Reigning in characters

[dirtylover]

Does anybody else have this problem?:

I think of a protagonist - the main man, the Queen bee, what have you - but then some startup sidekick starts to steal the show.

I have a theory of why it happens: When the protagonist is introduced he is greeted with a blank page, a new world, and it is harder for him or her to build up an identity. When an additional, supposedly bit-part, character joins the fray, he already has a degree of background to him and so seems more real and interesting.

Otherwise my characters are just being malicious.

I'm sure better planning would be part of the solution - I tend to suffer the beginner's bad habit of jumping straight in - but I'd be interested if anybody else has this type of problem.

And do you have any tips for controlling your characters and giving others a bit more va va voom?

tx,

dl

 

[Dr_Strabismus]

I have that "overcrowding" problem a lot.

It happens to me when my main character isn't very interesting, or is in too passive a role in the story.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

I don't control any of my characters. The weirder, crazier, more insane or viscious the better

 

[rgraham666]

Nope. Hasn't happened to me yet.

But I usually have a very small number of characters in my stories. Which makes it easy to keep them heading in the direction I want.

 

[ungenderless]

I don't control any of my characters. The weirder, crazier, more insane or viscious the better

I agree with this. There are so many times when I intend a story to go in a certain direction, but the characters themselves will take on a life of their own and go a completely direction. Also, I find that the the weirder, crazier, etc characters are much more fun to write about. So they end up stealing the show.

 

[Pure]

my characters don't reign, but they definitely rock!

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I go back and change the beginning of the story so that the new lead is the original lead character

 

[Stella_Omega]

I've had that problem, and what I find I do is re-think the entore story, decide if that new direction is better, and re-write.
If I want to keep my story going the original path, I might re-write my slightly boring main character using some of those fascinating quirks that a secondary character is showing- or, sometimes, a boring main character can be the perfect foil for a wild and crazy cast.

And- edit like fuck-all...

 

[3113]

I go back and change the beginning of the story so that the new lead is the original lead character

Yep! To me it's a sure sign that you don't like your main character that much--and/or he/she was never meant to be the main character. I find that it's far easier and more effective to put the side character in his place than to try and buff up the main character.

I remember reading a manuscript at a writing workshop and I said to the person: your main character does nothing, isn't real interesting, passive, dull...etc. Went on for a bit, then said, your side character is active, well drawn, fun...etc. Went on for a bit.

"You don't like your main character, do you?" I finally asked. And I swear, she sucked in a breath and her eyes went wide--one of those lightbulbs-going-on-in-the-head moments.

"My God," she said, "you're right. I don't like him at all."

I advised her to do exactly what was said above. Dump the main character and run with the side character. It's not about stealing the show--it's about putting on the show. And if the main character can't, and the side characters can, then it's time for a switch.

Remember: the story is paramount. If a side character can grab that book and run with it, then give it to him. Any character who can't do that does not deserve to be the protagonist.

 

[dirtylover]

Thanks for all the advice -

I like the idea of changing the protagonist, or just bringing a more interesting one forward. I've road loads of books where you just wish you'd get meet one of the characters a bit more.

Finding characters: does anybody else harvest older bits of writing for characters? I find this can work quite well, since I quite often meet characters in my writing that I didn't expect to be there.


Planning: I can't seem to get myself to plan - I don't know what's going to happen before I start to write it. It makes it v difficult to get past a few thousand words since it's too much to hold in my head.
>>anybody else get this? any tips?

Again, thanks for the advice on characters.

P.S. Converse to above, I came across a quote, and I can't for the life of me remember who said it, but when asked how she got her characters to keep in line the authour replied 'I shout at them, my dear'.

 

[TxRad]

A chair and a whip work sometimes......NOT

I've had to go back and edit a first character several times but lately I haven't had to do that. I spend a little time talking to that person in my head before i start to write him or her. Then i already have a basic vision to start with....

Now if i could just get the whole mess to go where i intended in the first place, I'd be a happy camper.....

 

[TxRad]

Finding characters: does anybody else harvest older bits of writing for characters? I find this can work quite well, since I quite often meet characters in my writing that I didn't expect to be there.


Planning: I can't seem to get myself to plan - I don't know what's going to happen before I start to write it. It makes it v difficult to get past a few thousand words since it's too much to hold in my head.
>>anybody else get this? any tips?

Again, thanks for the advice on characters.

P.S. Converse to above, I came across a quote, and I can't for the life of me remember who said it, but when asked how she got her characters to keep in line the authour replied 'I shout at them, my dear'.

Finding characters.... A lot of mine come from pictures and some from RL or are modeled on RL people....

Planning.... I couldn't live without my pocket recorder... I dump those full headed moments into it and then there are the snippits of dialog and other story ideas... it also allows for a perculating period... If I go back later to transfer it to my computer and don't recongize what the hell I'm talking about then I can dump it as a bad idea. It also gets you some funny looks when you appear to be talking to yourself....

 

[Dr_Strabismus]

Yep! To me it's a sure sign that you don't like your main character that much--and/or he/she was never meant to be the main character. I find that it's far easier and more effective to put the side character in his place than to try and buff up the main character.

I remember reading a manuscript at a writing workshop and I said to the person: your main character does nothing, isn't real interesting, passive, dull...etc. Went on for a bit, then said, your side character is active, well drawn, fun...etc. Went on for a bit.

"You don't like your main character, do you?" I finally asked. And I swear, she sucked in a breath and her eyes went wide--one of those lightbulbs-going-on-in-the-head moments.

"My God," she said, "you're right. I don't like him at all."

I advised her to do exactly what was said above. Dump the main character and run with the side character. It's not about stealing the show--it's about putting on the show. And if the main character can't, and the side characters can, then it's time for a switch.

Remember: the story is paramount. If a side character can grab that book and run with it, then give it to him. Any character who can't do that does not deserve to be the protagonist.

Good advice, especially the last paragraph.

In one of my plays which was about a conflict between two scientists, the I made the "rival" of the hero very powerful and larger-than life. The struggle between the hero and the rival mirrored closely my struggle with the character of the rival, who threatened to steal all the scenes and the good lines. This had the effect of galvanizing me -- I started to hate that rival as much as the hero did.

 

[Darkniciad]

Blackhawk Hall is a prime example of this. I put Arilee in there for the sole purpose of being a set of eyes to introduce Christi and Mind. By the time I'd finished the first few paragraphs, she'd run off and taken over the whole story.

Christi was supposed to be the original focus, but I just put the focus on Ari and handed all Christi's important plot points over to her. It worked out pretty well, the new story is far better than the original concept.

Ari's history and character just sprang into such vivid life, I couldn't do anything but make her the focus and the star. Weird, considering Christi and Mind are two of my oldest characters, with fully developed histories and years of role-playing time under their sword belts.

 

[dirtylover]

.... I couldn't live without my pocket recorder...



I think I'll start doing this. I recently acquired a minidisc player and have bought a couple of mics. The only trouble is that when I talk to myself, I tend to ramble.

...full headed moments... - great description

I think I generally try and get those straight into Word, but otherwise they often pass over

 

[TxRad]

.... I couldn't live without my pocket recorder...



I think I'll start doing this. I recently acquired a minidisc player and have bought a couple of mics. The only trouble is that when I talk to myself, I tend to ramble.

...full headed moments... - great description

I think I generally try and get those straight into Word, but otherwise they often pass over

Rambling is fine, you can sometimes mine gold out of stray thoughts....

MY problem is a lot of my thinking time is when I'm driving, which I do a lot of and when i'm away from the computer in general.... Writing and driving isn't such a good idea, the recoder is the best answer I could come up with... On a drive from home to South Texas i actually wrote most of a story on it.... I even edited sections as better ideas fell into place....

 

[TheeGoatPig]

I used to use the same three women in all of my stories. I used one celebrity for a few of my characters (even though she was only called by her name expressly in one story), I've used myself in a bunch of them

 

[Munachi]

Well my main characters aren't always the first ones I come up with (like, in "Kampf des Willens", a series that I will translate to English hopefully in a few months when I am done with writing the German version) in the beginning there is the description of a guy - this was also the first part of the story I ever came up with, and then I wanted to find a story to fit him in. He is important in the story, but not the main character, and I was aware of that from the beginning on... most of my main characters are, in a way, very similar to each other. maybe because i tend to identify with them. they are not me, but maybe a way of living out a certain me...