Something Different

Discussion in 'Character Development' started by Victoria Andersen, Sep 16, 2013.

  1. jazzabel

    jazzabel Agent Provocateur Contributor

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    What immediately struck me is that you divided the character traits in this way:

    Males - Leader, Playboy, Nerd, Poet, Philosopher, Farm boy - all good, useful, covering a range of important skills etc

    Females - Clutz, Shy girl, Mother, Whore, The Fighter, Dumb blonde - need I point out what's wrong with this list?

    So basically, the females are determined by 'saint and a whore' stereotype (sans the fighter, who is again not in charge) and defined by what they can do for others (or reduced to comedy relief) whilst male characters actually seem to have interests, intelligence, contribution to society etc. Even the Playboy vs a Whore is cliched. When a guy does it he is cool, when a girl does it etc.

    I think this will not serve your story very well, as it will probably be bound by the cliches and stereotypes you already defined your main characters with. They are shallow and predictable. I'd go back to the drawing board with the existing characters before trying to define yet another one.
     
    Last edited: Sep 20, 2013
    Thornesque, T.Trian, KaTrian and 2 others like this.
  2. Mckk

    Mckk Member Supporter Contributor

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    Lemme try and sum up my entire life for you in 2 pages, that includes all my history, personality, views, friends, enemies, plus other important details....

    You will find it to be impossible, and the fact that you'd said so confidently that you have everything you need on 13 characters and each only gets 2 solid pages, it's, well... worrying to say the least. I'd encourage you to heed the advice previous posters have already given - they speak truth. You're being too ambitious and having 13 main characters is outright unrealistic - you're not writing an anime that spans 400 episodes here. If it's meant for your own entertainment, then go right ahead. But I'd strongly encourage you to listen to what people are saying here if you were hoping this to be a publishable piece of work.
     
    jazzabel and Andrae Smith like this.
  3. KaTrian

    KaTrian A foolish little beast. Contributor

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    Well, there were Bilbo, Gandalf and 13 dwarves in The Hobbit...
    But yeah, it will be pretty impossible to make 13 charactes come across deep enough for the reader over the span of one novel. A few will be able to stand out. What can make it a little frustrating for the reader is to try and remember who's who if there're that many main characters.
     
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  4. Mckk

    Mckk Member Supporter Contributor

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    Yeah, but c'mon, that's JRR Tolkien you're talking about! (who, incidentally, I have actually not read. Can't stand his amount of detail lol.)
     
    TessaT likes this.
  5. Duchess-Yukine-Suoh

    Duchess-Yukine-Suoh Girl #21 Contributor

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    Pick the characters who stand out to you the most. My picks would be the shy girl (based on your description), leader, playboy, fighter chick, and poet (because male poets are sexy) and maybe the mother.

    I had a cast of 8 main and 5-6 supporiting characters in my TV show screenplay. Cut it down to 3 main and 3-4 supporting. It worked so much better.
     

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