Hi, I'm a novice and could use some good advice. My book is in the very early stages and I just wanted some opinions on which character would serve better as the main? Originally, EMMA was the focus with KATE just appearing in one section as an “Impact Character”, so KATE has very little character arc because she was never meant to make it any further. But when I started working on KATE I just really liked the character so wrote an introduction to see if she would work better. I like KATE but I feel EMMA has more room for growth. Emma has strong morals and it would be interesting to see them tested. I could try to blend the two character but they are so different and have lived different lives. My book has a dystopian setting and is an alternative history for a holocaust survival story with magic. At the beginning of my book a common problem is occurring for the two separate races is my book – magic is losing it's power/disappearing and nobody knows why. This phenomena is causing the death of magical plants, animals and beings. The Ingel are known for their amazing healing medicine, it's the only weapon against illness they have and it's failing. KATE has a very different personality to Emma. She has grown up in a Ghetto, where every day is a fight to survive, she has seen the best and the worst in human nature so is quite savvy but she is a product of her environment. She can do what needs to be done within reason, she can break Laws with little conscious, steal food from other hungry mouths and is a master in surviving. Her parents have been arrested, her older sister is sick so she must care for her family herself. She is illegally harbouring her little sister and nephew after a law was past that all children are to be handed over, so lives in fear that the neighbours will report them. This problem is pushing Kate to find a way to escape the Ghetto, but so far, no one will accept a baby that could cry and reveal the band. She's running out of possessions to pay the guards for food, medicine and staying off the transfer list – some girls prostitute themselves when they have nothing lift – and it's something Kate may have to face soon. She uses an Ingel remedy to combat blindness, that medicine is losing it's effects. How will she take care of her family when she eventually goes completely blind? How will she survive? One group who have refused her escape could be reported to the guards and when her information turns out to be correct she and her family would get immunity. But that would mean betraying and executing another band of desperate people that include children. People are getting more afraid and more desperate. Her family are betrayed for hiding children and they are arrested and sentenced to a work camp. She is separated from her family and branded a criminal with no release date.That's all I really have for her. An obvious choice would be to have her look for her family, but the chances they remain alive (one being sick and the others to young for work is slender). But I'll think of something. Emma was my original main character and hers was quite an internal journey of trying to keep her morals, values and compassion in a brutal world, and what can happen if you get caught up in the darkness of what's going on around you. Emma is polar opposite to KATE being very naive and compassionate. She's never gone hungry or had to fear for her life. She has lived quite a privileged life away from the mayhem of the outside word with the Ingel who believe in respect, morals, values and dignity. They are harmonies beings. Emma feels alienated in that race being only human and unable to follow her dream of becoming a healer because magic is forbidden to humans in their community, after the Ingel realized that kind of power has a negative affect on them. Emma's adopted mother is dying due to the disappearance of magic, all the Ingel are beginning to get sick – everyone accept Emma who possesses no natural magic – her body can live without it. For the first time she is important. She is asked by the council to go beyond their protected boarder to find out why magic is disappearing. Emma is desperate to save her mother and has no idea that the outside world is like. In a struggling world Emma finds it hard to ignore all the suffering around her and finds herself in constant moral dilemma, as she realizes the only thing that can save the humans is also what can save her mother– magic. But with only a small amount left who is more deserving of it? Her character, being naive, tiptoes into darkness a little bit, but if I told her entire story it would be too long. Thank you so much for any help x
Instead of thinking about their resumes, ask yourself which character is going to either develop or be revealed by the course of the plot. Character development throughout the story should be a function of plot. Your less interesting/powerful character might be a better character to become something as events unfold.
I agree with this. Looks like you got 2 major character that can develop with the stories. Rather than confused to pick main character. You can focus on the story of these 2. Maybe you can have feedback from readers also. At some point if you only want 1 main character, you can kill the other one lol. Jk
It sounds like a really interesting story! Personally I agree with @Taku , I don't think you necessarily have to pick one but could have their stories running parallel - the contrast between them could also create more impact. That's probably the route I'd go for. If they end up meeting, it could also make their relationship more interesting knowing where they both come from - is Kate resentful of Emma for her relatively cushy life, or is she happy to show her the ropes and be sympathetic to her situation? Does Emma feel she has to constantly prove herself or is happy to have a friend? These dynamics might be easier to explore if you know more about each of them. I know that can be a lot to juggle though, and I'm sure it can be told well from just one POV, so if you would rather just pick one then go with the character you yourself find more interesting.
My other concern is, after reading through lots of plot lines of other young adult novels for Fantasy and dystopian I have found one remotely like mine. No one seems to have done a Holocaust alternative history fantasy - and it's a popular event in history that fascinates so many people. Really no one has covered it? Someone must have done something similar and if not, why not? I don't want to come across a disrespectful.
That depends on how specific you're being about "fantasy". X-Men's Magneto and Inglorious Basterds are alternative Holocaust stories.
But from what I read they have a similar back story we don't actually see them go through it. (read their stuff a week or so ago so please correct me if I'm wrong). I know the movie wasn't a back story.
Magneto is in a camp, at least briefly. It doesn't really matter in terms of writing something new. Just be careful with such a sensitive subject, obviously.
The main character is always the one who grows and changes the most. Maybe Kate has more potential, but Emma might evolve more. It all comes down to the story. Or like has already been suggested, it could be about the two of them together. In Journey to the West, the first 7 chapters are about Sun Wukong, but he's not the main character, maybe you could follow one of the characters as the POV in the story when the other is the main character
My personal take on this is that the OP should choose one as the protagonist and the other as a supporting character. I would choose the boring, weak and altogether more "normal" character as the protagonist and let the tough character be in her orbit. Flawed, unempowered characters provide more personal drama than single-minded, competent ones do.
I've been thinking about it all day and I think I'll stick with Emma as my main character because I do think their is more room for growth there. I get to look at subjects I'm interested in with her. I get to put her in moral dilemmas and see how she handles it, maybe even look at a negative character arc for her. Keep Kate as my close second with more of a positive arc. So the good character becomes darker and the darker character becomes lighter. That could be fun to explore.
So rude of me! I forgot to say: Thank you everyone who took the time to answer and help me. I really appreciate it and can move forwards now. Without your comments I'd still be stuck.
I think the POV you're working with is probably important where this is concerned. Who is telling this story? Whose story is it? And there can be different answers to those two questions. I have several main characters in my novel. I have one narrator/POV character. And while the narrator is telling a story, my narrator also takes a bit of a backseat to the actions and situation. I had to play around with this a little, but I have come quite a ways with my approach. The main character isn't always the star of the show. I chose not to make obvious main character the main character. That character became more of a catalyst for the story. And while there are appearances made by this character in the present narrative, this character spends far more time outside the story than in it. Perspective has a lot to do with how we shape a story. These choices have a lot to do with what you want the focus of your story to be and how it unfolds.
