What is your biggest struggle to write engaging characters?

@Acacius1992

3 күн бұрын

Everything. By me sadly.

I thought I was the only one who didn't connect with Captain Marvel. Now I understand why. Also, I think that if a character over emotes and seems over the top, it doesn't seem realistic to me, and it turns me off.

@DaveandAngieSmuin

Ай бұрын

I agree. There is a balance. Not enough, and it's boring. Too much, and it's annoying.

I always start with internal conflict and make the story around that my story I'm writing write now was sparked my a story prompt that could have gone so many ways but with Johnny's internal conflict he made a decision that fuels the story without it there would be no story

@DaveandAngieSmuin

Ай бұрын

Internal conflict is a huge part of a good story! Some writers start with the character and the internal conflict and the story unfolds from there. I love that we are all so unique and have different ways of constructing our stories. But the internal conflict is a good place to start!

Thanks, good video.

@DaveandAngieSmuin

22 күн бұрын

Glad you liked it!

The "no flaws or weaknesses" point really resonates with me. The Mary Sue factor really wrecked the latest Star Wars trilogy and Captain Marvel for me. My main character, Faith Faraday, has several weaknesses including a fear of heights that she has to continually endure. None of my characters a re boring, but I clicked the video anyway. Glad I did. :) Great video!

@JhadeSagrav

Ай бұрын

"Faith Faraday" is an AMAZING name. 😃💯

@faithfaraday

Ай бұрын

@@JhadeSagrav Thank you so much! 😁

@DaveandAngieSmuin

Ай бұрын

Thank you for your comment. I love your character's name. What genre are you writing? I'd love to read it!

@DaveandAngieSmuin

Ай бұрын

I agree!

I think you can have an interesting character even if he or she doesn't believe in anything, but here is the key-give them a situation where he or she once had values and then, for whatever reason, they were overwhelmed or they became complacent and they abandoned their values. The fun part is to put them in a situation where they can rediscover those lost values. I mostly like a redemption arc where the protagonist-notice I didn't say "hero" or "heroine"-, has to learn to change, or find what he or she lost sight of at one point in tn time? What did they stand for? How do they get back in touch with those once cherished values? What do they need to do to get those values and traits they once had back? Or, you can have a character that has a twisted set of values and he or she has to go on a journey to learn a better way. My favorite example of this is in the 1988 "Scrooged", starring Bill Murray. He starts out as a cold and greedy workacholic who is the president of a cable tv station and his journey with the three ghosts cause him to see the error of his ways. Of course, this story works for me because throughout the movie, we see Frank Cross, exhibit signs of being a basically decent man. Without clues to Frank's basic decency, the story would not have worked for me. A person cannot change from being greedy to being generous right away. It takes time and growth. And while a movie doesn't have as much thought as a novel, for the time I was given to spend with Frank Cross, it worked. And on the reverse side, a character cannot be evil all at once. Darth Vader's storyarc is a great example of that. Unless your villain is meant to represent pure evil, then you need to have some explanation as to why you villain is the way he is. By the way, this is the first video of yours I have seen and not half bad.

@DaveandAngieSmuin

16 күн бұрын

Thank you for your thoughts. I like what you have to say and agree with you. There is so much to this topic that I did not cover. I also like your example of the Scrooged movie. A great example of a character that has a huge change of values from beginning to end. You can also have a character that really doesn't change but, in fact, changes the environment around them, as in a flat character arc. There are so many options! Thank you for watching!

@mitchbray6637

16 күн бұрын

@@DaveandAngieSmuin The main character of my novel series is a mostly flat character. He is a morbidly obese man who does nothing much and yet, his inaction causes his nurse to become obsessed with trying to help him. Well, it' the nurse who is the protagonist in this book, but the obese man is the overall protagonist. Anyway, his nurse is alarmed by his inaction. She has always been able to work with the patient she is trying to help, but for the first time ever-she has a patient that doesn't want to change, or says he doesn't and I am glad that you liked my comment. My favorite flat character is Wilbur from Charolette's Web. He takes little to no action, yet he changes the world around him. Also, I think Forrest Gump qualifies. He's the same as he was at the start of the film, yet he influences so much.

@DaveandAngieSmuin

11 күн бұрын

Those are both great examples of a flat character arc. And your story sounds interesting and thought provoking.

@mitchbray6637

11 күн бұрын

@@DaveandAngieSmuin thank you. I don't know why, but morbid obesity has always fascinated me and I find my overall protagonist to be interesting because he doesn't really do much and he's sort of like a child in that he always expects others to babysit him.

@DaveandAngieSmuin

7 күн бұрын

@@mitchbray6637 I like exploring things like that in stories.

Yes, I wanted to like it but the Captain Marvel movie had an overwhelming problem in its basic premise and structure: the main character is all-but a brainwashed badguy for most of the movie, made to think she is a loyal Kree soldier. That might be a good plot for an antagonist or former friend side character -- but not for the main character. For almost the entire runtime, we never see the "real" Carol Danvers Captain Marvel - we see the brainwashed simulation. The only character we empathize with is Fury, the normal guy reacting to the alien solder. What a dumb movie set up for a film that was supposed to make everyone love Marvel's new main character. (Making it worse was that as soon as "Vers" realizes the problem, she overpowers the device controlling her, gets her full powers back, and easily beats everybody.)

@DaveandAngieSmuin

24 күн бұрын

I totally agree!

Dang, this was really helpful (not that it can make me write any better 😅, but for other people, i mean). Biggest struggle is probably a succinct "i have no idea what i'm doing." Writing started out as a joke and now it's kinda taking the wheel. Like i jokingly threw a "POV" comment on a lovey-dovey instrumental video cuz everyone else was doing it... and... it's up to ~100pgs now, God help me. Then i made a stupid little poem thing and someone was like *[EXPLAIN! EXPLAIN!!!]* so oops guess i have to figure out the plot behind it now, and while i'm at it, i guess i'll throw in a scene for free and NOW THAT ONE IS >100PGS NOW TOO. WHAT THE HECK IS HAPPENING?!?! But i reread it and i know it's trash. My brain is a dumpster fire on a train wreck, and i don't understand "emotions" like normal ppl do, so "emotions" don't come through at all in the stories. Flat. Boring. ...Trash. it sucks, cuz i really like my characters and i just wish someone else was writing them so they could do them justice. ☹

@DaveandAngieSmuin

Ай бұрын

That does sound frustrating. When I started, I didn't know what I was doing either. I'm a firm believer that anyone can learn to write if they are willing to learn. What do you like about your characters?

Captain Marvel had been subjected to electric shock treatment to destroy her memory plus she was indoctrinated to suppress her emotions. EST produces flattened emotions, so this was a realistic portrayal.

@DaveandAngieSmuin

Ай бұрын

The result was a boring and flat character. They could have given her a flaw or a weakness to make up for the lack of personality. Anything to give us something to root for and something to relate to.

For me, it's a challenge to keep the balance between #1 and #2. Describing the character's motivation may contradict discovering the character over time. My plot contains a lot of conspiracy and betrayal, with multiple people turning out to have different motivations than expected. A reason my concept of giving about twenty people at least one POV chapter probably won't work is that it feels like betraying the reader, like hiding thoughts and feelings of characters while telling less important stuff just to tell something. That's why I now concentrate on the POV of a few low ranked people, who have no clue about what their higher-ups are really planning. So I have to reveal to the reader only what the other characters reveal to these originally four people, of whom after a major turning point in the middle only two are still alive.

@DaveandAngieSmuin

Ай бұрын

I love this! It is always tricky to decide whose POV the story is told through. If done correctly, it allows for revealing a little bit at a time. I love the conspiracy and betrayal themes in a book. It is a great way to elevate the tension and conflict.

@stgr6669

Ай бұрын

@@DaveandAngieSmuin That's true. At the moment, I'm wavering between two options. I may use four POV characters, two fom the "goodies" and two from the "baddies" teams. The former will be a disillusioned veteran soldier and a brash, overconfident young activist, the latter a disgraced and disgruntled military officer (a truly horrible human being) and small fry criminal he hired as a henchwoman (eventually the most important character of the story). Or I may write in first person, from the good soldier's POV. Scenes where he wasn't present, but will later have the opportunity to speak to someone who was, will be told by him too, with his more or less correct evaluation. While he is the narrator, the henchwoman is the person whose character arc is told over the course of the story and who has to sort out things at the end.

@DaveandAngieSmuin

26 күн бұрын

I would love to read it when you decide which one to use. I like writing in the first person, but I also enjoy writing in the third person. They each have different advantages and difficulties.