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まろ's writing classroom: Lesson 3 [Preparation homework] Character setting (Part 1)
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The author of this article まろ is the author of the light novel “Southern Cross”. He hopes to use his own experience to help more friends write good stories. Thank you for authorizing the “Content Hacker” website to reprint it. Thank you hereby.
The characters are emotionally driven by the premise, and the psychological factors inside and outside make the characters more real.
Recently, netizens have been asking me about “how to write good novels”. Therefore, I organized my experience in writing light novels into 34 themes, divided into three stages: [Preparation Assignment], [Plot Process] and [Writing Management].
Whether you want to write a novel, a biography, or a business history, these articles can help. No matter what your writing level is, I will help you complete a work in the two stages of [preparation work] and [plot flow]. Well, let’s get started now!
When many people talk about character setting, they think of the character’s appearance. In fact, it’s the charm points that matter most.
When many of my friends told me stories they had conceived, they all started like “There was a certain beautiful girl (handsome man) in a certain place, and then one day…” (rolling eyes). That’s not to say it’s impossible. If you are really a so-called “setting fan” to a certain extent, please satisfy your enthusiasm for setting character details (such as body shape, hair color, eye color, etc.), Go back to the previous class [Lesson 2: Establishing the premise] and come back after reading it (click to read).
Let’s put aside your character design considerations. I know this can be funny sometimes, but I have to say “If there’s not even a single charm in these settings, it’s just wasted work.” So what is the charm point? My definition is “a certain appearance or emotional characteristics that are enough to permeate the entire story.” This is actually not easy. Let me give two examples:
The first is ONE PIECE Meng Qi. D． Luffy, the straw hat he wears is his appearance, so strong that he is completely blackened, and only his outline is still recognizable (this meets the gold standard of character drawing). But that’s not what I want to say. The straw hat symbolizes his admiration for his childhood idol “Red Hair” Jack, which can be said to be the original motivation that inspired him to trigger the entire story.
The other one is [“The Legend of the Divine Sword” (るろうに剣心-Meiji Sword Romance Tan-)](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B5%AA%E5%AE%A2%E 5%89%91%E5%BF%83)‘s Kenshin Himura, the cross scar on his face was first made by his wife’s ex-husband, and then by his wife. This scar is not only an appearance setting, but also the sin he bears in his heart. As the story progresses, Kenshin is forced to face the sins he caused during the last years of the shogunate. It is not until the end of the story that Kaoru Kamiya tells him that the scar is gradually fading, which symbolizes that he has redeemed his sins.
This is of course a bit difficult, and I honestly can’t force it. My key point is not to spend time on trivial settings. Although detailed settings make the characters look rich, they may not be deeply rooted in people’s hearts.
As for the inner emotions, in my work “Southern Cross”, the heroine Yizhi behaves very aggressively in front of most characters. But almost at the end of every chapter, no matter whether she is feeling sad or happy, there will be a sentence: “In the faint scent of lavender, there is the bitter taste of sea water.”
The “scent of lavender” can be said to be her symbol since her first appearance, and the “bitter smell of sea water” is my intention to show that when the story ends, other characters and the narrator are about to leave, but they seem to smell the smell of tears. I used this feature to express Yizhi’s stubbornness towards other characters, including the narrator. Coupled with her usual performance of repressing emotions and sometimes losing control and going berserk, readers can win the sentence “I really feel sorry for her.”
If you find the charm of the character and other external characteristics, please add them appropriately according to the needs of the plot and the world view. Regarding the aspects of charm, I quote the contents of “[Complete Book of Japanese Paper Animation Techniques 3: Character Creation] (http://product.dangdang.com/23321521.html)”: appearance charm, character charm, talent charm, beauty of flaws, hidden personality, character background and mystery.
Note that these aspects are generally neutral. For example, physical attractiveness may not necessarily mean being beautiful, but may also mean being ugly and cute; character charm may not necessarily mean being kind, but may also mean being extremely loyal to one’s own desires. Which of these seven points is particularly important is a matter of opinion, but I personally prefer character charm to be the most important, especially for villains (opponents, obstructionists). I will cite two classic villains in my mind:
The first is the Joker from The Dark Knight. Friends who have watched this movie will probably be shocked by Heath Ledger’s performance. The wildness and uninhibitedness of his performance is probably unprecedented. With his exaggerated makeup, messy hair, hunched posture, sometimes innocent eyes, and that amazingly sharp laugh, he played this classic happy murderer alive.
The next one is Kofu (かなで) from “BLOODY CROSS～BLOODY CROSS～” (ブラッディ・クロス). Although she is considered to be on the protagonist’s side, she is actually more like a double agent, taking pleasure in causing chaos in each camp. And in order to achieve the “cute” scene in her mind, she doesn’t care even if she has to get hurt.
Both characters have one characteristic: satisfying their own desires is the absolute prerequisite, and they destroy themselves for fun regardless of whether they are friends or foes. This kind of person is a very scary existence whether in the real world or the world of drama, but this is also where the charm lies.
Next, let’s talk about who you should choose as the protagonist. You may find it strange, isn’t it the character you originally thought of? Not really. I would suggest that you use the most unique and charming character as the protagonist in short stories (for example: TV commercials, music MVs, micro-movies), because short stories usually do not have the space to show a detailed character growth process, so you can only show the charm.
As for our focus - long stories (for example: novels, movies, corporate history), I suggest that you choose the character with the greatest growth as the protagonist. There are two main reasons. One: the main axis of a long story is usually the growth of the character, which is Van Genne’s “Rite of Life” theory (will be explained in detail in [Lesson 8: Minimal Plot Unit]); second: readers expect the character to suffer a cruel fate, which has been confirmed in brain neurology.
Let’s take SLAMDUNK スラムダンク as an example. Seriously, the basketball level of the protagonist Sakuragi Hanamichi is far behind that of other teammates. If Kaede Rukawa is a genius and Hisashi Mitsui is a marksman, then Sakuragi can probably only be said to be the king of fouls and exits (laughing). But Sakuragi is the only player on the team who has turned from an amateur to a main player. Although he is unstable, he continues to improve. The success and failure of each game, the ecstasy and regret, make this character continue to grow physically and mentally.
Compared with other characters who have reached their skill ceiling, Sakuragi is obviously the most suitable as the protagonist, because the author yourself and your readers can all resonate with Sakuragi in their real-life joys and sorrows. And this is the reason why we seek emotions in the virtual world. We can be inspired by the growth of the characters, feel comforted by the setbacks of the characters, and transfer our emotions in reality to the world of the story.
Of course there will be counterexamples, such as “One Punch Man” (ワンパンマン ONE-PUNCH MAN) and [《OVERLORD》（オーバーロード）] (https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/OVERLORD_\(%E5%B0%8F%E8%AA%AA\)), but this is quite complicated to explain, so let’s not go into such an exquisite and unique character setting. In this section, our focus is that “the characters (especially the protagonist) must grow as the story progresses, and this growth must be understandable.” Just as the skill ceiling was just mentioned, if the character’s growth exceeds the reader’s understanding, there is no comparison. For example, if the character in the story can blow up a planet at any time, how can we make him grow again? Just blow up a galaxy?
So when you think about the plot, always pay attention to the skill ceiling and let your character approach it slowly and under control. Although it is exciting to greatly enhance abilities in a short period of time, it can easily cause the characters to lose their depth. The worst outcome is that the readers will be bored.
Further reading
- まろ’s Writing Classroom: Lesson 5 [Preparation Assignment] Elements and World View (Part 1)
- まろ’s Writing Classroom: Lesson 4 [Preparation Assignment] Creating Conflict (Supplement)
- まろ’s Writing Classroom: Lesson 4 [Preparation Homework] Creating Conflict (Part 2)
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