The image of the main character
Having defined the genre, idea, name and essence of the series, it’s time to think about its main component – the characters, without which we will not succeed. And we will start with the main character – the main character.
Who is the main character? Simply put, it’s a character that has the largest number of actions, events, sufferings and experiences throughout the series. And since the protagonist is the main character, to which the readers’ interest will be attracted, his image should be detailed and thoughtful to the smallest detail.
It is only natural that your main character should have a name, a surname and even a middle name. Here, rely on your own preferences, but try to avoid:
• common and boring names for all readers (Michael, John, George, Bill, Smith, etc.);
• names and surnames that are not consonant with each other;
• names from soap operas: Izaura, Antonella, Rosa, etc.;
• complex and pretentious
As in the life of any person, your hero must have an environment (remember the quote: “the retinue makes a king”) – relatives, friends, acquaintances, colleagues, neighbors in the home, ie all those characters with whom the protagonist conducts sufficient amount of time. It is not necessary to introduce relatives as actors of the series, the reader will have enough mention of what they are (were), but this is in case the relatives do not have any influence on the course of events. Friends, acquaintances, colleagues are an invariable attribute of any work, because the protagonist is as alive as we are with you, which means that he can not live as if in a vacuum. Especially, who, if not a friend, will put a shoulder in a difficult moment, will serve as a vest, help with advice or business?
Now it’s time to get rid of stereotypes
Well, we smoothly got to the most difficult and at the same time, the burning part of our tutorial – this is, you guessed it, the character of the hero. All of us are not perfect and in each of us there is a little “worm”, now and then getting out and showing unsightly traits of our character. Analyze yourself or one of your friends, relatives and you will see that there are both positive and negative sides in a person. Then why do you, dear authors, idealize your main characters and almost erect them in the canon of saints, deprive them of humanity? Your hero can not and should not be only good or just bad! He must have his desires, hobbies, habits and even fears. The protagonist can not have only one character trait, otherwise it will be “flat”, lifeless and not interesting for the readers. The character of the hero requires careful study: the more details about it you will know, the brighter it will be. Moreover, the character, life position and past impose their imprint on reality, and therefore determine the behavior in one or another situation, the attitude to certain problems.
And a separate conversation deserve “heroes without a past,” which has already become a stamp for all beginners (and even some more experienced) authors. As a rule, we, the readers, are represented by a character created according to the following, so to speak, “scheme”:
• the main character came from afar (no one knows where, or from a provincial and provincial town);
• The fact of the existence of the parents remains, in most cases, a secret behind the seven seals (and we, the readers, can only guess that the parents were once); Sometimes, however, there is such a turn of events: parents died when the protagonist did not walk under the table either;
• hero (heroine) from 19 to 25 years;
• The ultimate dream of such a character is model business or cinema;
• The protagonist has no education (even happens that he did not study at school either).
Here to you and the hero! And then the plot is predicted very predictably, because it follows a well-laid out pattern: the main character has a girlfriend who discourages her from this prick, the unfortunate peasant rushes between the two furies and can not choose who is nicer to him; in the end, the avalanche of misfortunes falls upon the head of the main heroine – a catastrophe, a disability, loss of memory and a child, ponts understands how he loves the main character, hires the best doctors, she rises to her feet. And then the dream of the heroine comes true: a wedding! The audience is crying, the curtain! A sad plot and a dull heroine. It’s still good, if in such a series the author condescends to write the characterization of the main character “she was very kind and loved by all”.
Never be afraid to share information about the past of the characters with the readers, but do not disclose all the cards at once. Gradually introduce the reader into the course, weave in the narrative information about parents, studies, childhood memories and then the image of your hero will be real and human.
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