How to Create Memorable Characters
How do you keep readers interested until the very end? How to Create Memorable Characters
The motor of fiction is conflict.
It’s a hit among readers.
Dianna and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary recently and agree on practically everything. In real life, that’s a gift. Within the pages of a book? boring
The more tension there is in your story, the more engaging it becomes.
What exactly is internal conflict?
Characters are relevant to readers because of the mental, spiritual, or emotional battles they encounter. If your characters lack authenticity, they may be lacking in normal human emotions as well.
How does your hero handle adversity—not only externally but also internally?
Dramatic inner transformation results in memorable character arcs.
Internal Conflict Types: Your characters may face difficulties with:
1.Create Memorable Characters have incorrect beliefs about the world, their family, or even themselves? Some writing services instructors refer to this as the “lie your hero believes. Facing the truth might be terrible—but it can also help his character evolve.
Examples
Harry has spent much of his life believing that his parents died in a car accident, and he adores them. He discovers they were slain by Voldemort.
Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol
Ebenezer Scrooge, a misanthrope who despises Christmas and hoards his fortune, feels that seeking money is superior to pursuing everything else, even love. The Three Ghosts assist him in seeing the heinous implications of his mistaken belief.
- Your characters may be concerned that they are acting inappropriately. Perhaps they believe they are not up to the work, and that someone else would be a better fit.
Examples
The film, Spider-Man: Far From Home,
Peter Parker is handed Tony Stark’s spectacles, intended for his successor, which provide him access to the strong artificial intelligence E.D.I.T.H. (Even Dead, I’m The Hero). Peter wonders whether he is capable of replacing Tony Stark’s footsteps.
J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings
On his mission to destroy the ring he inherited from his uncle Bilbo Baggins, Frodo Baggins is plagued with self-doubt.
On his journey, he encounters several challenges, including his own apprehension as well as the temptation of what the ring may offer him.
- Dilemma
Two alternatives may seem equally appealing to your character. The direction he takes might have a significant impact on his life.
Examples
Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken
Frost depicts the psychological turmoil that arises when faced with a difficult choice in this poem: uncertainty, doubt, bewilderment, reluctance, and, finally, satisfaction.
Jim Butcher’s Storm Front
Harry Dresden, a consulting wizard, must decide whether to tell police officer Karrin Murphy what he knows — or to suppress information in the hope of saving her.
He prefers to keep quiet, which he later regrets when a big scorpion attacks Murphy.
- Fear
The hero of your narrative should not be courageous from the start. Give him reasons to progress. In fact, doing so will help the reader identify with him.
Fear may motivate your character to take action, even if it means fighting against overwhelming odds. It might also be something your character has to overcome in order to progress.
Examples:
Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games
Katniss Everdeen is concerned that she will be unable to defend and care for her family.
A fresh tension develops once her surprising buddy confesses his love for her—she wonders whether he’s honest and if she loves him.
The Premature Burial by Edgar Allan Poe
This short story’s narrator, who suffers from catalepsy, has a pathological phobia of being buried alive. He begins by discussing previous characters who have been mistakenly buried alive, and then dreams of being buried alive among numerous others.
He makes his buddies pledge not to bury him till his corpse is rotting, and he even reconfigures the family vault to allow for easy escape.
5.Moral Disagreement: The best option isn’t always obvious. Your character must choose between two options. Each will cause someone pain—and maybe even death.
Examples
Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
In the Auschwitz death camp, a woman is forced to pick which of her children will die and which will survive by a Nazi commander. Her crippling shame influences her personality.
My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult
How far would you go to save your child’s life? What about your sister? Anna, who is thirteen, is made to be a bone marrow match for her sister Kate. Because of this, she has to go through several procedures.
As Anna pushes for medical liberation, she clashes with her mother, Sara.
What exactly is external conflict?
This is just a character’s fight with what he must overcome in order to reach his objective.
External Conflict Types: Create Memorable Characters character may be involved in one or more major conflicts.
1.Characters vs. Characters: The conflict between your hero and your adversary is straightforward—and appealing to readers. Your hero may also come into conflict with well-meaning pals who stand in the way of his aims.
Examples:
J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter Rowling
Harry’s biggest problem is that he has to put his life at risk to stop Voldemort from getting the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Frank L. Baum’s The Wizard of Oz, Frank L. Baum’s
Dorothy’s meeting with the Wicked Witch of the West is a well-known example of a conflict between two characters. It ends when Dorothy throws a bucket of water on the witch, not knowing that it will melt her.
- Your hero opposes a major group, such as an authoritarian religious organisation, a corrupt government, or a restrictive local society.
Examples
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird
Atticus Finch defies racist society by defending a black man wrongfully convicted of rape.
Kathryn Stockett’s The Help
This story, set in the early 1960s in Jackson, Mississippi, examines the awful treatment of maids in the South. Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan, one of the three narrators, describes how she and other black people battle tremendous societal pressures.
3.0 Nature vs. Character: Your hero’s major struggle in some tales is with nature itself.
Examples:
Jack London’s “Call of the Wild”
In this adventure, Buck (a St. Bernard-Scotch Collie mix) must endure the harsh, freezing landscape of northern Canada in this story. He is hungry and exhausted, and he is also suffering from a terrible cold.
- Animal vs. character assaults might be the catalyst for your narrative.
Examples:
Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea
Eighty-four days and not a single fish. The villagers believe the elderly man has exhausted his luck.
Santiago is threatened not just by the water, but also by a large marlin and the sharks that fight with him for it. He and the marlin fought for many days, neither of them ready to let up.
“Fish, I adore and esteem you tremendously. But I’m going to murder you before the day is done.”
Yann Martel’s Life of Pi
This philosophical story follows Pi, a 16-year-old boy who is stranded in the Pacific Ocean aboard a boat with a tiger, hyena, zebra, and orangutan.
5.In science fiction and dystopian scenarios, your hero may face off against sentient artificial intelligence or simply have essential equipment fail or malfunction.
Examples:
The film 2001: A Space Odyssey
In this classic Stanley Kubrick movie, the computer HAL turns against the astronauts by giving them wrong information, refusing to do what they say, and attacking when they try to unplug him.
H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds Wells
Martians come to Earth in huge cylinders with three-legged battle robots, chemical weapons that make black smoke and kill people, and heat beams that burn people to death.
After losing the HMS Thunder Child, a powerful torpedo ram ship, humanity’s attempts to fight back seem pointless. ” Social Media Marketing Company“
