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  1. Laughing Rabbit

    Laughing Rabbit Active Member

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    The main character or the McGuffin?

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by Laughing Rabbit, Jun 16, 2020.

    When is the main character no longer the main character?

    When I first started writing my story, there was a pretty clear main character. Since then the story has evolved, characters added and taken away. Now I've settled on a clear cast of characters, and am in the process of writing their journeys. As the story advances, I can see that my MC has fallen by the wayside. The story revolves around him, yet he's just in the background. This character can't talk and even though he can use sign language, he generally chooses not to join in any conversations, even if -especially if- it involves him. The story cannot advance without this character, yet as I'm writing, it just seemed natural to keep him in the background. So is he the MC or the McGuffin?
     
  2. jannert

    jannert Retired Mod Supporter Contributor

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    Who is your Point of View (POV) character?
     
  3. Adam Bolander

    Adam Bolander Senior Member

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    I find that a lot of stories have this problem. Once some side characters are introduced and developed, they become more interesting characters than the hero, and the audience wants to focus on them more than the actual main character. I feel like that's because the authors instinctively want to keep the MC's focus on the overarching plot (saving the world, killing the bad guy, etc) and think that giving them more personality than that will derail the plot. But side characters don't have that problem. They can do and say whatever they want, have whatever awesome character arcs the author decides to give them, and won't disturb the plot too much so long as the MC stays single mindedly focused on the end goal.

    Honestly, the best way to fix this is to, well...fix it. Go back, make the main character more active. Make them interact more with the cast, find reasons to put them in the spotlight. That's not to say that your side characters can't have their own side plots and character arcs, but the focus always needs to be on the hero. Imagine if the Harry Potter books began shuffling Harry Potter off to the side to focus on Ron and Hermione for several chapters at a time.
     
  4. TheOtherPromise

    TheOtherPromise Senior Member

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    I'd view the main character as the one who is most impacted by the story's conflict/undergoes the most character growth. They also need to be integral to the resolution of the conflict and an active participant in the story.

    But that doesn't mean they have to be an active participant in the dialogue. If your main issue is that he doesn't speak up very often that shouldn't be a problem. Some people aren't talkative, doesn't mean they can't be the protagonist.

    Now if that's just one example of many on how he isn't participating in the plot then that is a problem. If the scene would be pretty much the same if he wasn't there (or was replaced by a magical houseplant) then you'll want to rewrite it so either he has a stronger influence on events or have a different main character.
     
    Steve Rivers likes this.
  5. Laughing Rabbit

    Laughing Rabbit Active Member

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    The POV switches between four characters, three of which will become more prominent as the story moves along. However, I did go back over my outline and notes and realized that I never planned out to write from my MC's POV, is that yet another strike against him actually being the MC?

    I think that's what's happening here, I want my MC to be mysterious, but it seems to be backfiring with him getting shuffled to the background. I do want him to be more than just a plot device. I will have to stop writing and go over my outline and notes again to see where I can change it for him to be more interactive without changing the direction of the story. The problem again is that in my outline, I have a different character 'saving the world' and other characters 'killing the Big Bad'. hm. Of course, the characters couldn't succeed without the help of the MC, since the conflict resolution is a team effort where everyone's role is vital, so there is that.

    There are three characters who undergo quite a bit of character development, insomuch that they're hardly recognizable as the same characters from the beginning of the story (including my MC). However, as I thought about it, the one impacted the most by the conflict and undergoes the most character development is my "Barney Fife" type character (without the overinflated ego) who doesn't get a POV until a little over halfway through the story.


    Thanks everyone for the advice. I want him to remain the MC and not just be a McGuffin, so I will have to think about some reshuffling of character roles, as well as go back and see where I can have him interact more in more scenes in a way that doesn't seem shoehorned in. If I never give him a POV, does that mean he can't be the MC?
     
  6. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Maybe there is no MC—it could be an ensemble piece?
     
  7. TheOtherPromise

    TheOtherPromise Senior Member

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    If he doesn't have a POV he can still be a main character, but he can't be the main character. Not in a book.

    I've played several video games that have the main character not be the player-controlled one, but that's a different medium with different storytelling conventions. One key one being less focus on getting in the head of the character and seeing from their perspective. Since POV is so important in a book any non POV characters are automatically in a different tier of importance than one who does.

    I'd recommend, if you want him to be the main main character, make him a POV character, and preferably have more POV scenes than anyone else in the cast. This is a measure used as shorthand by the audience (or at least me) to determine who is the mainliest of the main characters when there are multiple POV perspectives.
     
  8. Cephus

    Cephus Contributor Contributor

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    I'm starting to wonder why this character is even in the book. It's not mysterious, at least not as described, it's boring. It sounds like something either needs to change or the character needs to be deleted entirely.
     
  9. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    That's not entirely true - if you consider say Jake Arnott's the long firm - the gangster Harry Starks is the main character... but his story is told through the points of view of five or so of those around him
     
  10. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    The Great Gatsby—Gatsby is the main character, but not a POV character. Also, I wouldn't say Gatsby himself had a major character arc. But then it was modernist fiction focusing on the meaninglessness of modern life and the empty pursuit of wealth. If a story does present a meaningful life, then the main character probably should be the one with the strongest arc. Though I could see a story where the narrator has the strongest arc because he witnessed the meaninglessness of the MC and decided to move in a different direction, sort of Gatsby with a twist.
     
  11. Steve Rivers

    Steve Rivers Contributor Contributor

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    In the Great Gatsby, the character arc is all in the lie and the truth.

    1. The Lie: The belief that the rich and beautiful are the picture of happiness — and moreover, that you can take people at face value: they say they are.
    2. The Truth: All that glitters isn’t necessarily gold.
     
  12. Laughing Rabbit

    Laughing Rabbit Active Member

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    He's not boring, I've barely described anything about this character, just enough to explain why I thought he inadvertently ended up in the background. He's the driving force of the plot, without him, there is no story, which is why I was wondering if he would be better described as the McGuffin rather than the main character if I left the story as is.

    I may need to read that book. Do you think it did a good job of portraying the main character through the other's points of view?

    After considering the advice given and going over my outline and notes some more, I believe I can work out a way to give him more interaction, as well as retooling some chapters to his POV instead of another character.
     

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