Yeah, I Know Who You Remind Me Of, A Girl I Think I Used To Know, Yeah, I'd See Her When The Days Got Colder, On Those Days When It Felt Like Snow
--"Catch", The Cure
As I was working my way through the first scene of I hope to by many in my new project, I came to the realization that a big flaw of my character creation process is the fact that every male main character I write inevitably turns out to resemble me. I don't know why that is. I have plenty of examples from my life to create well-rounded male characters, but none of them are as interesting to work with as people who think like me. Most of the time when I stray too far from that model, my guy characters turn out in flat, almost bordering on stereotypical, cartoon characters. They lack any distinction. Possibly, this is a result of getting to a deeper level of understanding with the females I meet in my life. It's just easier for me to get to the juicy details of a person's history and personality if they're female rather than male. This could be a comment on the emotional walls everyone says guys put up or it could be the fact that some people have an easier time talking to friends and acquaintances of the opposite sex than of the same sex. It possibly could be that, if I were a female, I would have a lot more stock types of male characters to create a panorama of divergent male characters. As it is now, if you ever see a main male character in one of my stories, it will probably resemble me more than anyone else I know.
Female characters are another story. I have the most fun crafting strong, female characters as they tend to be my protaganists about 75% of the time. People always tell me that my female characters tend be more unique and memorable than my male characters. I've always taken that to heart and always tried to utilize a supporting cast that compliment this strength rather than downplay it. Even in the story I'm writing now, I am having an easier go of insuring each female character has a different voice, a different feel, than any of the guy characters. Indeed, I had to cut back on some of the female characters and switch them over to guy characters because the story was slowly filling with all these forceful girl characters, jumping off the page, and very few male characters, most of whom came off as background performers.
Yet, even though I've birthed many fine women through these stories, I always tend to rely on three main archetypes when it comes to what kind of women characters I'm drawn to:
Sara Stanley - If there's one characteristic that I'm immediately drawn to in people, it's the personality trait of being the center of attention, of having that type of charisma which draws crowds to them. Sara Stanley, being my favorite character from literature, held this in spades. It doesn't necessarily mean my characters have to be divas. Far from it. It just means I always have at least one character who people seem to like simply on the merits of being themselves. Almost always they have some kind of talent that catalyzes this trait; be it singing, writing, dancing, or even comedy; and almost always they are humble about this talent. Sara Stanley is the shining example of Kerri Ray's favorite maxim of the type of people she loves to meet. Sara is extraordinary, but humble about it. That's what I always shoot for when I write a story, having one woman I would like because she is just that charming, persuasive, and alluring.
Phoebe Caulfield - Mark Twain once called this character "the best example of childhood in literature." After reading that, I took another spin through Catcher in the Rye to try and see what he saw. Upon re-reading I started to see it. It isn't just that Phoebe exemplifies a type of innocence that Holden wishes to maintain; it's the fact she remains innocent while at the same time, seeming more mature than her brother at times, that makes her interesting. It's that dynamic that I try to capture in my own characters. I seek to have one character who, from the outset, seems less sophisticated than the rest, but who always, by the end, comes off as the one who seems to have it the most together. Phoebe is kind of like the female version of Eeyore for me. She's a character that doesn't seem like much when you first hear her, but the more you give her a chance to explain how she sees the world, the more you realize she has more understanding than she ever gets credit for. I think that's a fun trait to write about as it involves restraining the urge to show off her wisdom through words and highlighting this wisdom through actions.
Eponine - There's an Eponine in the majority of my stories. There's one character almost always who pines for another character and never lets them know the full extent of their desire. Eponine, as a character, has fascinated me ever since I saw her on stage. She embodies a universal trait that I've taken as a motif in my stories; the fact one almost never gets what he or she wants. There's always one quality, one person, one thing, that one actively seeks throughout one's life that never comes to pass. It's whether or not that quest makes or breaks a person's happiness that I love delving into. She also kind of ties into the tone I aim for in most of my stories, wistful and forlorn. I love writing stories where the characters are mostly resigned to believe there is nothing better out there for them, but still have a hope that it could happen someday. Eponine never gives up hope. Even while she doesn't act on her impulses, she never gives up the impulse itself. That's always a classic personality trait.
If you ever have the opportunity to read something I write, you'll see these three types of characters always creep up. It's freaky, quite frankly, how often they do appear. I may disguise it well, but these three characters are always in the back of my mind when I'm attempting to resolve conflicts. I always ask myself how each of these three would a handle a situation and then I write from there. I'm sure there are more classic archetypes out there that I subconsciously employ, but these three have always been my launching point.
Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers
As I was working my way through the first scene of I hope to by many in my new project, I came to the realization that a big flaw of my character creation process is the fact that every male main character I write inevitably turns out to resemble me. I don't know why that is. I have plenty of examples from my life to create well-rounded male characters, but none of them are as interesting to work with as people who think like me. Most of the time when I stray too far from that model, my guy characters turn out in flat, almost bordering on stereotypical, cartoon characters. They lack any distinction. Possibly, this is a result of getting to a deeper level of understanding with the females I meet in my life. It's just easier for me to get to the juicy details of a person's history and personality if they're female rather than male. This could be a comment on the emotional walls everyone says guys put up or it could be the fact that some people have an easier time talking to friends and acquaintances of the opposite sex than of the same sex. It possibly could be that, if I were a female, I would have a lot more stock types of male characters to create a panorama of divergent male characters. As it is now, if you ever see a main male character in one of my stories, it will probably resemble me more than anyone else I know.Female characters are another story. I have the most fun crafting strong, female characters as they tend to be my protaganists about 75% of the time. People always tell me that my female characters tend be more unique and memorable than my male characters. I've always taken that to heart and always tried to utilize a supporting cast that compliment this strength rather than downplay it. Even in the story I'm writing now, I am having an easier go of insuring each female character has a different voice, a different feel, than any of the guy characters. Indeed, I had to cut back on some of the female characters and switch them over to guy characters because the story was slowly filling with all these forceful girl characters, jumping off the page, and very few male characters, most of whom came off as background performers.
Yet, even though I've birthed many fine women through these stories, I always tend to rely on three main archetypes when it comes to what kind of women characters I'm drawn to:
Sara Stanley - If there's one characteristic that I'm immediately drawn to in people, it's the personality trait of being the center of attention, of having that type of charisma which draws crowds to them. Sara Stanley, being my favorite character from literature, held this in spades. It doesn't necessarily mean my characters have to be divas. Far from it. It just means I always have at least one character who people seem to like simply on the merits of being themselves. Almost always they have some kind of talent that catalyzes this trait; be it singing, writing, dancing, or even comedy; and almost always they are humble about this talent. Sara Stanley is the shining example of Kerri Ray's favorite maxim of the type of people she loves to meet. Sara is extraordinary, but humble about it. That's what I always shoot for when I write a story, having one woman I would like because she is just that charming, persuasive, and alluring.
Phoebe Caulfield - Mark Twain once called this character "the best example of childhood in literature." After reading that, I took another spin through Catcher in the Rye to try and see what he saw. Upon re-reading I started to see it. It isn't just that Phoebe exemplifies a type of innocence that Holden wishes to maintain; it's the fact she remains innocent while at the same time, seeming more mature than her brother at times, that makes her interesting. It's that dynamic that I try to capture in my own characters. I seek to have one character who, from the outset, seems less sophisticated than the rest, but who always, by the end, comes off as the one who seems to have it the most together. Phoebe is kind of like the female version of Eeyore for me. She's a character that doesn't seem like much when you first hear her, but the more you give her a chance to explain how she sees the world, the more you realize she has more understanding than she ever gets credit for. I think that's a fun trait to write about as it involves restraining the urge to show off her wisdom through words and highlighting this wisdom through actions.
Eponine - There's an Eponine in the majority of my stories. There's one character almost always who pines for another character and never lets them know the full extent of their desire. Eponine, as a character, has fascinated me ever since I saw her on stage. She embodies a universal trait that I've taken as a motif in my stories; the fact one almost never gets what he or she wants. There's always one quality, one person, one thing, that one actively seeks throughout one's life that never comes to pass. It's whether or not that quest makes or breaks a person's happiness that I love delving into. She also kind of ties into the tone I aim for in most of my stories, wistful and forlorn. I love writing stories where the characters are mostly resigned to believe there is nothing better out there for them, but still have a hope that it could happen someday. Eponine never gives up hope. Even while she doesn't act on her impulses, she never gives up the impulse itself. That's always a classic personality trait.
If you ever have the opportunity to read something I write, you'll see these three types of characters always creep up. It's freaky, quite frankly, how often they do appear. I may disguise it well, but these three characters are always in the back of my mind when I'm attempting to resolve conflicts. I always ask myself how each of these three would a handle a situation and then I write from there. I'm sure there are more classic archetypes out there that I subconsciously employ, but these three have always been my launching point.
Yours Swimmingly,
mojo shivers
posted by mojo shivers @ 9:33 AM
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