Creating a compelling character that embodies traits you like is easy. You can make them the underdrog, struggling against oppression, and overcoming conflict to eventually emerge victorious.
But what about the villains? The antagonists that you hate? How can you make sure that they don’t come across as a cardboard-cutout-plot-point who exists for no other reason than to get in the way of your protagonist?
The answer is simple: make them human.
During the last stream, we did an exercise in creating a compelling character that you hate. Chat came up with a bunch of terrible characters, and then we voted on one to flesh out and make human.
Here’s the questions we asked about the character to make them more three dimensional:
– What do they hate? What do they love? Why?
– What is their dream/goal? Why?
– What is their weakness/fear? Why?
– BONUS QUESTIONS
What’s their favorite Disney movie?
What’s their favorite food?
What’s their favorite childhood memory?
What’s their favorite game?
Chat voted on this hated character for us to work with: An alcoholic father who takes out his pain and anger on his children.
See what we came up with here,
as well as a short story for the character too!
After that, we wrote this prompt: An astronomer sleeps in a glass rainforest.
If you want to join us and help write a story by trolling in chat, or share your own writing for feedback, then we’d love to have you. We stream on Twitch every Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday at 6:30pm-10:30pm (U.S. Eastern Standard Time).
And you missed the stream, you can still watch them on the YouTube channel or watch the full stream reruns.
Hope to see you next time, friend!
Scott Wilson is the author of the novel Metl: The ANGEL Weapon,
forthcoming March 2019.
Featured image: Pakutaso