I have two stories: a Fantasy one, and a realistic-fiction teen one. My fantasy characters should be three girls and two guys. The girls can animal morph into any mammal. The boys can teleport and tell someone's mood. My realistic-fiction characters should be two girls and two guys, as teens. There is a poll of which you can choose what grade they're ALL in (6th thru 12th) Form below: Name of Character: YOUR name: Story (1 or 2): Gender: Looks: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For Fantasy Girl~ What mammal do you morph into?: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For Realistic Fiction~ Crush: Grades (History, Math, Science, English, P.E., and {Choice: cooking, art, band, or orchestra): Pets:
All grades for Realistic Fic should not be lower than a C, and no strait A+. Thank you. Open chars: All
Hey @Chyanne Wills - Welcome to the forum! Sounds like you're all fired up to start writing. That's great! But are you asking us how old we think your characters should be? I reckon that's a question you, the writer, must answer for yourself. Don't be afraid to take these first steps on your own. YOU decide how old your characters should be, and start building your story around them. You decide what classes they take. If you write about people your own age, or younger, you'll already have a good idea of what can happen to them. If you write about people older than you, you'll need to look around and pay attention to the older people in your school and see the kinds of things they do. If your fantasy characters are morphing into animals, then YOU need to decide what animal, and how this morphing business works. Pick an age for your characters that makes sense to you, and get cracking on your story. You have total power here, and you make all the decisions. You can do anything you want, as long as you're not copying somebody else's story ideas. This is fiction. You can make anything happen in your story that you want to. Don't be afraid to create something that's really really different. Forget about us and what we think, and just start imagining and writing. I look forward to seeing some of your stuff in the workshop at some point.
If you're going to write a series of books, you can afford to make your characters younger. They can then age as the series progresses. If this is going to be a one-off, make them a little older. If you really can't make your mind up, you might want to write some ideas down and buy a 20-sided die. But I'd recommend picking a personality for each character and then going for a suitable animal; for example, if she's timid, make her a mouse. You could play it the other way - again if she's timid, make her the animal the reader would least suspect and make her transform into a fearsome lioness. This is your fictional world - the rules are yours to invent and control! On a similar note, I'm working on a story which includes a 14-year-old girl who can transform into a crystalline wasp. She's a foil for the main character, who's a little younger but more experienced.
For a LitReactor contest someone wrote a little girl MC and it was really, really good. Granted, the genre was crime fiction. That's what made it interesting. But point is, it can be done...
Ok here's what: The fantasy characters morph into big cats- a leopard, fiber r, mountain lion, and a female lion. The characters in both books will be seventh graders, and the realistic characters take acting. How's this?
That's a lot of cats, but since they have a common theme, they could have a team name, like "The Pride" or something similar. The stereotypical actor tends to be a bit of a diva, wanting to get their own way and generally being vain. The story might not work if all four of the non-fantasy characters act this way; or you could surprise your readers by making none of the lead characters behave like this, even though they perceive the other actors as having the above character traits.
Ok. This is all such good advice! Thank you all. How do I start writing? I could use names, though. I have trouble with that.
I don't understand, are these intended as a forum game, or as a method to get people to define your characters. If it's the later, do you really want your characters to be filled in by random people on the internet who have no real idea of the themes, setting, plot or any other elements important to your story? Something as central as the characters seems like an element that ought to be defined by someone with a more intimate knowledge of their intended purpose, aka, you. Doesn't really matter for the first draft. It's trivial to replace names later regardless of the word processor used. But if you need place holder names, or inspiration for final names, then there are plenty of generators on the internet. http://fantasynamegenerators.com/ http://www.seventhsanctum.com/
20000-names.com is also a good naming website. It's where I typically go for most of my names. How you start writing is completely up to you! There are so many different methods, and everyone feels more comfortable with a different one. Seat-of-the-pants method is when you sit down at the computer (or with a notebook) and just write. You don't think, you don't really plan. You just write. Your story will come together on it's own, and when it's finished, you can go back and edit the story to make it consistent. Snowflake method is a little more complicated to explain. It includes several steps, during which you plan out your characters, your locations, and your beginning, three major events, and the resolution of the story. You can find the method in detail here — http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/ Outline method is when you plan... everything. You literally will plan every character, every location, every chapter, and every scene in your story. There are several other effective ways to start, but these are the most common that I've seen. Do whatever works for you! There is no wrong way to start writing.