The character connection

[DomLuka]

This might sound like a really weird question, but does anyone else have to feel connected to the characters they

[reapersharvest]

If you have that problem, try changing your angle to one of how a character you're still connected with views that other character.

[JamesSavik]

Some characters mean more to me than others but there has to be some kind of connection because every character is born in your head.

 

Fiction is as life. Nice guys do crappy things; there is a chance at redemption. Punks grow up and mature. Some grow up to be 40 year old adolescents. Shy, retiring people sometimes become heroic in a crisis. Blowhards, on the other hand, may run away and scream like a girl.

 

Characters are not carved in onyx. They change and grow and make mistakes and have flaws. They strive and fail or triumph and occasionally overcome or transcend their human condition and find that little spark of divinity that lives within us all.

 

Case in point: say you've got a character that is a leach with the morals of an alley cat. It's easy to hate him because you know some dick weed that is just like him in the real world. Ask yourself: what might happen to this guy to make him more civilized?

 

One possible scenario that might motivate him to change is that he meets THE ONE and falls head over stupid in love. The object of his affection doesn't want anything to do with him because he's such a tomcat/wanker. He gets his heart broken but learns a valuable lesson: if you are always a a cad, people are going to treat you that way- even when your feelings are real and you are not just trying to get in someones pants.

 

Someone once said that the only constant in our universe is change. If our stories are to live and breath, our characters must change as well.

[reapersharvest]

I love getting connected to characters, I usually start stories based on a single scenario or a single character. I'm also incapable of heroes or even truly good characters. The protagonist must have some damnable or even frightening qualities (no always in the form of baggage) for me to get connected or else everything falls flat.

[DomLuka]

Yes! Flaws are important. It

[NickolasJames8]

I know this sounds silly, but I have an idea that I use...right now Im posting a story about me and my bf, so I can't give you an example based on that, but.....

I do have other stories and characters that Im working on too, and when I feel like I cant relate to them anymore, I watch wrestling....I know it's dumb, but somehow, I put my character in the place of one of the wrestlers(usually the bad guy) and it seems like he or she has new life and I can go from there....just thought I'd share