But I think characters are the most important aspect of the story, for a few reasons: 

• They are the lens through which we view everything else. Characters color the world we create. Sure, you might write a world guide, but largely, we see the world through the eyes of the characters, so they have to be good eyes to see through. (Even if they’re blind.)
• They can save a bad story. Not to say any of you havebad stories, but they can add something to a lackluster story that wouldn’t be there otherwise. Think about Bioshock Infinite. It’s one of my favorite games, even though the gameplay is okay and the story is convoluted at best. I praise it almost entirely for the relationship between Booker and Elizabeth. They makethat game, and if the characters (especially Elizabeth) weren’t as memorable as they are, I doubt anyone would really care much about Bioshock’s failed prequel. 
• The more complicated and intricate a character, the more you can do with your plot. If you have a flat character, you can’t make them act. They can’t do much except reactto the plot happening aroundthem. But a complex character with a good backstory and interesting motivation will interact with the world and change things in it, which is the basis of plot. 

HOW I MAKE MY CHARACTERS

I’m going to walk you through my process, and hopefully do my best to make it easy for you to understand.

Keep reading

I never really considered character’s roles/archetypes so this post was really helpful!!

This is a really interesting read for character roles. It really brings home the idea that side characters have a life outside the main character’s problems. I’ll definitely have to incorporate this into my own writing.