What Makes an Iconic Character in a Story
I tried to give novel writing a go and sent my best shot at a publisher some years ago. Needless to say I didn’t make the cut and the comment about them not making it past chapter 1 due to how horrible it was deterred me to make further attempts. It’s not that I fully gave up writing stories, I just don’t have the time to sit and craft what goes on my head universe these days. The experience gave me more value when it comes to character analysis and writing.
Warning, this post contains spoilers taken from different games and shows you may or may not have heard of for the sake of adding better visual representation.
The biggest flaw in my writing was not having enough depth in making my characters more believable. They got their moments but I wasn’t making them in a way people can get behind their motivations. Sure self sacrifice, being evil, and doing good deeds was part of the basic plot device to showcase each personality but the writing was too flat to give justice to how the story went down in my head universe. We’ll start with the case of Arash from a game called Fate Grand Order.
The medium used also influences how the audience will perceive the character and during their supposed iconic moments. If the character is portrayed in literature, the audience will have to rely on their own mental imagery based on the scenario the author tries to portray. Whereas films removes the stress of imagination and let’s the audience be directed on how the scene was supposed to go down.
Below are two comparisons between how Arash was portrayed in a visual novel medium vs a film adaptation. While both instances would end up Arash having to end up self sacrificing fro the survival of his friends, how the events eventually lead to that point can alter a viewer’s perception of the character.
| FGO Camelot | Light Novel Version (FGO) |
|---|---|
The visual novel (game) gives the grave situation a bit of a lighter atmosphere as the casts are still able to converse even under the imminent threat falling down on the sky. The threat isn’t plastered on the screen for us viewers while the conversation goes on. On the other hand, the film adaptation gives us an ominous tip of the spear falling down from the heavens as the cast tries their best to survive.
While I do appreciate both mediums of storytelling, I couldn’t help but favor the film version as it gives us a summary on who Arash is as a hero. The light novel version gives us more depth in building his character as the story progresses. The point I’m trying to get across is that iconic moments done right, even if it’s just a few paragraphs, seconds, or minutes, are enough to define the character as a whole. The act of self sacrifice isn’t enough to make a hero iconic as it’s become an overused plot device.
It’s the weight behind this act, the costs, and how the hero reacts to the situation that makes their character pop out. Though it’s not really apparent to the story above but how Arash was able to defeat the attack because of his very being as a hero born from resolving conflict. His legend says he fired an arrow that created a border between nations and the act tore his body apart because his body couldn’t take it.
The challenge with writing the scene is trying to get your audience as close to the scene in your head is playing out. It also follows that there’s not background sad music being played while the scene is unfolding. Whereas the film has the advantage of leading the viewer to view the scene as is, with music and convenient flashbacks to maximize storytelling.
Kaine from Nier game series has become an iconic figure due to her sailor’s mouth that greatly contrasts her form. A lot of Kaine’s moments being a tragic hero is mostly highlighted from her backstory mentioned within the game. A village outcast, possessed by a shade, and having no pleasing personality. It’s not the outright self sacrifice that she does that made her popular but how much the creators gave her opportunity to express her individuality throughout the game. These are done through moments of banter with another character, sarcasm, and how despite her negative aspects showcased throughout the game, her companions talked about her on a positive light. That speaks volumes of character development in between moments where action isn’t happening in the game.
| Kaine Cursing | Kaine's Sacrifice |
|---|---|
Here we see two moments where Kaine reveals her duality. When her dialogue is stretched vs how her demeanor changes when she only has a few words to say. This small change in pacing highlights her character so well.
Effective storytelling is more of showing that blandly describing how the scene unfolds. One of the things that makes me say a story is good at hooking attention is the lack of need to spoon feed the audience with a backstory. The context can be understood even with little information about how the events have led up to the present. I recommend just watching the minutes of replay before proceeding to the next paragraph to emphasize this point.
It doesn’t matter how Inuyashiki became a robot, why a meteor is heading towards earth and who the hell these people are within the story. It doesn’t matter. You are thrust into the scene unfolding before your eyes and you are givens short but concise bits of information about the character being presented on screen. Again, self-sacrifice is just a plot device to show personality but in itself is not enough to compel the viewer to care.
Even if we didn’t know much about these characters but have only been given a scene to go on, that clip is enough to summarize who the character is with respect to how they are viewed by the people around them and how they conduct themselves in any situation.
To make the character pop out as an individual in the story, there has to be a situation that thrusts them into a challenge with consequences beyond what they can afford, their attitudes towards the challenge, their motivations, and how other characters react around them. It’s difficult to sympathize with someone that can just revive after being killed, the whole self-sacrifice plot device no longer works because there are no real consequences imposed on the character.
Instead of shying away from the challenging of finding my faults, I took the comment to heart and reexamine my drafts. I consumed more content and took some notes on what works and not. In my journey to become a better writer I understood clearly that my work was crap and the editor was cruelly on point. This is the taste of the real world and I’m glad I got disillusioned early on.
The takeaway I learned about creating believable characters are giving them traits that are relatable and this includes average motivations, and reacting to situations in a manner that aren’t too extreme. This is why writing psychopathic characters or selfless heroes that go to the extremes are a challenge to work with. It’s just hard to imagine life from their perspective and even more so when you try to frame then in their supposed best light.
You should have a look at the Inkwell community mate, they have professional authors there who would give you lots of advice. @shanibeer, sorry about the tag but I thought you may like this :-)
Hello @nathen007, thank you for the mention, hope you are good :)
@adamada, yes, you might enjoy The Ink Well. It's led by @jayna, @agmoore and @gracielaacevedo these days, I'm sure you would find a warm welcome.
I've looked into that community long ago but decided not to post there for now. Life just steer me away from continuing my hobby writing. Though I really have it on my to do list to come back to the habit once I get adjusted with my current job and other circumstances that hinder me from writing. It's good to see communities like that still thrive on Hive. We need more ways to express creativity. Thank you!
It would take me several layers of practice to get back on my novel writing habit. Lots of stuff to do this pandemic and some life serious life choices pop one after another each week that there's no time to chill and type what goes on in my head universe. Thanks for stopping by :D
Well good on you for at least trying to submit to a publisher! When I was focusing more on novel writing I did get as far as preparing a submission but somewhere in looking at publishers I just never got around to it.
and probably a good thing too as my stuff back then was pretty awful
People that find imagining things stressful is somewhat concerning O_O;
Were they mean about it or did it just feel mean because they had to point out something you probably didn't want to hear? :) I know you can cope with criticism, just asking as it seems to me that some editors/critics are nasty for the sake of being nasty while soothing themselves that it's just how the industry works and that everyone else is the problem and needs to grow thicker skin 🙄
It was difficult to get an audience as I know I'm not the only one but with some connections here and there I got at least a shot. There's a lot of bias on the writing world, on my local scene at least. Even if the writing can be so damn bad but if the author has reached a following on Wattpad, the editors may loosen up and alter some parts themselves and boom, works get published. The influencer advantage is real.
You'd be surprised at how diversified people can be if they aren't in touch with their creative side. You can describe a few traits off an object and we can get different results even if we're talking about the same thing.
I think it was borderline mean and truthful. I forgot the feeling but the lesson was more important to be level headed. I put greater standards I could never meet on myself and get lax on other people when it comes the same object/goal. Just as I know I'm capable of doing more than the average I also know that having some accomplishments may go into my head and system without me knowing it. Best way to curve my ego than talk as if I've achieve something not proportionately within what I am capable of.
It is definitely a challenge to be able to build the characters, because you have to evaluate several things, and among them is the one that is generally the most important: "the premise of the character"
As you know, every character must have an objective, a motivation, his counterpart or enemy, and a situation that generally the easiest thing is to make it dramatic at first, and that leads them to confront each other later on several occasions and of course in the final outcome. It is a roller coaster of emotions and depends on the approach you give to the narrative to solve each of the 3 basic parts in which any story is built.
I really liked the analysis you do and from today you have gained a new follower, what you publish is very interesting, and I want you to know that whenever I can, I will read your previous publications and leave you my comment when I find something that calls me the Attention.
Whenever you like, we can exchange opinions, I am a writer who is fond of Stephen King's techniques and his use of timelines to tell stories, is really fascinating and if you have not read about this technique, I invite you to investigate a little, it is a method that it really is great and helps a lot when it comes to writing.