Okay, the story is rather involved. Humans managed to blow up Earth so it’s floating around in a bunch of pieces thanks to the help of an advanced alien, and so on. What happens is, on one of the pieces, atmosphere is basically nonexistent so it’s pretty much a floating rock out in space and humans have been warring with a species closely resembling dragons (grygons) who once lived in Earth’s core over territory. The main character is transported to the largest chunk along with a grygon called Kael during a battle. They both have no clue what just happened, where they are, yadda yadda, so they call a truce until they can get back home. They start walking and come across a village and spot a group of men who are spying on the village, follow them and discover a huge army camped a few miles away. The main character, Brin, is a colonel back on the Rim and has dedicated her entire life to those living in the compound, keeping them safe from grygon attacks, and so on. Would it make sense for Brin to ignore her own problems and go and warn the village? And then onto the king to let him know the southern kingdom is invading? I can see putting in a scene with her warring against herself over her decision to just “walk away and let them deal with it on their own,” but I am not sure if I want this "noble hero" sacrificing everything for people she doesn’t know, which she ends up doing I guess, but still. Any ideas would be great!
Characters at odds with himself/herself adds the conflict needed to traverse the character arc that produces compelling fiction ! High 5 I write chick lit I have no clue other than I am 1000% sure you are already ahead of the curve!
Hello! From your snippet, I gather that your MC already has a strong propensity to help others. But it sounds like you want to give your character more motivation for a behavior. Not knowing more about your plot, the only suggestions I can come up with is: 1) Maybe she knows someone in the village or area that is going to be attacked? (gives her a more personal reason for abandoning her primary goal, but you indicated she doesn't know the people, so that might not be plausible), or 2) maybe she overhears something in the army camp, something particularly horrendous that they intend to do to the people in the village that gives her a more solid reason for interfering. Hope that helps, good luck!
Thanks for the help guys. Yeah, she doesn't know anything about this place. Where she comes from, all humans live in a compound underground and they all work to contribute to the survival of the human race, so the idea of humans attacking other humans is a completely alien concept to the MC. I suppose the question is, what would someone do in her situation? Would they continue to figure out how to make it back home? Or find some way to help? But then, due to her lack of information, would it make more sense for her to decide not to get involved?
To help with your specific problem - you can make your character the noble heroine and the reason for her compassion towards humans could be, as you've said she was raised in an environment where all humans strive to help eachother. However, in my opinion there will always be conflict between humans and your description of the main character's 'home environment' seems extremely unreal and too nice. If you really care about making your character seem like a real human being then I suggest that you 1) have multiple characters and each of them give a different point of view of your main character, 2) explore different facets of your characters personality and 3) give reason to all her ambitions and emotions. E.g. Yes she wants to help people but a) why? b) what conflicts with her desire to help people c) what personal gain does she receive when helping people etc.etc. You must think and plan meticulously each and every decision, ambition and emotion of your character and provide links and implications to each so that you add more dimensions to your character.
I personally think that believable characters are defined by their weaknesses, so what sort of weakness would a noble hero like Brin have? I’d go with “Pride” and you can use it as a plot devise to get her to help these people. Lets say for example that this Grygon Kael has a good scoff at the humans along the lines of: “Ha, look at you puny human insects plotting to murder your own kind! We Grygons would never do crap like that being noble heraldic type creatures. So are you just going to let those villagers die? So typical you humans!” This will predictably piss her off, and her pride will goad her in to action. Scary.
I don't know Brin's thought process nearly as well as you, but you could make her think that the village reminds her of her home compound and that she therefore has a compassionate obligation to try to save it.
What are Brin's own problems? I think I missed that. It really depends on how significant her problems are. So tell me if I'm wrong. She always has protected the compound, but the village is in danger. So she must chose between the vil and the compound, correct? If that is the case, I think she would rather save the compound. Why would she ever care about the vil if they never did anything for her? idk, I probably got the story wrong. Hope this helps...
Brin lives in a compound underground because her home world is a very harsh place. They are in the midst of a many centuries long war with the other species that inhabits the Rim called grygons (they're basically dragons). Because of the constant fight to find food and drinkable water and with the grygons trying to wipe them out, the compound is under military rule. Story Excerpt: Brin is a colonel in the military, one of three in the compound (the humans on the Rim are losing numbers very quickly and they're starting to realize that less and less babies are being born). Her uncle is the head of the ruling council of generals. She's very logical. She's not one of those “selfless hero” types, though her actions sometimes come off with her seeming that way. Her situation is, she's been transported onto a different world with one of the enemy, she has no idea where she is, or even how to get back home. She was transported suddenly during a battle where the grygons were basically kicking the humans' collective butts. (They had caved in their mess hall and one of the nurseries so Brin is pretty much freaking out about getting home and being there to help stave off destruction.) What I'm trying to figure out is what her reaction would be finding herself in a place where the humans are far less technologically advanced (think middle ages) and she sees this huge army getting ready to tear up the countryside, so to speak. The grygon could care less because he hates humans, so I'm sure his negative take on things will spur Brin into action, but I don't know if she would care either. I mean, she eventually gets caught up in events there, but I want to make sure the initial step doesn’t sound stupid like, “This is your destiny!” or whatever. Does that make sense?
Your characters actions are going to be determined both by her past experiences combined with who she is at her core- like any other person. But with this situation, I would say imagine yourself being incredibly lost. I mean totally- not only lost in a place you generally know about, but knowing the place you are in is definitely not right. This world is not the same. You've somehow gone waaaay out of bounds. Like anyone, she would probably have a sense of terror and bewilderment at everything- even while her instincts and experiences as a capable commander make her calm herself and take in the immediate danger around her. She is likely to view these people the same way you would view a strange tribe in the wilderness whose ways were very bizarre and even offensive compared to your own. For starters...
I think the problem may be that I am feeling just as lost as my MC! Haha. Originally, the story went in an entirely different direction, and once I finished it, I went back and decided that I didn't like how everything occurred so coincidentally. I suppose I am just second-guessing myself because I wrote a short story for class framed around stories I used to read when I was younger, and a lot of the comments came back asking why the MC did what she did and how it didn't make sense, so I have been going back and looking at my other stuff wondering if the same could be said about them. My problem could be that I am trying to overanalyze it. Thanks for all your help, guys! I appreciate it!
