Yo. So I've got this character, you see, and his name is Gospol Salone. He's the main antagonist in my current novel (yeah, I wish) called The Volunteers. In this 'novel', Salone becomes this sort of leader of a group of people who volunteered (hence the name) to undergo a test to alleviate them of their physical/mental ailments. Of course, it goes wrong and the volunteers' symptoms are reversed e.g. Salone's muscle disorder turns to inhuman strength etc. He and this group are attempting to find the code of the antidote (that was present in case the experiment went wrong) and destroy it so that no one can use it against them (each have various motives). What I'd like to know, is what sort of personality should Salone have? I don't want all of the Volunteers to have the same personality and characteristics, if that makes sense. I'll share with you, the other characters' personalities so that you can see what I'm working with and who their features/voice are roughly based on (to give you some image of them). Markus Strait - quiet and calm, takes a lot to unsettle him (paranoid hypochondriac before test), think Cillian Murphy Character whose name I am Changing - barely talks, quietest of the lot, quick to anger think Paul Bettany Charity West - sensual, seductive and cool think Jessica Biel Wade Karra - arrogant, cocky think Cam Gigandet (minor character, dies early on) Originally, Gospol Salone was based off Samuel L. Jackson and was quite a well spoken, courteous man (but of course, in an evil way); but after developing my surprise antagonist, I began to think they were too similar: Samuel M'Talo - polite, refined, posh in a way think Ian McKellen So, do you think Salone should get a personality 'makeover'? Sometimes I see him being just a cool, 'won't take crap' sort of guy, then sometimes I see him as this really sardonic and dry person who has fun threatening and killing people. I think, personally, that the former would suit him better because he was a lawyer before he was changed. I dunno - what do you guys think? All suggestions and criticisms welcome, AJ
I know it isn't what you want to hear, but I think it really is up to you and what you think fits your story best. What personality/characteristics would provide the optimum conflict with your protagonist? What are you planning for Salone's ultimate downfall (assuming he has one), and what would fit best with that; does he have a fatal flaw that makes more sense with a certain type of personality? What would you prefer to write - can you think up good sardonic and dry lines, or would the no nonsense approach be better for you?
prettyprettyprettygood, your comment was... pretty good. Actually no, it was really good - I don't think I've looked at my characters that way before; particular what you said about providing the optimum conflict for my protagonist and how the personalities will fit in the 'downfall'. Now that I'm thinking about it, I think he'll end up as a 'no-nonsense' who becomes a little arrogant/sardonic when things are going the right way for him; do you think this would work? Maybe, perhaps, the rare snide comments he makes sort of become an indicator for his level of rage or something like that? Or maybe vice versa; he becomes sardonic when things aren't going the right way for him, and this could be the protagonist's sort of warning? ... did any of that make sense?
Did it make sense? Of course it did! In my opinion, no character should ever be able to be tied down to one simple description. I think that you adding both of the personalities you originally had conflict over into your character is a good step.
Another thing you could do is check out the Cast Calculus pages. Not that you have to have a conventional pattern of characters, but those are popular groupings for a reason - because you can get fairly interesting dynamics between the characters without too much effort.
I have to admit, I don't normally plan out my characters. I outline the story a bit... the beginning, some key events in the middle, and the end... but characters I just kind of write... They develop as I write and I just kind of go with it. =p
