I'm writing a sci fi/adventure/thriller novel. I was recently looking through my plot outline but I noticed that the reason that it seems formulaic, cliche, and often boring is that my characters are not active. I know the answer to this is to create a character arc, but I have a hard time doing so. At the moment, my MC is active only because he responds to major plot events. So how do you create character arcs such that the characters drive the unfolding of the story (even though the main plot is driven by external forces)? Thanks!
I unfortunately cannot (I hope you understand!!) but you can basically think of it as Jurassic Park + Arrival + Alien
Is he a lazy person who has to become active? Is he a cold person who has to open himself to others to survive? Locate the true problem within the character, and voila, you have a character arc. EDIT: You mention Alien. I read somewhere that that essentially is about what a mother will do to protect her child.
I thought Aliens when you said this; with the Ripley, Newt relationship. I can't see it in Alien because there is no queen alien, so no opportunity to impregnate anyone, and interestingly the role of Ripley was originally written for a male actor. But in Aliens this is definitely true, from both sides, two protective mother characters fighting it out on behalf of their offspring.
My understanding was that none of the roles in alien were originally written as either male or female.
Just a quick google, and Ridley Scott: - “I just had a thought. What would you think if Ripley was a woman? She would be the last one you would think would survive—she’s beautiful.”
Hmm. http://www.btchflcks.com/2016/06/did-gender-alter-the-tone-of-the-alien-series.html#.WLI2OhCVq9s states 'Dan O’Bannon’s original script for Alien stated: “The crew is unisex and all parts are interchangeable for men and women.”' And this link to the script appears to agree: http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/alien_early.html
Please watch both. Alien is one of the greatest horror films ever made, and Aliens one of the greatest action films... then never watch any of the others because they are pretty bad.
Um this thread kind of got hijacked by Aliens and ran off. Haha Since you aren't willing to share, it's difficult to offer much decent advice, but I can describe basically how I'm forming mine. That might help. Plus, I might get some advice in the process. Win/Win I've got several notebooks filled with notes on characters and background and plot line. It's fantasy/action/adventure. It's not really a thriller, but I intend on other aspects being intense. It is largely character driven, so their backgrounds and personalities are very important, but there are several forces outside of their control that won't let them rest. Diana and Jami are twins. Jami was kidnapped by slave traders at age 11, and I don't really hold back on the gruesome details of the slave trade. Since Diana is his twin, she can feel what he does and sometimes hear him and share dreams, or nightmares, rather. She was already a firecracker with a temper, but now she's in mourning and enraged by the loss of her brother, and she's determined to go get him back, but of course her parents won't let her leave (would you let your 11 year old daughter chase after a bunch of slave traders?) and eventually she starts having hallucinations that are separate from any link she shares with Jami. She's just been driven mad. Flash forward 8 years. She leaves with a couple of friends, one of whom like a big viking where she is a tiny little crazy person and they argue all the time and it's really funny and also scary because I mean he's huge and he's got a halberd and he's not afraid to use it, because she's INFURIATING, but she's small and quick and fearless-like stupid fearless-like she doesn't even recognize hazard and then when you think he's gonna squash her she's like a spider monkey on his back choking him out. You think he'd be able to flip her off, but she's strong. Super strong. And wily. And they don't even stop until their other team mate tells them to, and she is soft spoken and mellow, but she's firm. She's sort of maternal, in a way, except she's young. They listen to her, even if they don't like it, but she never shouts. Diana isn't just always pitching fits, though. She's not childish. She is legitimately ill. She does have an unreasonable temper, and so does the man, but they care for each other also, but they would never admit it. Not in a romantic way. More a sibling way. They did grow up together, though he is several years older. 5 or 6 ish. I never really thought about the actual number. I thought about everything else, but not exactly how old he is. Jeez. So there are several external forces they struggle against that I didn't mention because it's not important right now, but the relationship between the characters is what keeps that dimension going. Also, Jami's story on the other side of the world is very different. He's been traded several times and suffered a lot of abuse and different types of owners, so while the external force there is the abuse and trade, his character is finding solace in his fellow slaves, until he finally succumbs to depression and ultimately indifference to life. So while there are external forces outside of their control, not like alien invasion, but still, there is that other layer that enriches the story. So I guess, just build up your characters some more. Round them out. It is difficult build a character arc if you don't really know who they are.
Even within what you already have, you can get a lot by considering how the characters internally react to the external context. They are not going to have no emotion or thought about repeatedly being put in situations. Do they grow frustrated with things that are happening, do they become even more determined to overcome them, do they learn new skills to help, do they want to give up? What your characters think and feel about these situations will help inform what actions they would take. They are not mindless objects simply doing whatever is put there. Also, just be careful of adding in character arcs just for the sake of it. Of course it's good to add depth but it has to feel organic and not like a rushed side story.
Yes, this. It's so important. Unfortunately I've begun to notice how many new writers don't fully use their POV characters this way. Just showing action and dishing out dialogue puts distance between readers and the story. Sometimes so much distance that the readers lose interest, or just don't care what happens to anybody in the story. In the hands of an expert literary author, this distanced POV can work, but it depends on precise word choices and nuanced writing that allows the reader to guess correctly at what's going on in the characters's minds and hearts. Inexperienced writers may struggle to lift their story to that level, which results in superficial characters and overly choreographed action scenes that won't draw the reader in very far. If I were you, I'd let your readers in on what your character thinks and feels about what's happening around him/her, how they react to other characters, what they want to happen short term AND long term. What makes them happy? What makes them sad or angry? What scares them, and why? Don't just show what they do and say. Dig deeper. Get to know your characters inside and out. Let your readers into how and why they think the way they do. Spend narrative time on this. You can theoretically have several characters all doing and saying exactly the same things, but they're all going to have differing motivations. Let the reader identify with each character's motivations and you'll have the reader on board for your story. Hold them at arm's length and make them take cold guesses? Well, that will work for some readers, but not for all of them.
I had no idea there was a Global Warming/Domination theme park/zoo filled with highly intelligent and murderous aliens that bleed acid, and somebody intentionally turned the power off to the containment paddocks. Well that sounds like a lot of things going on all at the same time. So how does Alien Domination/Murder Park with a bad fuse or two work? Well what I can figure a lot of dead patrons, a flamethrower cameo, and the hero and their cat will sail off into space in cryo for the next 50 years. I like it but where is the plot? What is the motivation for such an extreme answer to an evil theme park of doom? It is all action and suspense, but what is the point beyond that? The main reason that drives the story. So when does the film come out?
I'm reading a book that suffers from this exact problem. It's a self-published book but it's not a bad one. It just seems that the author has no idea that he needs to make his characters more than names on paper. I see this a lot more on male authors, even well established writers. I can tell the author's gender on account of this alone. (Sorry, male writers on the forum, that's how I see it.) In this light, I understand why so many of you keep hammering "characters, characters, characters" instead of story, if you're thinking of cardboard characters. It's not what I'm thinking when I say "story over characters". I'm thinking deep, rich characters also, but the story comes first. And this is why I'm reading the book I mentioned, because the story is interesting enough, but I do miss "real" characters while reading.
If you check what you're reading, you might find that the problem is down to under-use of POV. Or employment of the 'objective pov.' Notice the number of times the author allows you straightforward access to the POV character's thoughts and feelings—rather than relying on what they actually say or do to make you guess. That seems to be the problem in so many cases. I don't know why ignoring thoughts and emotions is suddenly the go-to method of handling characters. It's the opposite of writing melodrama, which I was guilty of doing when I began writing fiction.
Well, at least he doesn't head-hop, but you're more than right, under-use of POV is an understatement. I'm one third in the novel and I still know nothing of this person except his military job which he takes very seriously. One hundred pages into it, I don't know this person at all! I don't even know what drives him, which is making him even more two-dimensional as the story progresses. He's becoming an action hero. The other characters are even worse. They're just names on paper. I mean it, names on paper. I don't even know how many different characters are there, that's how much they're non-existent. The story keeps going, though, so now I'm just focusing on the action. Many readers would have dropped it by now. (I would love to discuss this with the author but I don't know if he's interested. Too bad, I see a lot of room for improvement.)
