I was asking for advice in regards to character. Another member on here said that just like how you should be able to encapsulate your story in just a sentence or two, you should be able to do the same with your characters. There is another thread on the sister site that is for just that. It's called "Your Story in One Sentence". I wondered if a character thread operating under the same premise would work. If you want, you're welcome to take characters that already exist (Bilbo, Luke Skywalker, etc.) and do the same thing. We can even have a little fun trying to guess who it is; assuming you do a good job, it will probably be easy to guess for those who are already familiar with the story that the character is from. The sentence should capture their role in the story. It is my genuine hope that not only can I learn from this, but that it can be helpful to everybody. I think it would be cool if we could use it as a place for feedback on our characters. SPOILER ALERT: Since some may choose an already existing fictional character, this could potentially lead to spoilers. If you decide to choose an existing character, try not to give away the ending or resolution of the story they're from.
Doing an already existing character. An orphan boy who's parents were murdered by a serial killer was years later invited to a famous British school and the boy eventually kills the man who killed his parents.
I'll try for my own main characters. I decided to focus on their personality and character arcs here Sarah (#1 main)- Her struggles with mental illness become part of a whole new challenge, but she always tries to prove herself to society Jade- A girl who enjoys everyday life, put through some traumatic experiences, struggling to accept the person she is and has become. Alex- Always trying to find a place where he belongs, he trains to become the person he thinks he needs to be, even though it pushes people away Ashling- Her energy and optimism conceal her deeper confusion and anxiety over her decisions, but she wants to know she's doing the right thing Damian- Born and raised in high society, he pushes himself into the action because he fears he will always be seen as an uncaring elite Wesker (big group leader)- Power has consequences, and despite many years of life, he is not sure he truly knows what it means to live Lilian (later addition)- Scarred by the consequences of conflict, she is determined to walk the path of peace, but she isn't sure exactly how
Thank-you so much for the responses guys, and helping kick off the thread! Man, I can't quite put my finger on this one. I wanted to say you took some liberties with Harry Potter, but I can't remember if Harry is invited to Hogwarts, and "famous" would be relative only to those who know of the school's existence. But even though I can't confidently guess, this was a good job of summing up the secret character's role in the story. Also, I like your signature. Fahrenheit 451 is a great book. It's too bad they're tying a concrete block to it with that atrocious-looking new movie adaptation, and throwing it overboard 50 miles from shore. This is good stuff! Have you shared any of it here on the forums by chance? I'd like to read it. I'll give my thoughts on each character. You did a great job of concisely and clearly getting to the bottom of each character's personality and general motivation. Sarah: I think you made the right choice making her your #1 main. Overcoming a mental illness is a tough challenge, and making her the main character allows you to actually get a front-row-seat perspective of that. If Sarah is likeable then the reader will want to see her overcome that by proving herself to society. Jade: Reminds me of the advice I've seen many times about being a pseudo-sadist with your characters. They have to struggle. The fact that she previously had enjoyed every day life presents a cool dynamic of "The Fall" so to speak, and as you say, she must come to terms with the changes and misfortune. Alex: This is a really interesting one. I like how you set up the double-bind. He wants to find a place where he belongs, but in his efforts to become who he believes he needs to be, he's pushing people away. I'd like to see how he resolves this, or if he does. Ashling: Again, well done having the character pulled in two different directions at once, presenting her with a serious inner conflict. She wants to do what is right (partly to quell her confusion and anxiety, and partly born of her confusion and anxiety), but by who's standards? If not her own standards, she may find approval from the right or wrong people. Damian: A simple but strong motivation to overcome the prejudice of society-at-large so that he can be seen for who he truly is, not what people think he is. Wesker: This one was the only one I thought was a little unclear. I do get the idea that one can be alive but not really "living", but I'm not sure how it relates to your character's power as a leader. Is it that he never had the opportunity to live a normal life? Lilian: I wonder if it was conflict that she had participated in, or simply observed / been a victim of. Thanks for contributing. You have a really good grasp of your characters and I think I can definitely take some pointers from what you shared here. And nice profile picture haha.
This is fun, I suppose, but I'm not seeing a lot of reason to become adept at describing a character in one sentence. When are you going to be required to do that? And I'm definitely not a fan of encapsulating your story in a couple of sentences. (Nor was I ever a fan of Cliff's Notes.) You might be asked to write a synopsis, by a potential publisher who asks for one. But they will want a fairly detailed synopsis that hits all the main plot points, etc. Not just a few sentences. I feel that what we really need to practice is crafting a couple of paragraphs to make our readers want to read our stories. Something we could put into a query letter if we're submitting for traditional publishing, or on the back cover of our books if we're self-publishing. That's hard to do. AND you don't want to give away too much of the story either.
Everybody is different, and not everybody will see utility in it. But having such a clear vision that you can break it down into a sentence? I think that's useful, and is reflective of how well you understand your characters and your story at their most fundamental level. What I don't think is that it's somehow restrictive in a way that hurts the story or your character. No, the sentence probably won't perfectly contain each and every little detail about your character or story, but it will get to the heart of the matter. It's the same thing people do when they're setting a goal, figuring out a purpose for their start-up company, etc. It's about that core focus. Taking your character or story and simplifying it down to the most basic elements can potentially be really helpful. I agree that practicing skills for query letters is useful, and if it hasn't already been created, I think you should totally start a thread on that too! I would certainly participate. We could all give feedback to one another. It's less about being "required" to do this, and more about doing this if you think it would be a helpful exercise for you personally. This is obviously something that would never need to be seen by anybody else other than the author, who for all intents and purposes could've wrote it on a napkin or some other scrap piece of paper.
I've done a few threads talking about it but I've yet to actually post any sections of my actual writing. I still need to do more reviews to be able to. One of the things I want to explore with her is the line between dealing with your issues and bettering yourself, and forcing yourself to be a certain way just to please others. One of the interesting parts for me is that it's not really previously. She still does. But that's actually the problem for her- she is morally uncomfortable with her life now, but yet she still enjoys it, causing her to worry that she's become, or always was, a bad person. There is some resolution to this. It's a big character issue for him, especially with regards to his relationships with other major characters. Exactly. Serious inner conflicts is something I'm trying to emphasize with this story- it's a theme. Yes, and unfortunately for Damian, he doesn't know who he truly is either. No, the consequences of power here are that it has long lead him in a certain direction, what he's done, what he thinks, but he has come to question whether it was all meaningful and worthwhile in the end. He's come to believe that he might have been better off without his power, so that he would have lead a more meaningful life. The people she holds primarily responsible for the conflict are her people. Her own previous actions were also part of what ignited the conflict.
I don't wanna get off track the post, but yeah that movie sucks. Okay now everyone go back to what the thread is actually abour.
I thought for a while about how I would describe my MC. He tries, and does well, but he's not too perfect. He's just lucky and principled. And then I realized... My MC is what William Riker would be, if William Riker was trying to be Jean Luc Picard. He's always trying to be the best person he can be, but his heart is a little stronger than his brain and he tends to be a swinger, not a thinker.
Cocky sonnovabitch--who is bad at everything but determined to win--risks everything to rescue his best friend. Best Friend--who is good at many things but shy--feels inferior to cocky sonnovabitch, and must decide whether or not to overcome her resentment, or side with the badguys.
I haven't done it before, but I can see the benefit of doing the exercise. I wrote a novel a long time ago, and my MC's description would have been: A girl who has the ability to come out unscathed by 90k words of stuff happening to her. I don't know about publishers, but agents, especially the ones who take queries via forms instead of e-mail, might ask you a one-sentence pitch of your story in addition to the query letter and sometimes the synopsis. A pitch fest may also ask for a one or three sentence pitch. In my limited querying experience, it's best to have these perfected beforehand rather than scrambling to come up with something at the last minute.
Yes, you are probably right about this. (I don't know anything about querying agents because I haven't done it and don't plan to do it.) So a facility for summarising your story in one sentence might well come in handy. Fair enough. I know I'll need to compose my back-of-book blurb—which doesn't come easy for me. As another author once said (I paraphrase here) if I could have written my book in 250 words or less, I would have done it. However, a blurb will be longer than one sentence, and will try to get readers to want to read the book without giving away any conclusions about the book. A slightly different focus. I just have misgivings about the process of condensation, when it comes to describing a story. And that's just me. It's reducing a complex novel (or character) to a soundbite, isn't it? Not a fan.
I think of summarising something as focusing on the most important, most defining elements. What makes it different, what gives it it's flavour.
I'm curious. Do you do this after you've finished writing your story (as if composing a query letter), or is it something you do earlier on, when you're still not sure what your character is supposed to be like, or is supposed to be doing? In other words, is it to help to promote the story, or help to actually write the story? I can see merits in both ...but pitfalls as well.
Guess I'll have a go at this. Amelia Firth - Struggles between balancing logic and emotions, especially when all logic points to the mother she loves dearly being a murder/kidnapper. Delphi - Guilt from her past has lead her to develop a pessimistic view of people, and mostly tries to drown out her pain through drugs, and sex.
A guy, massively intimidated by his particular problem, who just wants to be a normal average guy, and considers himself a moron, discovers he has 'shamanic' perceptions.
Ah, so it's to keep yourself focused. Do you tend to do this with every character, or just the main ones?
Sorry, a lot going on and I took a break considering the website was down for me all day Wednesday. Thanks for the great contributions everybody! I've been reading them. I enjoy seeing where other people are at in the process, and I hope people are finding this useful or otherwise fun. @jannert I understand how it can leave a bad taste. On the one hand it can feel like you're taking your novel and watering it down to a single sentence that doesn't fully do justice to the whole. Example: Lord of the Rings is what I should've done with my wedding band. Jokes aside, I think it's about perspective. The same thing happens with people doesn't it? Somebody gets known for one thing, or is defined by one quality or trait. And while it might be true (for sake of the argument), that isn't all that they are. People are complex. But it's the most prominent aspect, or as DK3654 said, that which is the most defining. This is why you can be introduced to somebody's long-time friend, but Ms. Long-Time Friend is having a bad day and so you don't like them. And so you're told, "Oh come on Jan, you just have to get to know her!" The trick is really that you (or the story you've written) don't want to be defined as something limiting, or uninteresting, or as something to avoid. In any elevator pitch, summary, blurb, or otherwise first impression, you've got a really short amount of time to work with. You want to capture their attention. When you've got them hooked, you can reel them in, and THAT is when they find out more about you. Or in this case, your book. You want your one sentence to be open-ended, not closed, in the same way that you try not to ask Yes-or-No questions in retail. Movie trailers are no different if they're done well. I saw the better, shorter trailer for A Quiet Place, and I think of that as the "Character in One Sentence" (metaphorically speaking). Once I left the theater, however, I can say "the movie was so much more than that." And by "that", I am referring to what was shown in the trailer. Generally speaking, you recognize a cake when you see one, even if they aren't labeled. So in one sentence it's a cake. In reality, it's got layers to it; a richness, and hidden strawberries fresh from the garden. But that doesn't change the fact that reducing it to a single sentence - "a cake" - is still accurate at a lower resolution of analysis. That lower resolution of analysis is what kept it from becoming a pie (or kept the chef from trying to bake a cake in the same way you make a pie, and thus failing miserably).
Okay, this looks fun and I want to give it a go now. MC: A girl raised in a bigoted society who is forced to work with other races if she in order to achieve her dreams. Secondary protagonist: A woman who is not what she seems and is torn between her goals and the well-being of the child she helped raise. FYI I'm currently only on my 4th of 40 chapters (assuming I stick to the outline)
For the two POV characters of my current fantasy/superhero/post-apocalyptic novel: The youngest son of a major crime family who turns to vigilantism after witnessing the suffering his family has caused. and A former slave who turned to crime fighting to save her business, and is forced to reexamine her belief that everybody can be redeemed.
The one-liner is a good practice. It should have a hook to create interest. It is more about your premise than just the protagonist. Think about how your character ties in with the whole storyline with a hook. So even though it is about the MC, state what happens to him in the sentence. An adopted boy learns that he has powers from another planet and becomes a champion protector of Earth. - Superman.
Is the MC the daughter of the woman, your secondary protagonist? Well done. I really like the contrast and juxtaposition of these two characters. Ought to make for a great story. Exactly what I was trying to say, except way better and way more concise. If you don't mind I'll quote your post in the thread's OP, as I think it's the best description of this thread's purpose, and people might be more inclined to give this a go if that's the first thing they read. Also, the Superman one is great, and I would've guessed Superman if you hadn't said so! lol I didn't even think about this.
